While the buds of the cannabis sativa plant are well known for their illegal recreational use, the cloth woven from the stalk of the plant, hemp, is enjoying a renaissance after decades of prohibition.

Levine, 26, president of her privately owned company, For World Spirit, views the manufacture of hemp clothing as a way to both make a modest profit and save the planet.

She is hopeful the durability and comfort of her hemp creations, and a ‘90s consciousness about the environment, will help the textile enter the mainstream despite of its distant relationship with banned marijuana.

Hemp fabric breathes like cotton but is 10 times stronger, she notes. It won’t mildew - hence its traditional use for sails and rope - and is resistant to stains. Because the plant grows like a weed, it requires neither pesticides nor fertilizers.

The fibres and seeds have a wide variety of other applications, she adds, and can be turned into paper, salad dressing, construction material and even beer.

But don’t bother smoking the stuff.

Although hemp and marijuana are both from the cannabis family, one hemp plant produces only about 0.3 percent of mind-altering tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

A marijuana plant, by comparison, produces between 18 per cent to 48 per cent THC, she says.

"If you smoke that hemp shirt, the only effect you’ll get is ruining a perfectly good shirt."

After studying fashion at the Par-sons School of Design in New York, Levine returned to her native Toronto in 1994 and landed a job with a Queen St. clothing manufacturer. She opened the For World Spirit store on Harbord St. last April to sell her designs made from hemp and micro-fibres like Lycra.

Levine sold $60,000 worth of clothing in nine months, mostly loose fitting women’s casual designs made from hemp.

"In the end I became a retailer of other people’s designs," she says, explaining her decision to close the store and concentrate on manufacturing. Her new premises on Walnut Ave. in the trendy King/Niagara district serve as her home, workshop, showroom and office. She’s turning out a line of high-fashion clothing, including items of 100 per cent hemp and 60-40 hemp/silk that come with a linen-like finish.

For World Spirit’s wash-and-wear designs begin at $40 for a tank top and go to $180 for a full-length dress. Levine also makes shirts, draw-string pants, jackets and ties.

"1 have a stigma about expensive clothing," Levine observes. "I’d rather have people love it and buy it. Popularizing hemp is the one tangible thing I can do something about. I’m changing people’s attitudes."

Notwithstanding her environmental consciousness, she uses synthetic as well as natural dyes. "Natural (dye) sounds better and the colours are beautiful. But they aren’t really better for the environment, because of the nickel or tin fixatives they require," she says.

Who are her customers?

"Young people buy hempwear as a political and environmental statement," she says. "Older people don’t care about the fabric. They just like the look and feel of my clothes."