From its workshop in the River North district, Denver Hemp caters to both clienteles — marijuana aficionados and shoppers just looking for an eco-friendly alternative to cotton.
Campbell has been involved in the marijuana industry since its beginnings in Colorado, as a medical marijuana grower.
Hemp and marijuana are varieties of the same cannabis plant, but hemp is non-intoxicating, with only trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana.
So, no, you can't get high by wearing a hemp shirt.
What you can get, though, is hemp's durability and antimicrobial properties. You'll also be supporting a raw material that is much easier to cultivate than cotton, requiring little water and no pesticides or herbicides, Campbell said.
Right now, all of Denver Hemp's fabric comes from China, but Campbell is eagerly awaiting the day he can buy Colorado hemp.
The U.S. government, for now, prohibits the transport of raw hemp between states, and there are no industrial hemp processing facilities in Colorado, making local sourcing all but impossible, he said.
"When Colorado hemp fabric is available, I'll have the first T-shirts," he said.
Where to buy: Denver Hemp Co. gear is available at denverhempco.com and in person First Fridays at Wazee Union, 3501 Wazee St. $12-$75, denverhempco.com
Cloth+Ink
Helen Peterson grew up surrounded by textiles.
At home in England, her grandmother owned a fabric shop where, as a girl, Peterson spent weekends. Her mother sewed everything — clothes, home décor, even wedding dresses. Peterson studied textiles in college and worked, for a time, in fiber research and garment manufacturing.
"I've always loved fabric and the art side of designing textiles," Peterson said. "I always had this idea that if I went back into textiles, I would do it for myself."
Peterson's hand-designed fabrics — in bold colors and clean, modern patterns — are the heart and soul of Cloth+Ink, her independent textile design company in Lafayette.
Everything she makes — functional bags, scarves, pillows and lamp shades — begins with her textiles, stored in long rolls in her airy basement workshop.
Each roll begins the same way, too: a neutral, cream-colored blend of hemp and organic cotton, selected for durability and environmental reasons.
"A huge part of my business is eco-friendly fabrics," Peterson said. "You can have good-quality, modern design that is also better for the planet."
Peterson's design process often begins with a photograph of something that caught her eye in nature or architecture.
From those photos, Peterson sketches or paints a little watercolor of the elements she hopes to transform into a simple pattern. She creates the pattern using computer software — "like putting a jigsaw (puzzle) together," she said.
For the first year, Peterson printed all the fabric herself, "in a tiny little room with tiny screens."
Soon, though, she outgrew her ability to print everything in-house. She now works with a family-owned printer in California that takes her modern European designs and screen-prints them by hand onto the long fabric rolls. (It takes two people to print each roll, she said.)
"I like print, I like texture, but I don't like fuss," Peterson said. "I like my designs to be very clean and modern."
Where to buy: Cloth+Ink is for sale at etsy.com/shop/ClothandINK, and in a number of local retailers, including I Heart Denver, 500 16th St. #264, Denver; and Boulder Arts & Crafts, 1421 Pearl St., Boulder. $16-85, cloth-ink.com
Seamly.co
Where your fabric comes from matters.
For Kristin Glenn, maker of hip, versatile women's basics in Denver, it could be a mission statement.
At Seamly.co, each and every fabric is chosen with sustainability in mind, whether it's surplus jersey from large clothing companies like J.Crew, or new rayon blends knitted in the U.S. Every Seamly garment is also cut and sewn in Colorado.
"A lot of people have never seen fabric being knitted or garments being sewn. It's very hard to understand and appreciate where clothes come from unless you've seen how it works," Glenn said. "My mission is to inspire customers to make better choices about their clothes."
Pulling back that curtain began a year ago with surplus.
Also known as deadstock, surplus fabrics are essentially the leftovers of large-scale garment manufacturing, Glenn said. Sometimes, the fabric is just no longer needed— maybe the color isn't on trend anymore or they ordered too much — or it's rejected due to small flaws in knit or dye.
Seamly receives it on giant rolls, transforming the "waste" into slim pants, tank tops, dresses and other basics at sew shops in Golden and Westminster.
In recent months, Seamly has begun a transition to all American- and Canadian-made fabrics, something that should be complete next year, Glenn said.
"It's a piece of the whole," she said. "If something can be made here in a very transparent way and creates jobs here, I should take advantage."
Seamly's commitment to sustainability also translates to the final garments, many of which are designed to be worn multiple ways.
A wide-leg pantsuit can be worn as a halter, with short cap sleeves, strapless or as just pants. A popular dress can be worn above the knee, or long as a maxi.
Glenn said her interest in versatility came while she was traveling abroad after college.
"If you can offer people one garment that can be worn in two or three or four different ways, that means they don't have to consume those extra pieces, that extra raw material, that extra shipping," she said.
Where to buy: Seamly.co products are available exclusively at the company's website, seamly.co; $32-$98
Emilie Rusch: 303-954-2457, erusch@denverpost.com or twitter.com/emilierusch