Not everyone knows that Giuseppe Garibaldi wore hemp jeans. A true story, linking our country's past to the future of sustainable textiles.
Would you believe it if we told you that Garibaldi wore Gimmi Jeans ? And yet, it's true: the oldest hemp jeans in the world are his. They're over 150 years old and are kept at the Central Museum of the Risorgimento in Rome, on display at the Vittoriano.
Made of Genoa canvas —which also gave rise to the term “jeans”—they reached the ankle and Garibaldi wore them under his famous red shirt during the landing at Marsala and the Sicilian campaign of 1860. On the left knee they bear a patch, also made of hemp: a sign of a repair made to continue fighting, not to appear.
This story is much more than an anecdote. It tells of a way of experiencing fabric as a tool of freedom: durable, useful, essential. Values that today we try to reinterpret in a contemporary way, with the same respect for the material and for those who work with it.
That's why we created the "Garibaldi" model: hemp jeans with a tone-on-tone side stripe, inspired by the famous red stripe on Garibaldi's trousers. A tribute to history, transformed into a garment for everyday wear.
