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  • From: "jamie" <jamie@tiscali.fr>
  • To: "Permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] nettle clothing
  • Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 09:11:00 -0000

As a small addition to the recent thread about the pleasure of deliberately
applying nettles to skin, here's a story about the latest in natural
clothing fibres - nettles!

Jamie
Souscayrous

> Farmers urged to grow stinging nettles
>
>
> July 1, 2003 07:00
>
> It is cursed as a pernicious weed that leaves a
> never-forgotten
> burning sensation, however lightly you brush past
> it.
>
> And yet farmers in East Anglia are being urged to
> grow acres of the
> common stinging nettle – for the likes of us to
> wear against our
> skin. Inconceivable as it may sound, the enemy at
> the gates of our
> gardens could soon become a friend of farmers in
> the region.
>
> Farmers are wanted to grow 600 acres of the urtica
> dioica, (that's
> the common stinging nettle to you and me) to turn
> into the latest
> fashion jeans. East Anglia's fertile soils are
> ideal to produce high
> yields of the plant.
>
> Those who got the chance to feel the fabric at the
> Royal Norfolk Show
> last week said the designer jacket on display was
> cool and soft to
> the touch. It had been created by Italian fashion
> house Corpo Nove,
> based in Milan with not a dock leaf in sight.
>
> Melvyn Askew, head of agricultural and rural
> strategy at the Central
> Science Laboratory, is serious about the potential
> for nettles. "They
> can be harvested to produce the finest fabric for
> clothing.
>
> "The fibres are absolutely ideal because they are
> so strong and yet
> so soft," he said.
>
> "We know that we can make clothing out of nettles
> which is even finer
> than silk. The fibre is very tough and
> long-lasting," said Mr Askew,
> who is based at York and heads a project funded by
> Brussels and two
> Whitehall departments. "There is a market out
> there for a group of
> farmers to start supplying industry with stinging
> nettles. We need
> about 600 tonnes of nettle fibre," said Mr Askew,
> who heads a team
> investigating the potential for growing non-food
> crops.
>
> He said that the nettles, ideally harvested when
> they reach about 8ft
> tall, grow best in more fertile soils. "East
> Anglia would be ideal
> because you have the soils," he added.
>
> The jacket on display at the show was made from
> nettle fibre, and
> modelled on a style worn by the Emperor Napoleon.
> "I understand that
> they're looking at producing fashion jeans next.
> That could be a huge
> market," he added.
>
> Selected London stores are due to stock the jeans
> in the autumn.
>
> Mr Askew said that sandbags made to line trenches
> in the first world
> war from nettle fibre have survived to this day.
>
> During the first and second world wars, nettles
> were used for
> producing textiles, in addition to flax and hemp.
>
> "It's an old English crop," he said.
>
> A good yield of nettles would produce around eight
> to 10 tonnes an
> acre of fibre, which must be extracted from the
> plant.
>
> An industrial process, decortification,
> effectively strips out the
> valuable fibre from the stem of the plant.
>
> The hairy outside stem is put through rollers to
> leave the strong
> fibre. From the grower's point of view, the leaves
> of the stinging
> nettle are surplus to requirements. "We need a
> farmer to grow nettles
> as tall as possible to produce as much fibre. The
> leaves are of no
> use at all," said Mr Askew.
>
> However, a specialist cheese maker from Cornwall
> could benefit from
> the nettle strategy. He uses nettle leaves around
> the sides of
> Cornish Yarg and there is a shortage of nettle
> leaves in his native
> county.
>
> Mr Askew said the total market for non-food crops
> in Europe is worth
> around £10bn. In Britain, we have an opportunity
> to lead by producing
> crops with real potential, from insulation
> materials made from hemp
> and flax, and green oils made from oilseed rape,
> to recyclable
> upholstery for cars.
>
> New lines of fire-retarding seatings for planes,
> trains and buses are
> also being developed – made from natural
> materials.
>
> "Around 100 years ago we were growing materials
> for use in industry
> and then artificial fibres came along. There is a
> huge potential out
> there. It is not often that we're in a position
> that there is a
> market out there and we can grow the crops.
> Farmers in this country
> can take a lead. We're ideally placed," he said.




  • [permaculture] nettle clothing, jamie, 07/14/2003

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