World's largest hemp T-shirt manufacturer considering Alberta farmers for fiber
October 3, 2003
World's largest hemp T-shirt manufacturer considering Alberta farmers for fiber
(Vancouver, British Columbia) - Hemptown Clothing Inc. expects to sell millions of hemp T-shirts and caps in the next few years, numbers which could mean big bucks for Alberta farmers. Hemptown, a Vancouver-based hemp clothing manufacturing selling into the wholesale promo-wear and private label markets, has forecast sales revenue of $3.2-million this year and plans to have a "dirt to shirt" hemp textile industry operating in Canada in the next four years.
The company is attending the Western Imprint Canada trade show in Calgary Oct. 23/24. Aggressive sales, trade show, and marketing campaigns are pushing the company's revenue and profile to the point a home-grown textile industry looks feasible.
"We're already working with several Canadian farmers interested in growing hemp with textile-quality fiber," says Hemptown COO Jason Finnis. "Canadian farmers already growing hemp seed for the food and oil sectors and fiber for other sectors have found they can make a decent profit with this crop."
The North American T-shirt industry alone is worth $60-billion - that's 1.4-billion shirts - every year, Finnis adds.
"This could mean hundreds of farming and manufacturing jobs, new technology, millions of dollars of investment, let alone the environmental benefits," Finnis says, adding cotton can't be grown in Canada, while hemp grows well here. Cotton is the single-most-demanding user of agricultural chemicals in the world, according to the U.S. Food and Agriculture Organization consuming 60 million pounds of insecticides in the U.S. each year, 60 per cent of the U.S. total. The fiber for each standard cotton shirt required the use of a third of a pound of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides, many of them cancer-causing.
"Hemp has been out of use for a few decades, but is now experiencing a renaissance," Finnis says. "The word is out that hemp clothing is a durable, environmentally-sound, and comfortable fabric, which is good for Canada's economy and our farmers."
Hemptown was founded in 1995 in response to growing demand for environmentally friendly, socially responsible clothing. The company supplies wholesale imprinted promotion-wear distributors and private label customers throughout North America and the world from its head offices in Vancouver, British Columbia. Hemptown has established itself as the standard in socially responsible sportswear.
Hemptown is involved in ongoing research and development of quality and conservation-based textile technology, working vertically to enhance its products and the benefits they provide to crop farmers, consumers and the environment.
Media Contact:
Shawn Hall
Apogee Public Relations
Tel - 604-575-2248
Email - media@hemptown.com
www.hemptown.com
