Source: Contra Costa Times, Timeout Section

Contact: cctletrs@netcom.com

AFTER SHARING 10 Port a Potties and no running water with 100,000 people
in the dirt and heat last weekend, I have a whole new respect and
admiration for my bathroom. That is, however, a small price to pay for
3 days of good vibes at the Reggae on the River Festival.

After checking out some of the vendor booths, I was impressed to
discover a whole world of fashionable frocks and other items made from
hemp. Hemp related fashions have grown up. And with $30 millionplus a
year in sales (and growing), the industry is gaining credibility too.

"This is our best season ever," says Marie Mills, a purveyor of hemp
products since 1991. Mills and Co. had a booth right across from the
bandstand, and the little 10by10 space was jammin'.

She offered all kinds of goodies, from purses to skirts, stationary to
shoes. In fact, most of the hemp hats and pajama pants looked more like
linen than the burlap I had envisioned. I mean, I'm all for saving trees,
but I will not spend the better part of my day next to burlap.

Hemp looks and feels like linen, but it doesn't wrinkle and it is
machinewashable.

Full lines of fashions

Even better, you don't have to go far to find beautiful,
stylish clothing made from hemp and hemp blends.

Two Star Dog is a Berkeleybased enterprise that has taken this
environmentally friendly fabric and spun it into gold. Pioneered by
fellow Gen Xers Allan and Steven Boutrous, this 4yearold company has
gone from 15 catalog items to five seasonal lines per year while still
remaining true to its fundamental conviction that hemp could change the
world.

When they started, they knew that making ecologically minded backpacks
and coin purses was not going to be the way to pioneer hemp into the rag
trade. So they found an awardwinning fashion designer in Stella Carakasi
and, with her vision, began to create full lines of men's and women's
clothing.

A convert Carakasi says she wasn't always convinced about hemp's
potential as a fashion fabric.

"I was never exposed to it as a textile in design school," she says. But
she says she was amazed to discover that not only is hemp environmentally
friendly to grow, but it's also great to design with.

"It's a strong fiber; it breathes well; it has natural UV protection."

Now, Two Star Dog clothing is bought by environmentalists and upscale
boutique dwellers and everybody in between. Even Woody Harrelson pops in
to the store every now and again for something new, and recently wore one
of Two Dog Star's sweaters on David Letterman. But it's the real people
who Carakasi caters to when she's at the drawing board.

Her attention to detail is beautiful. Some of the buttons are of

hand tooled tagua nuts, abalone and other shells, often times placed
inconspicuously, for example, just above the slit in the back of the long
skirt. Which matches the vest, which goes with the blouse, etc.

The fall line has a gorgeous gray stone doublebreasted peacoat. A
Chianticolored vestbootcut pants combo with ivory blouse underneath
would be perfect for the office. There are long biascut skirts for
professionals, miniskirts for teens. I couldn't leave without the camal
swing coat.

Why isn't it everywhere? It is illegal to grow hemp in this country.
Harvesting was outlawed in 1937 because the plant is closely related to
marijuana (they're from different varieties of Cannabis sativa), although
hemp grown for fiber has negligible amounts of THC.

Here's a novel idea: What if we gave the tobacco farmers something else
to grow? Something that doesn't require harsh pesticides, that
replenishes soil, yields four times more pulp per acre than trees and has
multitudes of uses?

Maybe the powers that be are happy in polyester.

Gina Horan's column appears Mondays in "TimeOut" Write her c/o
the Times, P0. Box 5088 Walnut Creek, CA 94596; or email at
horang@hotcoco.infi.net