When the U.S. Navy turned to Tuscarora Mills of Bedford, Pennsylvania, to assist outfit the crew of the historic USS Structure with dungarees for a brand new set of uniforms, it did greater than honor the ship’s legacy. It quietly marked the Navy’s first challenge involving hemp textiles for the reason that 2018 Farm Invoice re-legalized hemp cultivation in the US—reconnecting America’s army with a fiber that after outlined its seafaring legacy.
“Hemp and flax served the world’s seafaring textile wants for eons for a cause,” mentioned Dave Cook dinner, co-founder at Tuscarora. “They’ve at all times delivered worth, longevity, and efficiency on the water and in port.”
The connection started when Laurra Winters, Director of the Navy Clothes, Textile and Analysis Middle in Natick, Massachusetts, approached Tuscarora Mills about sourcing traditionally correct textiles for the 200-year-old warship.
Tuscarora’s work with hemp and flax materials opened the door to a dialog that finally led to a name from Mathew Welsh, a contractor working with the U.S. Division of Protection (DOD), to recreate the normal sailor pants for the Structure’s crew, based on Cook dinner.
For Cook dinner, the request match completely. The Tuscarora mill is thought for weaving heritage materials for historic houses and museums, from George Washington’s Mt. Vernon to Abraham Lincoln’s summer time cottage, and for producing costumes and textiles for movies like Chilly Mountain. The corporate additionally produced the crimson, white and blue wool bunting used within the bicentennial replica of the Fort McHenry Star-Spangled Banner.
Historic weave
To fulfill the Navy’s necessities, Tuscarora wove a material that echoed the Structure’s early Nineteenth-century outfitting. Hemp and flax had been the usual fibers of that period—used for uniforms, rigging, sails, and even chinking between the planks.
Tuscarora focuses on 100% long-line hemp fiber for sturdiness, breathability, and historic authenticity, blended with natural cotton grown in Texas and spun in North Carolina for added consolation and value steadiness.
The material was woven on Tuscarora’s iconic Draper shuttle looms, machines manufactured in Hopedale, Massachusetts, that after served as workhorses of American textile manufacturing.
“Their conventional selvedge and dense weaving skills made them ideally suited for this challenge,” Cook dinner defined. “And the very fact they had been made in Massachusetts felt becoming for uniforms destined for a ship inbuilt Boston.”
Genuine, strategic
The authenticity of the pants went past the weave. Earlier makes an attempt to supply materials for Structure uniforms had relied on supplies from China. Tuscarora pushed as an alternative to make use of European spun hemp yarn from Italian producer Linificio, and home natural cotton woven in Pennsylvania, an strategy way more aligned with the spirit of the ship and its legacy.
That element additionally underscored a deeper level: the strategic worth of re-establishing home bast fiber provide chains.
“Pure fibers like hemp and flax supply actual alternate options to plastic materials lined in PFAS ‘ceaselessly chemistry’ that the DOD relies upon upon right this moment,” Cook dinner mentioned. “If hemp labored so properly up to now, what’s stopping us from utilizing it right this moment to outfit the fashionable warrior?”
Classes from the previous
The Navy contract was small by industrial requirements, however Cook dinner believes its significance is much larger. The challenge highlighted how bast fibers can ship high-performance textiles which can be sturdy, breathable, and protected—whereas supporting native provide chains.
“This introduced into focus the alternatives for incorporating 100% long-line hemp yarn and materials into the nationwide safety dialogue,” Cook dinner mentioned. “Reimagining the home bast fiber textile provide chain for nationwide safety wants actually appears in keeping with the DOD’s push to maneuver rapidly away from poisonous plastic fibers, materials, and finishes towards the pores and skin of our sailors and troopers.”
The crew of the usConstitution has but to weigh in publicly, however Cook dinner famous that suggestions from the Navy’s contractor was glowing. “We heard the brand new dungarees are lovely and that the Navy was very proud of the completed product,” he mentioned.
Proof of idea
For Tuscarora Mills, the Structure dungarees symbolize greater than a historic replica—they’re a proof of idea for hemp textiles in trendy protection and civilian markets. That message aligns with Cook dinner’s broader advocacy for hemp textiles: Demand, innovation and funding are wanted to re-establish hemp-specific textile processing and spinning infrastructure within the U.S., he mentioned.
Whereas overseas spinners in China, India, Pakistan, and Europe stay lively within the U.S. market, Cook dinner careworn that America has the potential to rebuild its personal bast fiber ecosystem. “Imported textile merchandise usually are not low cost in any respect, however certainly carry enormous environmental, well being, financial and nationwide safety prices,” Cook dinner mentioned.
Right this moment, hemp fiber accounts for under 0.2% of worldwide textile fiber manufacturing, based on Textile Alternate, a nonprofit that tracks sustainability practices throughout the textile industries. Within the U.S., most hemp fiber processing caters to non-woven markets comparable to composites, filters, and client merchandise. Spinning long-line fiber into high-quality yarn stays a problem—however one Cook dinner believes is solvable.
“Remodeling American hemp into brief staple size ‘cottonized’ fiber and spinning blended hemp-cotton yarn has been a long-term purpose,” he famous. “These challenges shall be overcome, as they’ve in China and Europe.”
Pennsylvania legacy
Pennsylvania, as soon as a worldwide chief in pure textiles, is regaining momentum, with teams just like the Pennsylvania Fibershed, the Pennsylvania Flax Venture, and the Pennsylvania Hemp Trade Council pushing initiatives ahead. The state secured a $1 million Nationwide Science Basis grant in 2023 to develop the Pennsylvania Industrial Hemp Engine. Tuscarora is a key a part of this ecosystem, working with native companions to supply 100% hemp yarn and materials.
Cook dinner sees the Structure challenge as a symbolic bridge. “We’re at all times open to serving the previous and historical past with conventional makes use of of hemp in textiles and reproductions,” he mentioned. “However our actual focus is trying ahead and dealing to reintroduce the general public and the Division of Protection to the numerous alternatives hemp and flax supply in high quality, worth, utility and efficiency to house, business, and our nationwide safety.”
