Hemp vs Cotton: Hemp products were used by explorers, laborers, and the military for thousands of years before being demonized as the d weed and targeted by US legislators in the early twentieth century. Cotton makes the majority of clothes in e closet because it’s cheap, comfortable and widely available. But the role cotton is playing in the environmental pollution is unmeasurable as it requires excessive water usage, as well as pesticides and agrochemicals. On the other hand, hemp could solve many of the environmental problems! It been around for a millennia! It’s a sturdy plant with thick and fibrous stalks and it grows all over the planet. Researchers estimate that hemp has been in usage around 8,000 B.C, long before humans even cultivated plants. So let’s take a look at some of our favorites comparisons: Hemp requires no fertilizer or pesticides. As we mentioned earlier, growing hemp is very sustainable. It requires no fertilizers or pesticides and it saves space too. Hemp plants are tall and thin and don’t take up much room. On the other hand, cotton is responsible for 25% of the world’s pesticide use. Hemp plants has absurd number of uses and 200% of the plant is put to use. 2. Cotton uses 4 times more water than hemp does. While hemp demands half the amount of land to produce fabric textile in comparison to cotton, it also requires four times less water and a much shorter period to grow than cotton does. To grow 1 pound of cotton it requires 3000 gallons of water that is equivalent to a single t-shirt or a pair jeans. Hemp on the other hand, utilizes 40 gallons of water which mainly comes from rainwater to produce an average of 1 pound of fiber. We mentioned earlier that growing industrial hemp could be sustainable. Hemp has an absurd number of uses, including uses in the textile, nutrition, and construction industries. For this reason, hemp can be grown and cultivated for a variety of purposes, meaning virtually 100% of the plant is put to use. Very little is wasted. Hemp also saves space, as the plants are tall, thin, and don’t take up much room. In some instances, they don’t even need pesticides or chemicals (unlike cotton which is believed to be responsible for 25% of the world’s pesticide use). And as for water usage, hemp definitely wins out. To produce 1kg (a little over 2lbs) of cotton, growers may require more than 20,000 liters of water. A single kg of dry hemp, on the other hand, can be made using just 300-500 liters of water. Furthermore, 30% of this can be used for fiber production. 1. Hemp is 4 times stronger than cotton. 2. Cotton uses 4 times more water per kilogram. 3. Hemp won't stretch out and loose shape like cotton will. 4. Hemp requires no fertilizer and pesticides. 5. Hemp grows like weed, almost as fast as bamboo. The hemp plant goes from seed to harvest in 4 months. 6. Hemp is highly resistant to absorbing water, which is unusual for the plant based material. 7. Cotton soaks up water and holds onto it which causes rotting.
