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Fair Trade and Hemp

Welcome to Earth Sticks...
We appreciate your interest in hemp. With your help we can increase awareness of the many benefits of hemp and sustainable natural fiber products.

Most of our hats and bags are Fair Trade produced in Kathmandu Nepal by Women's Cooperative groups. Weavers and members of these organizations receive a fair wage and additional benefits such as bonuses, paid leave, medical benefits, and retirement plans. These Cooperatives have improved the quality of life by providing employment for socially and economically disadvantaged women.

In the mountains of Nepal, hemp has been used for centuries because of its strength and durability. It is an indigenous plant which regenerates quickly after harvesting and requires little cultivation or mechanical processing. It is the ultimate enviornmentally friendly fabric. This naturally rehetted hemp (cured in water and not chemicals), is frequently blended with recycled silk and/or recycled wool to create uniquely colorful, multi-dimensional products. Natural vegetable dyes are used in the production of our colorful all hemp fabric products.

Hemp Information

The Hemp Plant
You may be wondering why you would choose clothing made from hemp over clothing made from "traditional" fabrics.

For one thing, hemp is as traditional a fabric as you can find. The hemp plant is the oldest cultivated fiber plant known, with a history of use in textiles and fabrics dating back as far as 8000 BC. The reasons for hemp's continued popularity throughout ten millenia are still applicable today, and are the basis for the renewed interest in its cultivation and use.

• The hemp plant produces the strongest natural fiber known. Hemp fabric is three times stronger than cotton fabric of the same weight; it is also warmer, more absorbent, and longer wearing.
• A crop of hemp requires no application of herbicides. With a density of 200 to 300 plants per square meter, there is no available room or light for weeds to grow.
• The hemp plant also has no need of pesticides. It has no known insect enemies and is also highly resistant to disease.Over 25,000 practical products can be produced from hemp--anything from "dynamite to Cellophane", according to an article in the February 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics. In fact, nearly all petroleum-based products, including plastics, could be made as hemp-based products, and with less impact on the enviroment.
• Cellulose fiber obtained from hemp plants can be used to produce paint, PVC pipe, and many durable building materials.
• It can also be used to make paper. One acre of hemp yields an amount of cellulose, available for processing into paper, equal to the yield of 4.1 acres of trees.
• The hemp seed contains one of the most complete and 'readily available' vegetable proteins known, and hemp seed oil is lower in saturated fats than any other vegetable oil including soybean and canola.

Final Thought
The world consumption of natural and synthetic fiber based products is increasing at the rate of 4% to 6% per year. In the last 50 years, mankind has cut down 50% of the world's forests. The human population is expected to double by the year 2050.

Preserving the status quo by continuing reliance on timber- and petroleum-based products is not a sustainable situation. New ideas and new options are needed, and we believe that the production and use of industrial hemp is an idea whose time has come.