How RHS Can Help Break the Industrial Hemp Chicken-and-Egg Cycle

The apparel market, like many other industries, is eager for environmentally low-impact, natural materials. Hemp consistently tops the list, for good reason. It requires fewer inputs than cotton, builds soil health, and offers strength as a durable bast fiber. However, despite this promise, brands still struggle to source hemp at scale.

So why hasn’t hemp taken off? It’s the same story we hear across the value chain: no one wants to go first.

The Chicken and the Egg – What’s Holding Hemp Back?

The industrial hemp ecosystem—especially for textiles—is trapped in a catch-22:

• Farmers won’t grow fiber hemp without a guaranteed buyer or price premium.

• Processors won’t invest in decortication or cottonization lines without raw material throughput.

• Mills and spinners are hesitant to adapt to hemp fiber’s quirks without long-term brand commitments.

• Brands and retailers hesitate to commit because there is not enough consistent, traceable supply available to meet sourcing targets.

This mutual hesitation keeps the supply chain stuck in low volume, preventing economies of scale and slowing market adoption.

The Practical Challenges Behind the Stalemate

• Acreage is hard to secure. Most hemp acreage is still dedicated to grain or CBD. Fiber varieties require specific genetics, agronomic knowledge, and infrastructure.

• Processing capacity is underbuilt. Decorticators and degumming facilities require millions in investment, but few investors will back projects without a stable offtake agreement.

• Spinners and mills face R&D risks. Without consistent fiber quality or a chain-of-custody system, it’s hard for them to justify the time and capital to experiment with hemp.

• Brand teams are stuck. They want traceable bast fiber aligned with sustainability targets, but can’t find suppliers that meet ESG and compliance thresholds.

How RHS Can Help Break the Loop

The Responsible Hemp Standard (RHS) exists to address these bottlenecks with a practical, scalable certification system tailored to industrial hemp. Here's how it helps:

• Provides verified traceability from seed to finished product, giving brands confidence to commit sourcing targets even if volumes are still small.

• Unlocks brand-level storytelling and ESG compliance by verifying land use, labor practices, input management, and processing standards.

• Enables investment by offering third-party credibility, de-risking infrastructure development, and facilitating impact-aligned capital.

• Standardizes expectations for mills and processors by defining fiber specifications, social and environmental requirements, and quality assurance protocols.

• Supports organic transition without requiring it, offering an on-ramp for farmers without the burden of whole-farm organic certification.

From Gridlock to Growth

RHS certification gives each part of the ecosystem a reason to take the next step.

• Farmers gain access to premium buyers.

• Processors gain verified claims and investor confidence.

• Mills gain supply chain transparency and quality standards.

• Brands gain an actionable way to integrate traceable and transparent bast fibers without fear of greenwashing.

Breaking the cycle starts with trust. Responsible Hemp offers the common language and verification system needed to build it across farms, factories, and brands. We don’t need more good intentions. We need credible systems that bring the hemp fiber supply chain to life, one certified step at a time.