Dirt To Shirt!

Jason Finnis, Founder, HT

Naturalshtnaturals.com

by Rob McMahon

photo by Jaime Kowal

Jason Finnis enjoys a challenge. When he founded HT Naturals (formerly Hemptown), it was illegal to grow hemp in Canada, and the material was scratchy.

“When we started [our shirts] could perhaps best be explained as exfoliating,” says Finnis, with a smile.

mp’s environmental benefits, which include less pesticide use than cotton, pushed him to overturn the legal barriers, and to work with the National Research Council to develop a more comfortable material.

Since then, HT Naturals has patented a fabric-manufacturing technique that results in a finished product in eight hours, rather than 60 days. The resulting fabric, Crailar fibre, will be available in 2008.

Finnis started HT Naturals with $300, while studying classical and jazz music at the University of Victoria. Beginning at folk festivals and flea markets, he set up a summer stall of hemp products at Victoria’s Western Speedway.

As the business grew, it evolved into a public company dedicated to the triple bottom line: environmental sustainability, fair working conditions, and profit. The company’s Shanghai office monitors the working conditions in its manufacturing plants.
Customers have responded to these initiatives. The company grew 400 per cent between 2001 and 2002 alone. Finnis is now working to build a full-service “dirt to shirt” production chain.

“People are starting to embrace eco-sustainable products,” he says. “Wal-Mart is selling organic cotton; that’s a pretty good testament to the field’s success.”

—Rob McMahon