Shortly after Jack Herer's publication of The Emperor Wears No Clothes in 1990, Marijuana activists became enthralled with the idea that marijuana and hemp were one and the same, and efforts were made to create clothing from hemp fibres. However, hemp textiles were so scarce that the only supplies most of them could find were hempen string and binding twine. By dyeing these fibers and tying them together, the first modern, US-manufactured hemp products began to appear: hemp bracelets.
The hemp jewellery was sold by activists groups during the first Hemp Tours that visited colleges to demonstrate that hemp textiles were not a myth, not a pipe dream, and not a falsehood. You really could make something out of hemp, a fibre crop that was almost forgotten due to neglect... and possibly even corporate espionage. From such humble beginnings the current hemp clothing industry sprung.
