Cottonized Hemp
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Cottonized hemp makes hemp feel soft like cotton. The introduction of cottonized hemp is huge — not just for Levi's, but for the entire industry. Hemp crops use significantly less water, with less than half the carbon footprint; until now, however, hemp delivered a rough texture, closer to linen than to cotton. To solve this, Levi's partnered with fiber technology specialists to create a “cottonization” process that softens the fiber, using very little energy or chemical processing, to make it look, feel and perform like cotton. This page explains the cottonized hemp term and links to the hemp resources and the coverage of cottonized hemp denim.
Cottonized hemp makes help feel soft like cotton.
The introduction of cottonized hemp is huge. Not just for Levi's but for the entire industry. While hemp crops use significantly less water with less than half the carbon footprint, until now, it’s delivered a rough texture, closer to linen than cotton.
To solve this, Levi's partnered with fiber technology specialists to create a “cottonization” process that softens the fiber (using very little energy or chemical processing) to make it look, and more importantly feel, almost indistinguishable from cotton. The innovative development of this rain-fed hemp allows it to be woven like cotton into your jeans – same great feel, a lot less water.
Cottonized hemp looks, and more importantly feels, almost indistinguishable from cotton. The innovative development of this rain-fed hemp allows it to be woven like cotton into jeans and other garments. The fabric maintains a great feel and what appears to be a lot less water.
Per our understanding, this Cottonized Hemp does NOT utilize cotton. It is hemp that is made to feel soft like cotton.
Hemp + Less Water (with "no" actual cotton). However, the cottonized hemp yarn can be blended with cotton yarns to create a hemp & cotton blend fabric. For example, the 2019 Levi's® WellThread™ X Outerknown Trucker Jacket is 69% cotton / 31% hemp.
Learn more about cottonized hemp from Levi's on our fashion blog.
Learn about Wellthread (which uses less water).
Learn more about hemp fiber.
Why Texture Was the Barrier
Hemp's virtues were never the problem. The fiber is strong, grows quickly with little irrigation or pesticide, and produces durable fabric — the same fabric family as linen, which it resembles in hand. The problem was that resemblance: against skin, in the products where cotton dominates — jeans, t-shirts, underwear — hemp felt coarse, and consumers who praised its sustainability in principle bought soft cotton in practice. Every attempt to scale hemp clothing ran into that wall of texture, which is why a process that changes the fiber's feel rather than merely blending it away matters to the whole industry and not only to one brand's collection.
Cottonization attacks the problem at the fiber stage, softening hemp before spinning so the resulting yarn can be woven and knitted on the same equipment and to the same softness expectations as cotton. The significance this page points to is the combination: a fiber with hemp's water and carbon advantages that no longer asks the wearer to accept a rougher garment as the price of them. Whether it scales depends on processing cost and supply of suitable hemp, but the direction is clear in the coverage linked here — from a niche eco-fabric to a candidate ingredient in the most mainstream garment of all, a pair of jeans.
Common Questions
What is cottonized hemp?
Hemp fiber that has been processed — “cottonized” — to soften it so it looks, feels and performs like cotton, removing the rough, linen-like texture that kept raw hemp out of soft garments such as denim and t-shirts.
Why does hemp matter to the clothing industry?
Because of its footprint: hemp crops use significantly less water than cotton, with less than half the carbon footprint, as this page sets out. If cottonization removes the comfort objection, hemp becomes a realistic large-scale alternative fiber.
Who developed cottonized hemp?
Levi's, working with fiber technology specialists, developed the cottonization process described here and introduced it in denim; the page links to Levi's and to the fashion blog's coverage of cottonized hemp denim and the WellThread collection.