Pubdate: Tue, 09 Aug 2005
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: John Mackie
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp - Outside U.S.)

THEY'RE HIGH ON HEMP

No Jokes, Please -- The Natural Fibre Has Hit The Mainstream

Hemp people can be like religious zealots, going on and on about the 
benefits of "the world's strongest natural fibre."

Growing hemp instead of cotton uses less water and no pesticides! Hemp can 
be used to make clothes, paper and soap! Hemp is kind to children, animals 
and other living things!

But there seems to be something to it. All sorts of mainstream companies 
are jumping on the hemp bandwagon.

Tilley Endurables, makers of the famous Tilley hats, has a line of hemp 
hats and they're selling like gangbusters.

"Everybody loves them," says Barbara Tilley of the company's Granville 
flagship store. "They're so different. They breathe well -- my husband 
wears his golfing."

The hats have been so successful that Tilley has introduced a stylish new 
wide-brimmed hemp hat for women -- the only Tilley hat specifically made 
for females. There is also a regular-style Tilley hemp hat for $75, and one 
with sides that snap up for $69.

That's not all. Tilley also sells men's pants for $129 and shirts for $98, 
and women's cabana pants for $119, shirt jackets for $89 and tank tops for 
$45 -- all made from hemp.

At Hemptown, located at Venables and Clark in Vancouver, you can get hemp 
bikinis and tankinis, hemp yoga clothes, and hemp T-shirts and sweatshirts 
galore. Not to mention hemp burgers, hemp ice cream, hemp chocolate, hemp 
waffles, hemp soap, and hemp and beer shampoo.

"The reaction to all of our products has been pretty overwhelming," says 
Hemptown president Jason Finnis, who started the company 10 years ago with 
$300 and has watched it grow into an international enterprise with $2 
million in annual sales. "Last year our company was named the sixth 
fastest-growing company in B.C."

You might think that hemp would be a bit coarse for something like a 
bikini. But Finnis points out hemp can be quite soft.

"Hemp is as soft as cotton," he claims. "And it is about four times 
stronger than cotton. It's comfortable to wear and cool in the summer -- it 
breathes well."

Hemptown designs most of its own products, but also carries lines from 
other companies. It is mainly a mail-order business, and ships a lot of 
stock to the United States, Germany and Japan.

The Vancouver store's bread and butter is T-shirts, but this year's hit has 
been the hemp bikini.

"It definitely gets a little bit of attention," says Finnis, noting the 
bikinis and tankinis are made by another Vancouver company, Happy Camper.

"It's $69.99 for the set, top and bottom. We've had them for a month and 
they've been selling quickly."

They also sell hemp bikinis for $80 in the world-renowned "Pot Block" 
downtown. But asking the question "Who buys hemp bikinis?" did not amuse 
Heidi Farmola at the B.C. Marijuana Party store on West Hastings.

"Why wouldn't you buy a hemp bikini? Is this a joke?" she said. "If you 
want to ask me some serious questions about hemp, I can answer them for 
you. If you want to mock the hemp, I'm not going to answer your questions 
anymore."

Hemptown's Finnis was a little more accommodating.

"The customer we're typically getting into the store is a female, usually 
between 25 and 45," he said.

"You might think we'd get skaters in here and young guys -- wrong crowd. We 
don't get many of them in here at all."

Finnis stresses that hemp plants and pot plants are very different things 
- -- one is used to make stuff, while the other is used as an intoxicant.

He also says hemp products and Hemptown have nothing to do with all the 
foofaraw surrounding the legalization of marijuana and the recent arrest of 
pot crusader Marc Emery.

"It's like comparing poppy seed bagels to opium, or a shih tzu [dog] to a 
Rottweiler," he says. "They're very different breeds."

We may be just seeing the beginning of the hemp age. Most of the products 
Hemptown sells are made in China, but Canada is apparently a very good 
place to grow hemp. Hemptown is growing about 24 hectares (60 acres) of 
hemp on a farm in Craik, Sask. and plans to build a processing facility 
there, so we may soon have a homegrown hemp-garment industry.

"Our goal is to be 'dirt to shirt' within Canada," says Finnis.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom