Formerly family-owned weaving mill Tissages d'Autan is collaborating with business management consultant VirgoCoop is promoting local and organic textile production in denim in France. The collaboration will focus on renewal of the organic textile hemp production and other fair-trade sectors in the Occitania region and beyond, says Mathieu Ebbesen, Co-Founder and Director,  Tissages d' Autan mill and President, VirgoCoop,

Ebbesen adds, the collaboration will also focus on producing good quality hemp. Currently, the mill produces new designs of exclusive fabrics using blends of wool and hemp. Even during 2018, the mill produced significant quantities of pure hemp yarn with its own French cultivar ‘Futura 75. However, it had to import hemp yarn to produce denims, Ebbesen adds.\

Now, VirgoCoop plans to breed a French monecious hemp variety that will be more uniform at harvest and which, in turn, will generate more homogenous fibers required by modern spinning lines. The company also plans to upgrade its current spinning machines to better handle long fiber, Ebbessen adds