Afends fashion brand buys Byron Bay farm to grow hemp to make clothes
From seed to skin, a Byron Bay company will grow fibres to be woven into jeans and shirts worn by people around the world.
Byron Shire
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A Byron Bay fashion brand is sowing seeds in Northern NSW to grow hemp fibres that will make up the garments they offer to their clients.
Afends brand co-founders Jonathan ‘Jono’ Salfield and Declan Wise have bought a hilly 40ha property at Sleepy Hollow that used to be part of the Pottsville Golf Club.
A stunning Swedish-style main building is still there, now being refurbished into Afends’ new facility, besides their Byron Bay offices.
Mr Salfield and Mr Wise have strong ties to the Northern Rivers — Mr Wise was born in Byron Bay but grew up in Nimbin where his parents owned the Nimbin Bush Theatre, while Mr Salfield was born in England but moved to the region when he was two.
The brand they started up 15 years ago at Mr Wise’s dad’s home in Ewingsdale, just out Byron Bay, and then moved to the Byron Industrial Estate in 2011, will soon return to a more bucolic setting.
They have been using hemp in their clothing range for years and more than 60 per cent of their current products include hemp fibre.
“We started thinking about growing our own hemp about two years ago,” Mr Wise said.
The company has partnered with Byron hinterland business Hemp Fields Australia, who will run the farming of the hemp.
“The plants will go in this October, and growing fibre is quite fast, takes about four months, so we are expecting the first crop of hemp in early 2022,” Mr Wise said.
The fibre will then be shipped to China for jeans, shirts, board shorts and other garments to be produced.
“We could have garments made with hemp grown at Sleepy Hollow by October next year,” Mr Wise said.
Mr Salfield said the first crop would only be 1ha.
“On a sustainable level, we are not going to use any pesticides or anything harmful, all going into the soil will be natural,” he said.
“You get about one tonne of fibre for clothing out of a hectare, but the T-shirts we make have about 60g of hemp in them.
“It will have to be harvested by hand, with machetes.”
Material leftover after the clothing fibre is extracted can also be turned into building products.
Besides it being sustainable and comfortable to wear, Mr Wise said hemp brought an antimicrobial property to the garments.
“We get feedback all the time about guys that love the shirts because they are comfortable, because hemp blended with cotton lets a lot of air through, but also it never gets mouldy, even in humid conditions like they are in the Northern Rivers,” Mr Wise said.
Mr Salfield said the garments also needed to be fashionable.
“A lot of the time hemp garments I’ve seen out there are quite plain and basic, the fit is very generic, while we are keeping up with the trends as well as make a sustainable item,” he said.
The Sleepy Hollow Afends Farm will feature a 1000 sqm shed for harvesting, plus 500 coffee plants to service their own cafe in Byron Bay.
“Besides the jobs that will be created with the new crop, we will also offer parts of the farm for people to grow vegetables and sell them locally,” Mr Wise said.
(Warning: strong language in the video below)
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