Raw Hemp Polo Shirt

The first polo shirt made from hemp and left in its raw, undyed state.

£145 £72
Raw Hemp Polo Shirt
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Size

Model is 6ft 1 / 185cm with a 39 inch / 99cm chest, and wears size Medium.

  • The polo shirt is left in its raw, undyed state
  • Built with 55% organic hemp
  • Hemp combined with organic cotton for softness

Hemp has been banned by governments, had war declared against it, and been accused of bringing down modern society. But the truth is hemp is one of the most extraordinary plants on Earth. With 4x the durability and 8x the tensile strength of cotton, the Egyptians used it to haul rocks around when they were building the pyramids, and Chinese warlords built their armour from it. Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the New World in 1492 was made possible thanks to the strength of his hemp sails.

From an environmental perspective every tonne of hemp produced removes 1.6 tonnes of CO2 from the air. It requires zero pesticides and very little water to cultivate. And it’s so smart scientists now use it to clean up soil, water and air contaminated with radioactive isotopes after nuclear meltdowns. As for clothing, the plant’s fibres grow to over 4 metres which makes them incredibly soft yet really strong. It’s breathable, water repellent, antibacterial, UV resistant and biodegradable. So we’re now going back to building clothes out of it in its raw and undyed state.

Technical Details

Material grown in the Heilongjiang mountains, China: 55% organic hemp, 45% organic cotton
Soft and breathable
Two bio-resin buttons
Shirt weighs 310 grams
Material weighs 250g/m2
Machine wash 30°C
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From plant to polo in the fewest steps possible

Since 2019 we’ve been exploring how we can create clothes using as few resources as possible. Having already worked with wood, black algae, pomegranates, mangoes, eucalyptus and beech, our ‘raw’ clothing focuses on one of nature’s most brilliant materials – hemp – and then doing as little to it as possible. That’s why the Raw Hemp Polo is made out of hemp and left in its raw, undyed state.

Soft and breathable

As polo shirts are typically more heavyweight than normal t shirts, we’ve worked with a material that has a nice weight to it. The Raw Hemp Polo Shirt is built from a blend of raw organic hemp and raw organic cotton, which makes it incredibly soft and breathable.

  • Easy to wear all day

    Because hemp fibre is porous, it’s naturally highly breathable and moisture-wicking, so it’s easy to wear all day. The fabric’s fibres are hollow, so they trap pockets of air to keep you warmer in winter but allow the shirt to breathe easily in summer. It’s also antibacterial, so if you want to smell good all day long, hemp is the perfect choice. It blocks UV-A and UV-B rays. And thanks to its high resistance to ultraviolet light, it won’t disintegrate from sunlight like other natural fabrics.

We’re using raw hemp to remake the colour white

We’re already working with black algae to reinvent how the colour black is made. Now we’re using nature to remake the colour white. When you create a piece of clothing without putting it through a dyeing process, the final colour depends entirely on the natural pigment of the fibres that have been used. So the Raw Hemp Polo Shirt is an off-white because that’s the natural colour of the plant’s fibres. With no dyes, you’re looking at a new way of creating the colour white by using the inside of the plant itself.

  • Hemp is a supermaterial

    From an environmental perspective every tonne of hemp produced removes 1.6 tonnes of CO2 from the air. It requires zero pesticides and very little water to cultivate. And it’s so smart scientists now use it to clean up soil, water and air contaminated with radioactive isotopes after nuclear meltdowns. As for clothing, the plant’s fibres grow to over 4 metres which makes them incredibly soft yet really strong. It’s breathable, water repellent, antibacterial, UV resistant and biodegradable. So we’re now going back to building clothes out of it in its raw and undyed state.

  • Hemp is also really strong

    Hemp has been banned by governments, had war declared against it, and been accused of bringing down modern society. But the truth is hemp is one of the most extraordinary plants on Earth. With 4x the durability and 8x the tensile strength of cotton, the Egyptians used it to haul rocks around when they were building the pyramids, and Chinese warlords built their armour from it. Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the New World in 1492 was made possible thanks to the strength of his hemp sails.

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Irrigated with mountain rainwater

We source our hemp from the most northerly province in China, Heilongjiang, working with a partner committed to producing materials sustainably. The region is known for its remote mountain ranges which supply farmlands with clean rainwater. They use this rainwater to irrigate the hemp fields, which reduces water consumption and leads to a stronger and smoother hemp plant. And that leads to a stronger and smoother polo shirt.

Buttons made from bio resin

The polo fastens with 2 buttons made from bio-resin – a natural, non-toxic and water-based material we’ve produced by combining plant and vegetable waste with a polyester resin used in the aerospace industry.

  • The idea of raw isn’t new in architecture or food

    The history of raw materials has long been embraced in architecture – the Bauhaus preached ‘truth to materials’ – which essentially meant showing what each material is doing. If a steel beam is holding up your house, don’t hide it under something else. It’s also been reframing how we think about food too. The Cook It Raw movement co-founded by Rene Redzepi of Noma has been encouraging the idea of making food with as few appliances as possible – ideally just your hands, a knife, and a fire. And has produced dishes like beef tartare cured in kelp and flavoured with citrus-tasting wood ants.

Size + Fit

The Raw Hemp Polo Shirt is designed with a regular fit.

Size XS S M L XL XXL
Fits chest 83 - 90 91 - 98 99 - 106 107 - 114 115 - 122 123 - 130
Fits waist 71 - 76 76 - 81 81 - 86 86 - 91 91 - 96 96 - 101
Size XS S M L XL XXL
Fits chest 33 - 36 36 - 39 39 - 42 42 - 45 45 - 48 48 - 51
Fits waist 28 - 30 30 - 32 32 - 34 34 - 36 36 - 38 38 - 40