Technology could allow hemp and flax to break cotton's global hold on textiles. Typically seen as a scratchy, hippy material, fibers like hemp and flax can now be softened to produce cloth that rivals cotton.
The reason flax, hemp and linen are stiff is down to the pectins that naturally occur in the plant – like paper. Naturally occurring enzymes can be used to rinse the raw fiber and remove all the pectins. What one comes out with is a soft, fine fiber of flax or hemp that can be blended with cotton but is far more sustainable than 100 per cent cotton or polyester.
Think of cotton, and one thinks of crisp white sheets. But what's being harvested is a flower and land is intensely – often industrially – farmed to meet global demands. The cotton plant has been genetically modified in a lab to offer a universal staple length (the length at which the fibers pull apart) and it might not be a variety indigenous to where it is being grown.
However, there is plenty of land to grow fiber. Bast fibers don't need anything except sunshine and rain. They can be grown in different parts of the world and in rotation with other crops. What's great about them is that they're prolific in growth and don't require many pesticides or herbicides.
