Outdoor Insight

Astral Takes a Walk on the Sustainable Side A sheville, NC-based footwear brand Astral is making a name for itself with its offerings of sustainable solutions in its footwear line. The brand's growing collection of #NatureFirst performance casual shoes now includes the Hemp Baker, Hemp Loyak and Hemp Maria. And coming in Fall 2019 is the Astral Halestorm ($140), a hiking boot that pairs the brand's aggressive Trail Grip outsole with a Hemp canvas upper that balances waterproofing and breathability. A full wrap WeatherGuard shields the bottom of the foot from rain or slush, while the Hemp upper aims to provide comfort and durability. It's decidedly a "trail or town" style. But the goal goes beyond fashion and function. "Our new hemp shoes are some of the most sustainable shoes you can find," says Philip Curry, Astral's founder and CEO. "Hemp is good for the earth. It's petroleum-free, which means it only needs water, soil and sun to grow. Our hemp is easily grown without pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. Above all, hemp takes 21 percent less water to grow than cotton, leaving that water to run clearly in our rivers. It was an obvious choice for designing the ultimate outdoor and lifestyle footwear hybrid." The brand's casual hemp styles — the Hemp Baker, Loyak and Maria have durable, naturally odor-resistant Hemp Canvas uppers stitched to flexible and grippy outsoles. The hemp canvas material is naturally antimicrobial, has better abrasion resistance than cotton and boasts excellent UV resistance, according to the brand. — Cara Griffin Outerknown Is High on Hemp J ohn Moore, co-founder of Outerknown, says "We've used hemp since the beginning at Outerknown across varied cat- egories such as tees and sweatshirts, to button down shirts, and even trunks and trousers." Outerknown, the sustainable and stylish surf-inspired brand whose co-founder is surf legend Kelly Slater, balances the strength of the hemp fiber with blends like organic cotton to soften it up for knit and woven textiles. Hemp is woven into Outerknown's best-selling BBQ and Beachcomber shirts for men. And this summer, the brand is adding new colors to its Sur sweats program that is 55 percent hemp/45percent organic cotton. The brand will also introduce a classic swim trunk/ walk short hybrid called the Halcyon, which is inspired by 1950s/60s surf style, when trunks were made of heavy twill. On the women's side, the Neptune dress is a full length knit hemp/Tencel Lyocell blend. There are plans to add more hemp blends to the collection in a few months. And a Levi's x Outerknown collab continued this spring with a cottonized-hemp blend (69 percent cotton/31 percent hemp) in the Wellthread Trucker, 511 slim fit jeans and a western shirt. Outerknown sources its hemp from China, where the fiber is grown in the same region as the supplier. When Moore began sourcing it in 2015, there were few options in the U.S., and the brand was not able to control the costs to do so. "Now that the Farm Bill passed last year, we know there will be many more options closer to home for textiles, and other industries, and we'll be exploring these options for sure," he says. Hemp's earth-friendly profile enables the brand to get "Happy earth. Happy plants. Happy clothes," he concludes. — Suzanne Blecher Astral Halestorm Outerknown BBQ shirt May 2019 • Outdoor Insight • 15 outdoorinsightmag.com

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