Hemp Denim Kickstarter Campaign from SLOW Jeans by Canvaloop

I hope you all enjoyed my three-post series featuring sustainable denim brand Porter Blue Apparel! Kickstarter, or crowd funding in general, is such a great way for new brands to bring their products to market, and I’m stoked to see so many that are doing so with the means to make needed changes in the denim industry. Along with recycled or organic cotton, hemp is another material that is severely underutilized in the mainstream fashion industry. I’ve written a bit about brands bringing hemp or hemp denim to the market before, but sometimes it’s rather difficult to keep momentum moving in the denim industry as a new brand, MUCH less when attempting to offer the more pricey sustainable options. Either way, I’m so happy to see so many at least planting the seed and bringing forth the message that this needs to be done in the otherwise dirty and wasteful industry. I have yet another great brand to share with you that is getting their start on Kickstarter, with hemp denim, no less!

Canvaloop is a company with a mission to provide sustainable fibers to apparel manufacturers. They are currently launching their own hemp denim brand on Kickstarter, with the name of SLOW Denim. You get it, right? Slow fashion as opposed to fast. Fast fashion is terrible for the environment, mass producing clothes that are basically made to only last as quick and fading impulse buy tastes, filling up our landfills and accounting for 20% of the globe’s water waste and 35% of all microplastics released into the oceans. As I mentioned, denim is pretty hard on our environment, using up a TON of water during production (7,600 liters per PAIR), and also being responsible for the microplastics issue (1,900pcs per pair). Denim also usually uses a lot of toxins, both for the wash process for that worn-in, “vintage” look, and the dying process.

As we all know by now, hemp is a highly sustainable fiber which is only now starting to gain traction for manufacturing in our country. SLOW Jeans is helping lead the movement by incorporating Himalayan hemp in their jeans! Himalayan hemp is fast growing (8-10 feet in 90-120 days) and carbon negative like all hemp (consuming more CO2 than any other crop), but is also 100% rain-fed to help reduce water consumption, saving 3,500 liters a year. All seeds are non-GMO, and no pesticides are used. This fiber is spun into Hemploop+™ which is Canvaloop’s proprietary blend using Himalayan hemp. It is naturally UV protective, odor-free and moisture wicking. This fabric technology is also made to break in beautifully and only get better with age and wear. Everything is made from hemp here—not just the jeans, but the tags, paper and packaging as well.

SLOW Jeans will first be available in three shades: black, sky and indigo, in three fits: regular, slim and skinny, for both women and men. Custom fitting will be available to campaign backers to make sure your new jeans fit you the way you like (because we all know that can be a total crapshoot when buying jeans online). Also part of the campaign are reusable masks, also made with Himalayan hemp and available in all three colors.

The SLOW Jeans by Canvaloop Kickstarter campaign has already raised over $8,000 of its $10,000 goal, and still has ten days to go! There is so much potential in hemp denim and I’m excited to keep my eyes on this brand!

“We aim to bring the world’s oldest and most sustainable fibre back to mainstream fashion.” – Shreyans Kokra, Canvaloop ounder

Check out the SLOW Jeans by Canvaloop Kickstarter campaign HERE.