Hemp & Allo Textiles

Allo is the giant Himalayan nettle. It is cut in the eastern hills, boiled in wood ash, beaten, hand-spun on a drop spindle and woven on a backstrap loom — a process that has not been mechanised because nobody has managed to.

The cloth starts stiff and goes soft with use, a bit like linen. Hemp behaves similarly and is often blended with cotton for drape.