Be a Conscious Consumer! Choose Hemp
We want to share with you why we choose Hemp as one of our main fabrics!
Hemp is sumptuous, soft, and also incredibly sustainable. Sustainable is not always a sexy word – but it should be. Sustainability is about committing to a conscious planet. It is about bringing mindfulness and awareness to everything we do, but why exactly should we choose to wear hemp?
Hemp is a sustainable rapid growth fiber which does not require pesticides or vast quantities of water to produce, unlike cotton which requires both.
One of our favourites in the collection – the Zoe Dress is a hemp modal maxi dress – comfortable and fluid; it is the ultimate goddess dress, the hemp is designed to move and flow while wrapping your body elegantly. Plus, its made of eco-friendly hemp, a sustainable plant goddess as well!
Why wear hemp on holiday? Hemp feels fantastic on the skin – it is soft and sensuous and it keeps the body cool which is great when you are on the road. It’s a breathable fabric. It feels great and washes well. When we’re on the road we travel with a little bottle of Dr. Bronner’s unscented castille soap to hand wash our hemp FARA pieces in the sink. Hang them up before you go to bed and they’re dry and ready to wear the next day!
The hemp Stella Dress is a vacation favourite as it can be worn in so many ways: as a beach cover up, a little black dress for a dinner party, or even with converse and a backpack for a day of sightseeing.
Why wear hemp rather than cotton or other fabrics?
Simply put, hemp has much less of an environmental impact than most of it’s textile counterparts. It is good for the earth beneath our feet – not just because of reduced water consumption and pesticides but also it’s long roots prevent soil erosion. It can even grow quickly in soil with poor nutrients. It is a more conscious alternative to even organic cotton (cotton uses a lot more water when it is produced). Hemp’s sustainability comes from its durability – it doesn’t wear out like cotton or synthetic fabrics. Hemp is one of the strongest natural fibers on the planet. When you understand how incredibly hardy the hemp plant is, it only makes sense that once it is turned into a fabric, the fabric is equally strong.
By simply asking the question ‘why wear hemp’, we are creating a dialogue about the sustainability of fashion. By its very nature fashion is not sustainable. Being on trend is transient and styles change every season. FARA creates wearable timeless pieces that are much loved. FARA’s clothes capture the imagination. They are design conscious and sustainable. Our ethos encompasses the idea that instead of purchasing many different items, we should instead purchase a select few, that we hold dear, can wear in a multitude of instances, and will last a long time.
Being a Conscious Consumer is a Choice. We can choose every time we go shopping to support sustainable products and handcrafted items rather than mass produced cheap textiles or produce. Our ethos is based on fair trade – that means fair to our tailors, to ourselves, and also to our customers – and this is something we take great pride in.
Buying disposable high-street fashion impacts our environment as much as the car we drive or the plastic bags we choose to use or not use. If we are to be truly respectful people, we must increase awareness about who we are, what we want in and for the world. This includes making sure the tailors that sewed our outfit were paid a fair wage, as well as that the materials we wear have as little ecological impact as possible. Our style statement should be ethical and conscious.
Why Wear Hemp?
Why choosing sustainable fashion is important.
Cotton farming uses only 2.5 per cent of the world’s cropping space but packs a mighty 25 per cent of global insecticide use. Seven tablespoons of chemicals are used to make one cotton T-shirt.
In the UK alone 1/2 million tonnes of clothing goes into landfill sites every year. Disposable fashion contributes to our carbon footprint just as much as our weekly supermarket shop.
Everything we do day to day, every action, has a ripple. But choosing sustainability makes waves. We invest in the world at large as well as ourselves. Sustainability is a path towards self preservation and self awareness. Why wear hemp? To make waves of course!
Each product should also be a mirror reflecting those producing the item as well. Is that mirror clear? Is it a transparent process from farm to table? From weaver to wardrobe? What are the lives of the people producing our food and garments. Are they being paid a fair wage?
If we choose handcrafted, we are supporting small or ethical business trying to make a difference rather than fast fashion retailers trying to make big business no matter the cost.
Independent businesses are typically small enterprises, so they take up less land and resources.
Raw silk, natural fabrics, local artisans, traditional dying techniques, handcrafted wisdom… FARA is style and substance. There is a feel-good factor to buying FARA for more reasons than one.
