Hemp Clothing...How Cool is it Really?
I don't pretent to be fashion-conscious, but my wife can spot good design from the sidewalk. Although there are plenty of hemp stores selling all kinds of hemp clothing articles, I ask myself: "Do the fashion conscious really regard hemp as fashionable?". After all, with all this hoopla the big question still remains whether or not hemp be able to break out of niche markets.
The branding still smacks of decidedly "alternative'...which is fine, but limits the impact of hemp as a primary garment material. One company has taken a decidedly anti-corporate message to market: BlackSpot Shoes. Union labor, hemp and used tires are the main ingredients of BlackSpot's "Unshwoosher" line of Converse-lookalikes. These shoes feature a hand-drawn "sweet spot" on the toe to facilitate "kicking corporate ass!"
That's just great.
Let's face it, most hemp clothes are, for the most part, "formless" and "un-hip". There are people going beyond the "coolness" of hemp by actually bringing style and utility to the market. They will be the ones that will put hemp back into the clothing mainstream.