Source: The Courier-Journal Author: Missy Baxter Pubdate: Sunday March 1, 19998 Contact: http://www.courier-journal.com/cjconnect/edletter.htm Mail: 525 W. Broadway, PO Box 740031 Louisville, Ky. 40201-7431 FAX: 502-582-4200 Website: http://www.courier-journal.com/ HEMP CLOTHES MAY SOW SEEDS OF NEW INDUSTRY LEBANON, KY - Seamstresses at a small sewing factory in a rural Kentucky town made history recently as they stitched together 350 shirts that are being touted as "the first industrial hemp clothing ever made commercially in Kentucky." The men's casual/dress shirts, which are being marketed by the new Kentucky Industrial Hemp Association, Inc., hit the racks last month in shops across the country. "We've already gotten orders from stores in Kentucky, Tennessee, Oregon, Missouri and New York," said Craig Lee, executive director of the association, which formed last summer. "We know there is a big market for hemp clothing." Heather Gifford, a fashion designer, apparel merchandiser and the association's president, said the group plans to create more hemp clothing, including women's blouses, safari-style jackets and pants. "Hemp is a really great fabric because it's durable and yet very comfortable," she said. The association's members support the legalization of industrial hemp in Kentucky and say they decided to start a line of apparel made from hemp fabric imported from China to prove there is a market for hemp products. Retailers agree that the popularity of hemp clothing is booming. Hemptech, a California consulting firm that tracks the industry, expects worldwide sales of hemp products to reach $200 million this year and $600 million by 2001. "The demand for hemp products is increasing every day," said Rob Moseley, the association's vice president and owner of Kentucky Hemp Outfitters, a Louisville shop that sells everything from hemp shoes to hemp/silk-blend evening gowns. The association's shirts are available for $49.95 at Moseley's shop at Bardstown Road and Eastern Parkway. The hemp shirts will also be sold at Planet Hemp, an upscale specialty store and catalog company in New York City. John Howell, managing director of Planet Hemp, said his company is "pleased to be working with the association and looking forward to getting even more hemp merchandise from Kentucky." The demand for many hemp products exceeds the supply, Howell said. "We're always scrambling for suppliers," he said. "When we started this company just over a year ago, we wanted to prove there is a market for hemp. We've found out there is definitely a big market." To create the shirts, the association hired American Sewing Technology, Inc., a small Lebanon, Ky. firm that sews specialty apparel for companies across the United States. Rita Evanoff, one of the factory's owners, said working with the association "seems like a natural partnership because we sew items for companies that want to be able to say their products are made in the U.S.A....that is our niche." Evanoff said she hopes the association is "successful selling these shirts so we can make more items for them." The seamstresses at the plant, many of whom began working at American Technologies after being laid off from other sewing factories, are "excited about working on something new," said Denise Mattingly, a New Haven resident who works at the plant. "I think it's great they're trying to create jobs," she said. "We hope to get to sew more clothes like this. The hemp material was easy to work with." Lee said the workers at the factory "are a part of history now. With their help, we can prove that industrial hemp, which was once a major cash crop in Kentucky, can once again aid rural economic development." With the recent layoffs and plant closings by Fruit of the Loom and other garment manufacturers in Kentucky, Lee said, "this area needs jobs that would use the skills those laid-off workers have....making hemp clothes would fit right in with what this area needs and has the ability to offer." Although the first 350 shirts were made from imported fabric, the association's eventual goal is to make clothes from hemp grown in Kentucky. "Hemp was once a major crop in this state, but it was used mostly for rope, cordage and seeds for other states," explained Lee. "Hemp clothing has never been made commercially here - until now." Industrial hemp, sometimes called "marijuana's misunderstood cousin," is grown in Asia, Europe and Canada as a source for fiber for fabric, twine and paper. Kentucky, with its struggling tobacco economy, is one of about 15 states where advocates are trying to get the plant legalized. Kentucky hemp advocates, including actor/environmentalist Woody Harrelson, scored a legal victory last summer when a district judge in Eastern Kentucky declared the state's marijuana law unconstitutionally broad because it lumps hemp with marijuana, which contains a much larger amount of the psychoactive substance, THC. Harrelson's case, in which he planted four hemp seeds in Lee County and was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession, soon will be heard by the Kentucky Supreme Court, and hemp proponents see that as a good sign. "There's a chance it could be legal to grow hemp here within the next few years, and it's important that we show farmers that money and products can be made with it," Lee said. "Farmers and other people have to realize there is a market for industrial hemp, and that it can help create jobs and boost the economy." © 1998 The Courier-Journal