What I Learnt After Quitting My Job And Backpacking The World For 2 Years.

Hey Pandas, I’m Hannah.

Two years ago, I left my 9 to 5 corporate job to take a career break and travel the world with my husband. Our goal was to explore less-visited places and to do a long trip travelling overland as much as possible. We travelled over 25,000 kilometres by bus, minivan, car, train, and boat, across Europe, Africa, and Asia. We stayed in locals’ homes, hitchhiked with locals, and ate in local restaurants, hoping to learn as much as possible about different people and cultures.

For over 18 months we backpacked, carrying only a 10 kilogram backpack each. So it was important that we could cram as many durable, reliable, and versatile clothes in that pack, to use over and over again.

Whilst travelling, I found that the only options were sporty and durable but unfashionable hiking clothes, or more fashionable but lower quality and less durable clothes from “fast fashion” high street brands . I began to research this more, and also realised how bad lots of our clothing is for the environment.

For instance, it takes 2,700 litres of water to produce 1 cotton t-shirt! That is almost 3 years of drinking water for the average person. And nowadays, so much clothing is only worn a few times and then thrown out.

So I decided to make my own travel clothes, and founded a sustainable, and ethical clothing brand called Hempton.

It was not long before I learned a few key things that were instrumental in my decision to form Hempton:

Fashion in Western countries is centred around Fast Fashion: clothes that are made quickly and cheaply, but that consumers quickly throw out. While in developing countries we visited, people owned less and kept their clothes for much longer.

It was difficult for me to find clothing for my trip that was durable and versatile enough to endure long-term travel: holding up to both the heat and the cold, strenuous outdoor activities and also long travel days, and still being feminine and fashionable and comfortable.

I saw so much waste and pollution on my trip, so I wanted to make something that would not be harmful to the environment and would not contribute to pollution, global warming, and climate destruction.

I also realised how many people (including children) are either in forced labour, or are working in awful conditions, often being abused, and being paid less than a liveable wage.

Hemp is nicknamed the Super Plant because it is so easy to grow, so it is much more sustainable and better for our planet.

Hempton clothes are made from Hemp, because it also has all the awesome qualities I want from my travel clothes, such as:

UV Protection

Anti-Microbial / Anti-Odor

Reduced-Wrinkling

Breathable

Moisture-wicking

Durable – Much Stronger than Cotton.

Hemp is 3x Stronger than Cotton – Hempton T-shirts are Made to Last

I also took time travelling around Asia to visit and meet with local factories, until I found a vertically integrated manufacturer that uses only certified organic fibres, uses solar power and had a mission to be sustainable, and fair to all the workers. The factory is certified by The Fair Wear Foundation, which ensures all the workers are treated well, paid fairly, have health benefits, and much more.

Our first range of Hempton T-shirts, made from Hemp are available now on Kickstarter, check out our page for my full story and a greater insight to the future of the super plant hemp in sustainable fashion.

Hempton Classic T-shirt – made from 55% Hemp | 45% Organic Cotton

See here

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hempton/hempton-super-plant-sustainable-t-shirt-endure-adventure

Thanks for reading my story Pandas, and I’m so happy to see people who are as passionate as I am about the future of sustainable and ethical fashion!

More info: kickstarter.com