So we’ve just recently completed 2 back-to-back Trade Fairs and we have to say, despite the mammoth effort that goes into them – it was fantastic!

Not only did we get to see a great deal of our customers but we had some amazing feedback (and orders!) for our Spring/Summer 2010 Collection. So many people commented on how lovely the designs are and the colour choices. We definately feel the ranges are improving season on season and this is being reflected in orders and more people deciding to stock Braintree garments. It’s a good feeling.

We also, for the first time ever, previewed a forward order collection, Autumn/Winter 2010/11. Our wholesale customers have always known us as a short order company so it was great to get such positive feedback on a forward collection. We had some excellent orders for the Autumn/Winter range both from the UK and also from mainland Europe.

So if you came to the show thank you, it really is so good to see our customers who we speak with on the phone all the time! If you couldn’t make it to Spring Fair or Pure and you’d like to see either one of the ranges just let us know. We’re in Scotland next week showing the collection and will be out on the road in the coming weeks so just drop us an email at: info@braintreehemp.co.uk and we’ll do our best to come and see you!

Cornwall is one of our favourite places to visit. This time of year is great because Spring comes earlier there than it does in the rest of the country. A good excuse to get down there for a mini break is to check out the BLOOM festival at the Eden Project between 22nd February and 26th March. We’ll be gearing up our senses with the huge spectacle of colour and floral scent that the peeps from Eden will be putting on. A wonderful introduction to the warmer months!

66 year old Richard Friar and his wife Wendy have decided to turn their back garden into a hemp heaven with 500 samples of the wonder plant. Richard is Australia’s first licensed industrial hemp crop to be grown in an urban area. He decided to set up the plantation as his contribution to sustainability on the planet. Australia being the birth place of Braintree Eco Fibre Fashion, we’re also happy to get news like this from back home! Good on yer Richard!

Read more…

By TIM ELLIOTT

The Friars are hemp evangelists, firm believers in the world-changing potential of this most versatile of plants, which can be used in everything from food to fabrics and building materials.

With permission from the Department of Primary Industries, they are in the first stages of a pilot project aimed at teaching farmers how to grow hemp and commercialise its myriad byproducts.

The Friars’ crop, a mix of Chinese cultivars known as Yellow River and Lulu, is a fine example: the stalks can be used in the textile and construction industries – “they even use it, instead of steel, to reinforce concrete” – while the seeds can be eaten.

In December the couple applied to Food Standards for permission to sell the seed for human consumption, with approval expected early next year.

“They are a real superfood,” Wendy says. “It’s 23 per cent protein, and has more Omega 3 and Omega 6 than virtually any other source, including fish.

”In the early 1800s, Australia was twice saved from famine by eating virtually nothing but hemp seed for protein and hemp leaves for roughage.”

But the couple also plan to become brokers for hemp products, importing seeds and matching overseas and local producers with those undertaking retail or construction projects.

“We want to kickstart consumer demand,” Wendy explains. “It’s hard, though, because hemp has for so long been vilified as a dangerous drug.”

A film-maker, farmer, former horse trainer and grade rugby union player, Mr Friar has long been interested in permaculture and recycling; his company King Poo was one of the first to sell worm farms in the early 1990s. But it is hemp that has him raving.

“As a grandfather several times over, I am championing this now as the answer to a lot of our sustainability problems. We just have to lose the baggage we have about hemp, and approach it in a more mature way.”

Specially designed for days where it’s summer in the sun and winter in the shade. The rain comes and goes yet you want to be outside more and more!

All good things come to an end. So our sale is finishing very soon!

But, as one door closes another one opens… Our SPRING COLLECTION is soon to follow!

Imagine a paving slab that converts your step into green energy every time you walk on it…

Well, it’s been invented and it’s called the Pavegen system. These energy harnessing paving slabs can be inserted among regular pavement sections to capture the kinetic energy people spend just walking. Each rubber slab gets depressed by about 5 mm each time it gets stepped on, then the kinetic energy is converted into electricity. We think this is an AMAZING idea!

Following recent tests in East London, the Pavegen are now seeking investors and additional testing sites. Let’s hope someone comes along soon and gives them a nice big bag of cash!

Check out the Pavegen website for more info and news.

Don’t miss out on our current sale, with HUGE reductions! Stock is flying out the door, which is great because it’s all gotta go to make way for the new season collection (yeah, it’s coming, exciting eh! Watch this space).

But for now, lap up these bargins because they will soon come to an end, my friend….

Some very savvy people from a small village in Scotland have bought their own wind turbine to power their homes. The villagers of Fintry in Stirlingshire aim to become a complete zero-carbon, zero-waste community.

Not only are they reducing their carbon foot print by using green energy, but they’re making some dosh on the side by selling some of that energy to the national grid. The money made is put aside for energy efficiency schemes.

They were the first to do this in the UK and now other communities are following suit.

This is the kind of positive action that gives us all hope for the future of our planet!

For more info, check out the Fintry Development Trust website

Pick up a BARGAIN in our SALE! It’s so cheap, you can buy 2 sizes of the hemp jeans for days when you eat too many pies; buy a hemp tee for yourself and one for your best mate too so you can go to the pub in matching shirts; buy two pairs of hemp trousers to wear at the same time coz it’s so c-c-cold; buy that bamboo top in every colour because you love the style… The perks of a SALE are endless!!

Because they’re selling like hotcakes…

KIMONO CARDI

The best thing about this number is it’s versatility

and ease of wear.

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RELAXED PANTALOON

These are a success because of the soft cosy fabric

and flattering cut.

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MULTI SKIRT

It’s pretty obvious why this one is a favourite -

1 garment, 6 ways to wear it!