Put (hemp) flowers in your revolutionary Italian brands
An annotated guide to the hemp market in Italy: who is behind the new up-and-coming brands in cosmetics (and beyond)?
It can be used in cooking, it can become a fabric or a piece of paper, it can be exploited in cosmetics and even in green building: ever since it became possible to cultivate it again even in Italy, the uses and experiments for the hemp plant are uncountable. There are still those who talk about it in whispers, but while hemp cultivated for medical use is under strict state control, hemp cultivated for industrial use can be processed for the most diverse purposes (of course we are talking about legal hemp, which respects all relevant limitations). The advantage is that it is a much more sustainable crop than others, because it grows very quickly, needs no special care and the whole plant is used, so there is practically no waste. This is why it is often referred to as an environmentally sustainable solution in many areas, as well as having other qualities that make it desirable (it has a high vegetable protein content and is gluten-free, for example).
Until the Second World War, Italy was the second largest producer of hemp in the world, after the Soviet Union, and was appreciated for the high quality of its products. Thousands of people were employed in the various processes (in 1923, the Canapificio Nazionale employed 20,000 people). Everything slowly changed with the arrival of synthetic fibres for textiles and plastic materials derived from oil, together with the various laws that banned their cultivation. Today Coldiretti estimates a potential turnover of over 40 million euro, with the hectares cultivated with hemp increasing tenfold in five years (from 2013 to 2018). A growing trend confirmed by the data of Hemp School, an institute based in the province of Verona that runs courses and consults with agronomists and other experts for those wishing to start a hemp business. While last year some artisans in the city of Fabriano launched a project to reintroduce the hemp paper, the most evolving field of use is cosmetics, so much so that Scuola Canapa is studying a specific project dedicated to creams and similar. On the market there are individual products of hemp-based skincare but also the Hempcare, from the Bergamo-based Allegrini Group, which is completely based on organic hemp oil, an oil rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. A beneficial mix not only for the skin of face and body, but also for hair and scalp. A philosophy also espoused by sisters Vera and Simona Bernardini, who in 2016 in Rome founded the brand Bioversi, with face creams, for men and women, body oils and natural soaps. Also Verdesativa, another made-in-Italy hemp-based cosmetics brand, has chosen the natural way for its products (face, hair, cleansing and even a children's line and mosquito repellent), which are in fact vegan certified and have banned many ingredients such as sulphates, petrolatum and GMOs from their formulas...
