Hemp is one of the oldest natural fibres still in active use — and one that has returned to serious consideration in luxury clothing for the same reasons it has always been used: it is strong, it improves with wear, and it is fully biodegradable.

The hemp plant grows quickly, is often cited as requiring less water than cotton, and produces a fibre of considerable tensile strength. The resulting fabric is textured in a way that is distinct from linen — slightly more open in the hand, with a warmth that reads differently from the cooler, finer surface of Belgian linen. Both are natural, both grown from the earth, both biodegradable by design. They are not the same fabric. They do not feel the same. Pick up a hemp garment and then a linen shirt in the same moment — the difference is immediate, not theoretical. That difference is the reason PP uses both.

Hemp softens with wear, as Belgian linen does — the fibre becomes more fluid with washing rather than breaking down. The improvement is gradual and real. A hemp garment at the end of a season is noticeably different from the one that arrived.

At PP, hemp appears in the collection in the Roosewood Pink colourway of the PP Tennis Shorts. The choice was specific. The texture of hemp carries that particular tone differently from Belgian linen — the slightly warmer, more open hand of the hemp surface suits the colour in a way the finer linen weave does not. It is a material decision, not a category statement.

PP uses hemp where hemp is the right choice. It uses Belgian linen where Belgian linen is the right choice. The criterion in both cases is the same: what the fabric does for that specific piece.

Hemp makes its first appearance in the PP collection in the Roosewood Pink Tennis Shorts. The tennis collection is explored in full in the journal.