hemporium history

Hemporium was founded in 1996 by Duncan Parker and Alistair Maclean who were then students at UCT, with Tony Budden joining soon after to help with sales and general hemp activism. The first order of material arrived from China in May 96 and a range of bags and clothing was developed during the course of the year, distributed in Cape Town mainly through The Hemp Shop in Long Street and through a wider range of outlets in Gauteng and even Windhoek.

Hemporium was promoted by many loyal hempahitzers who generously agreed to promote the company through the user of car bumper stickers. Many activists also marched on Parliament in early 1997 in an attempt to educate people about the difference between marijuana and hemp.

Hemporium took a break from early 2000, while the members followed alternative interests, until mid 2003 when Duncan and Tony decided to again devote their time to the hemp industry. Alistair is currently in the Far East working on other projects.

After a long time period of research and development, Hemporium's new range of environmentally responsible urban survival gear has now launched and is avaliable exclusively at Hemporium Retail.