Report on the fiber training in the POLOLO ShowRoom, part 4
To conclude our fiber training, the natural fiber hemp and a few brief remarks on the "Green Button" label were on the agenda. Guest speaker Heike Hess, head of the office of the Association of International Natural Textile Industry (IVN), explained that the first hemp fabrics are believed to have existed in Asia as early as 12.000 years ago.
Hemp ban phase led to loss of technical know-how
The first hemp seeds appeared in what is now Germany around 7.000 years ago. In 1937, hemp (cannabis) was banned for the first time in the USA because it was associated with the drug marijuana. After World War II, hemp as a material declined in importance due to technological advancements. Cultivation was banned in Germany in 1982. Despite the lifting of the ban in 1996, this period of prohibition led to a loss of technical expertise. This lecture was also recorded on video: "Hemp – The Universally Applicable Natural Fiber".
Almost 200.000 tons of hemp from China every year
Today, according to Hess, hemp accounts for just under one percent of the world's textile materials. China is now the world market leader in terms of knowledge and technology, as well as the largest cultivation area – with an estimated 100.000 hectares, it achieves an output of less than 200.000 tons annually. By comparison, Europe has roughly one-tenth of the cultivation area and just under one-tenth of the output. Canada follows in third place.
Hemp – predominantly positive properties
Hemp is considered a universally applicable raw material (for food and dietary supplements, cosmetics, textiles, and other products, including paper and building materials). Its material properties are outstanding: its high tensile strength increases even further when exposed to moisture. Moisture absorption and release are higher than in other fibers. Hemp wrinkles less than linen or cotton, for example. It also does not generate electrostatic charge and therefore does not irritate the skin. At comparable fabric density, hemp offers a higher level of UV protection than other materials. Only its slow decomposition could be considered a disadvantage.
All-round usable, robust and economical natural material supplier
Traditional cultivation doesn't actually require the use of fertilizers or pesticides – however, these are still used in industrial cultivation, along with growth hormones. Fungicides are sometimes used in the so-called retting process (extraction of plant fibers) – generally, retting with water or chemicals results in high water consumption or chemical use. Organic hemp cultivation relies primarily on mechanical methods, healthy soils, and greater plant spacing. However, the increased cultivation of organic hemp presents a problem today: nature reserves such as taiga and tundra are threatened with destruction. According to Hess, the advantages of using hemp, especially organic hemp, are that the entire plant can be utilized and a high yield per unit area can be achieved. Hemp is considered a pioneer plant – it is robust and undemanding.
GREEN BUTTON: Focus on people and the environment along the supply chain
At the end of the official part, Franziska Kuntze and Heike Hess reported on the new “GREEN BUTTON” initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ).
Collapsed factory building in Bangladesh shook people up
This initiative stems from the catastrophic Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, which claimed the lives of more than 1.100 people and left over 2.000 injured, some seriously. This event shook many people in Europe and brought home to them the intolerable conditions under which their textiles are largely produced in so-called Third World countries.
A sign of social and ecological responsibility
In response, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) founded the "Alliance for Sustainable Textiles" in 2014 and launched the comparison portal "Seal Clarity" online in 2015. In 2019, the independent certification process "Green Button" was introduced – with the aim of providing better protection for people and the environment along the entire supply chain.
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