Our journey for 100% local hemp
Did you know that we have been testing the possibility of growing our own hemp fiber for fabric for a while now? Well, read on to find out how things are going...
Our journey for 100% local hemp T-shirts began in April 2020. At that time, we established our own hemp field and, as part of our company's team building, we went to sow the first seeds experimentally. The aim of our entire event was to test the ways in which we can grow, harvest and then process our own hemp so that it becomes the best possible fiber as soon as possible. And so we set about it with determination, enthusiasm and, most importantly, a clear goal - to make clothes from the hemp we grew ourselves!
How did it all go?
As we already mentioned, the first phase of testing took place in April 2020, when we planted three different varieties of hemp for a test plot of approximately 200 square meters. It was nerve-racking, but the plants caught on quite nicely and we just went to check them and looked forward to the harvest. At the beginning of November, 2020, our founder Tomáš went to harvest the first part of the field. The harvest looked promising, and that meant one thing - our experiment was successful and we had the green light to continue proudly.
We tried all winter to get the best hemp fiber. We teamed up with the Agricultural Research Institute in Šumperk to help us with the correct processing of our crop. Together we visited the textile factory, where the hemp fiber is separated from the rest of the dried plant. We then examined the separated hemp fiber and evaluated which sown species would be the best for the production of T-shirt fabric. After that we just couldn't wait to sow another batch of the victorious hemp seeds.
We went to the field again in May 2021, where we started the first proper sowing after the testing phase in the previous year. It was challenging because growing and harvesting on an area of 5,000 square meters takes a lot of courage, and hard work. But alas, we prevailed and our hemp grew like crazy again! It was already clear with the December harvest that our hemp looked up to quality. The first clothes produced by Czech Hemp in over 100 years was one step closer to us!
Our hemp is currently in treatment and we are greatly looking forward to the result. If the variety we selected has grown correctly, and the fiber is of sufficient quality, we can keep pushing forward. From our half of a hectare, we will have more than enough for further experiments, which will be another step towards making the first T-shirt from our own hemp.
For those who are eager and don’t want to wait for the next blog article, where hopefully we will be able to show off the production of T-shirts from our own hemp, we recommend following our FB page. We add reports on there every once in a while, including photos and detailed reports directly from the site.
Thank you for following along, and we look forward to showing you the final products!