Camira celebrates ten years of Hemp.
Launched in 2012, Camira’s pioneering Hemp collection is made from an all-natural blend of wool and hemp fibres - creating a fabric with both impeccable eco-credentials and innate flame retardancy.
Developed as part of their leading-edge innovation work into the use of plant stem fibre in textiles, Hemp has become one of their most iconic and loved fabrics – selling thousands of metres since its introduction.
Grown as an agricultural crop under licence from the UK government Home Office on an English farm, the hemp plants used within Hemp are the Cannabis sativa strain, containing only minute amounts of the psychoactive substance, THC. Proven to capture atmospheric carbon twice as effectively as forests, recent research by the Centre for Natural Material Innovation at Cambridge estimates that industrial hemp absorbs 8 to 15 tonnes of C02 per hectare of cultivation, whilst forests sequester between 2 to 6 tonnes.
Part of Camira’s collection of fabrics woven from bast fibres, Hemp is made using the long stem of the hemp plant. Sewn from seed and reaching over three metres in height in just 120 days, Camira plants 45kg of seed for every hectare, which generates 6 tonnes of hemp straw. This in turn yields 1 tonne of textile fibre, equating to 5,400 metres of fabric.
Manufactured in an eco-conscious method, the process of separating the stem’s fibres for spinning into yarn begins with dew retting – a natural, sustainable way of allowing dew and rain to begin breaking down the tissues and pectins which surround the stem. This is then completed by mechanical decortication, during which the fine textile fibres are extracted from the heavier woody shiv - commonly used in manufacturing building materials and animal bedding. Once harvested, the hemp leaves are left behind to decompose and act as fertiliser for the following year’s crop.
Requiring just 5kWh to produce 1kg of textile fibre, in comparison to the 69kWh to produce 1kg of nylon, the environmental benefits of hemp extend far across its lifecycle.
Jodie Padgett, Senior Innovator at Camira, comments: “With sustainable design being more important than ever before, we are delighted that Hemp has stood the test of time and remains a beloved fabric in our portfolio. One of our proudest achievements, it is one of the most eco-friendly fabrics on the market, providing incredible environmental benefits, as well as beauty in its aesthetics.
“With its natural composition visible in its multi-tonal colouration and appealingly weathered finish, we look forward to Hemp continuing to play a valuable role as a sustainable textile staple in commercial interiors”.
