2007 Archives: Viridis Luxe: Eco-Friendly, Sustainable Hemp Clothing
The original pair of Levi’s jeans was made of it. The first drafts of the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence were written on it. Betsy Ross made the first flag out of it, for god’s sake. What’s more American than hemp? Apparently pesticide-laden cotton and ridiculous Just Say No policies that lump one of the world’s oldest cultivated fabrics into the same class as pot, making hemp cultivation a felony in America. But hemp, which is naturally insect-resistant, anti-microbial and requires no herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers to produce, continues to fascinate designers looking for alternative fabrics. The latest to fall sway to the hemp spell are Hala Bahmet and Amadea West of Viridis (“green” in Latin) Luxe, who mix the fabric with silk and cashmere to create a sleek line of lounge-worthy tunics, tanks, sweaters and skirts that conjure up early Yoji Yamamoto. Bahmet and West don’t just believe in hemp clothes, they believe in hemp everything—from bio-fuel to paper—and cite facts like these to support their case: One acre of hemp produces as much pulp for paper as four acres of trees, so if hemp were planted on only 12 percent of the European landmass, it would meet the entire world’s demand for paper. And this: If the 1.4 billion t-shirts sold in American each year were replaced with hemp tees, the energy savings would equal 3.5 billion gigajoules and the water savings would equal 1.3 trillion gallons—enough water for half the U.S. population for an entire year. Hemp could be to the clothing industry what hybrids are to cars. Now if we could just get around that jail sentence.
