Take Time to Stop and Appreciate the Hemp!

Since starting out over 9 years ago, BabyKicks has always used Hemp for its inserts due to its countless benefits. However, until now we have only been able to read about how the materials we use every day are being grown and processed, primarily because it’s currently illegal to grow industrial hemp in the US for fear that its visual similarity with non-industrial hemp might be a burden to authorities.

Thankfully, this all changed in the Spring as I undertook the long, long journey to a small town in north-eastern China – where most of the world’s industrial hemp is being grown – to personally meet our newest fabric supplier and the team of incredibly skilled seamstresses who produce our wonderful new fitteds and pocket diapers. Our new manufacturer and fabric supplier is an entrepreneur, just like me; he started his company nearly 10 years ago, produces IMO certified organic fabrics and has even patented his own unique hemp-knitting technique that allows him to produce superb high-quality fabric.

The three days I spent in China – for which our new manufacturer had thankfully hired an interpreter – was an incredible learning experience which provided me the chance to visit actual industrial hemp fields (yes, these are legitimate hemp fields) to see how the hemp fabric we use every-day is actually created – step by step. Most importantly, this trip allowed me to finally put a face and name to all the wonderful people that will provide us with fabric and will be making our fitteds and pocket diaper products; a project we have been working on for over a year.

By the way, did you know that the Chinese word for hemp is “ma?” Hemp is also recognized as one of the most valuable resources on Earth, out of which over 25,000 different products ranging from paper to foodstuffs can be created! With that in mind there are endless possibilities for new BabyKicks products in the future!

Stephen
BabyKicks