On this week’s Hemp Podcast, we talk to Guy Carpenter, founder of Bear Fiber in North Carolina, where he is spinning a blend of hemp and cotton into yarn and making garments like hats, shirts, and socks.
“The vision was to incorporate sustainability and longevity into people’s lifestyle,” he said.
Bear Fiber developed proprietary methods to produce cottonized hemp fiber, and is making connections around the U.S. and the world to reestablish hemp as a primary “source of natural fibers for better products,” he said.
When mixed with other fibers, such as cotton, hemp brings added strength and durability to textiles, he said.
Carpenter has witness drastic changes to the American textile industry over his career.
“The American textile apparel industry as it existed, doesn’t exist anymore,” he said.
“Textiles have have been remaining rather strong, but apparel, of course, has gone to lowest cost producers and, primarily China.”
American textile jobs are more craftsman-oriented and geared toward luxury goods, and hemp can make those products better, more durable, more sustainable, Carpenter said.
While he sees hope for the industry with hemp, the industry is still contracting.
He said companies in the supply chain are going out of business.
“We’ve lost five spinning mills. We’re losing a dyeing and finishing operation in South Carolina that’s been a bulwark in the industry for decades,” he said.
Spinning is the big issue, he said. But he is hopeful because he sees the work being down to save the industry
“There are people who are working on solutions, not to build it back to the way it was, but to be able to spin better yarns and more technical yarns, and also more sustainable yarns, which are what the industry is calling for.”
Bear Fiber
Hempcrete events:
Hempcrete Workshop in Pennsylvania, May 25
https://americhanvre.com/cast-in-place-workshop/
2024 NIHH Hemp Building Workshop
2-Day Intro to Hempcrete
https://www.muddauberbuilding.com/2dayhempcrete?mc_cid=f1f4673930&mc_eid=128b44621a
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