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COWEN
COLLABORATIVE INSIGHTS February 25, 2019
Growing Application For Hemp And CBD Within The Apparel & Footwear
Market (Kernan)
With the changing tide on marijuana legalization and hemp cultivation, the use case for
and interest in CBD applications are rapidly expanding. We think there lies within this
fervor potential for greater utilization of hemp derived textiles in apparel, footwear and
accessories after largely being relegated to specialist brands with a few exceptions. The
Western Producer, a Western Canada weekly agriculture publication, commented that
“industrial hemp could reach whole crop utilization” in an article published on 1/10/19
“Revenue Streams Expand For Hemp Growers.” We think this compliments the
sustainability movement that is gaining ground in global apparel and footwear
production and among Millennial and Gen Z consumers. Western Producer quotes Jan
Slaski, senior researcher for InnoTech Alberta, that “textile applications have brought
[about] the development of hemp-based uniforms, socks, underwear and other
apparel...” as its properties, which Patagonia describes as “linen-like,” provide a “quality
suitable for fine textiles.”
Approximately $820MM worth of legal hemp products were sold in the U.S. in 2017 and
roughly 13% of those hemp-based products are textiles according to Entrepreneur's
9/4/18 article, “The Hemp Business ls Booming.” The article’s author Rose Leadem cites
a history of the crop dating back “to the 1600s when growing hemp was encouraged for
use in sails, ropes and clothing.” This period was followed by years of back and forth
regulation that alternately banned and unbanned hemp cultivation in the U.S. While the
2014 U.S. Farm Bill allowed for heavily restricted industrial hemp cultivation, the more
recent 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, as described by the Brookings Instituted, offers a more
“expansive” cultivation of hemp.
Figure 115 Textiles Have Low Penetration Among Legal U.S. Hemp Products (2017)
a
: Textiles, 13% :
oe ee es a
Non Textiles,
87%
Source: Cowen and Company; Western Producer
To frame the market opportunity for greater hemp utilization as a textile in apparel and
footwear from what is likely a nascent penetration currently, the U.S. clothing and
accessories market reached store sales of $262 billion in 2017 as reported by the U.S.
government, with potential to grow to $275B in 2018. We note that there are some
global brands that offer hemp fiber, mostly but not all on a limited basis, in their clothing
and footwear assortment. These brands include Patagonia, Columbia Sportswear’s
prAna brand, Orvis, Thought Clothing, Toad&Co, Jungmaven, Eartheasy, Sanuk, Toms,
70 COWEN.COM
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| Filename | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_024886.jpg |
| File Size | 0.0 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 85.0% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,707 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-04T16:55:33.796042 |