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What Is the Benton Shirt?The Benton Shirt from Smith & Rogue marks a milestone in American textiles: a commercially available garment made with hemp grown, processed, spun, woven, dyed, cut, and sewn entirely within the United States—a fully domestic hemp apparel supply chain not seen at this scale in generations. Made with 30% Montana Gold® hemp fiber and 70% American-grown Pima cotton, the limited first run produced just 239 shirts. It’s a case study in how a heritage apparel brand used Montana Gold’s domestic, place-based hemp fiber story to deepen its own brand narrative. |
How Smith & Rogue Told the Montana Gold Story
Choosing Montana Gold means starting with a great fiber, but it also means inheriting a story you can put to work. Here's how Smith & Rogue did exactly that.
Smith & Rogue built the Benton Shirt's identity around three specific threads of the Montana Gold narrative that most resonated with their brand and their customers:
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A transparent, domestic supply chain. The shirt's tag reads, "You're holding a piece of American history," alongside a photo of the family farm that grows the fiber. By showing the Meissner family farm near Fort Benton, Montana, they turned an abstract claim into something real and relatable.
2. A strong sense of place. The neck label features a hand-drawn logo inspired by the crest displayed at the entrance of the historic fort in Fort Benton, along with a nod to Shep, the loyal sheepherder's dog who remains a beloved fixture of the town's history. It's a design choice that roots the shirt in a specific, uniquely Montanan story rather than a generic "American-made" claim.
3. Quality materials. The Benton shirt product listing reads “Hemp/Cotton blend for a softer, more durable wear 'n tear.” Hemp makes the shirt durable while the cotton makes it comfortable. Smith & Rogue’s consumers want a garment that works as hard as they do and Montana Gold fiber makes that possible.
Rather than trying to tell the entire Montana Gold story, Smith & Rogue selected the pieces —transparency, sense of place, and quality — that aligned with their own brand values and their customers' priorities. That's the real takeaway for brands considering Montana Gold hemp: the story is modular, and the strongest results come from choosing the threads authentic to your brand.
What Is Montana Gold Hemp Fiber?
Montana Gold hemp fiber can be processed for textile use. Grown by American families with the support of IND HEMP’s in-house agronomy team, Montana gold fiber comes off the field as the highest quality hemp fiber possible. From there it is processed in the IND HEMP facility, specifically engineered to process hemp. The bast fiber is then separated from the inner core of the hemp stalk, through a process called decortication.
After decortication, the fiber goes through additional mechanical processing to upgrade it for textile and nonwoven applications. It is cleaned further allowing manufacturers to skip a separate scouring step before spinning and weaving.
From Field to Fabric: A Fully Domestic Supply Chain
One of the most compelling parts of the Benton Shirt story is that the entire production process stayed inside U.S. borders. Here's how the fabric came together:
1. Design | Great Falls, Montana | The shirt is designed by Smith & Rogue's in-house team.
2. Grow & Process Hemp | Fort Benton, Montana | Hemp fiber is grown, harvested, and processed by IND HEMP and the Meissner family farm.
3. Grow Cotton | Arizona | Organic Pima cotton is grown.
4. Blend & Spin | North Carolina | Bear Fiber degums and opens the hemp and cotton, blends them, and spins the blend into yarn.
5. Weave | Central, South Carolina | Central Textiles weaves the yarn into fabric.
6. Dye & Finish | Trion, Georgia | Mount Vernon Mills dyes and finishes the fabric.
7. Cut & Sew | New York City's Garment District | Caroda Inc. cuts and sews the fabric into the finished shirt.
It was designed, grown, spun, woven, dyed, cut, and sewn entirely by American hands — without a single step of the process leaving the country.
Why Blend Hemp with Cotton?
Pairing hemp with cotton plays to the strengths of both fibers: One delivers durability, the other softness.
What hemp brings to a blend:
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What cotton brings to a blend:
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The sustainability case for hemp blends:
- Requires less water to grow than many alternative fibers
- Needs fewer pesticides
- Improves the biodegradability of the finished textile
- Reduces resource and chemical inputs compared to synthetic fibers
- Integrates easily into existing cotton processing infrastructure, opening up both domestic manufacturing and export opportunities
The result is a textile that's stronger and more durable without sacrificing the comfort consumers expect.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of the Benton Shirt is hemp?
The Benton Shirt's fabric is a blend of 30% Montana Gold hemp fiber and 70% American-grown Pima cotton.
How many Benton Shirts were made?
Only 239 shirts were produced, each individually numbered and identified on the garment's tag.
Where is the hemp fiber in the Benton Shirt grown?
The hemp fiber is grown and processed in Fort Benton, Montana, and supplied by IND Hemp under the Montana Gold brand.
Is the Benton Shirt entirely made in the USA?
Yes. Every stage from growing, harvesting, decortication, spinning, weaving, dyeing, cutting, and sewing took place within the United States.
What are the benefits of blending hemp fiber with cotton?
A hemp-cotton blend combines hemp's exceptional strength, UV resistance, and antimicrobial properties with cotton's softness and breathability, resulting in a more durable, more sustainable fabric that still feels comfortable to wear.
What is hemp decortication?
Decortication is the process of separating the outer bast fiber from the hemp stalk, which is then further processed to prepare it for textile and nonwoven applications.
