Can you tell linen and hemp apart by looking?

Often not easily. Both are bast fibers and produce similar cool, crisp, slubbed, wrinkle-prone cloth. Hemp tends to be a little coarser and may have a slightly greener or grayer natural tone, while linen is usually finer and softer, but a hemp-linen blend can look like either.

Which is more durable?

Hemp, slightly. Both are very strong, but hemp fiber is even tougher and notably more resistant to rot, mildew, and salt water, which is why it was the fiber of choice for sails and rope.

Which is more sustainable?

Both are low-impact natural fibers. Hemp is often cited as especially fast-growing and needing little water, pesticide, or fertilizer, while flax for linen also grows with modest inputs. Both are far less resource-intensive than conventional cotton.

Side by side

Linen vs Hemp

Linen and hemp are the two great bast fibers, both taken from the stalks of their plants, flax for linen and hemp for hemp, and the finished cloths are genuinely hard to tell apart. Both are strong, cool, breathable, and prone to wrinkle. Linen is the finer and softer of the two and longer established in fine clothing; hemp is coarser, even stronger, and more rot-resistant, long the cloth of sails, rope, and workwear.

Linen

No. 040

plain weave · first documented Antiquity

Hemp

No. 129

bast fiber, woven into coarse strong cloth · first documented Antiquity

The differences

Aspect	Linen	Hemp
Source	The bast fiber of the flax plant.	The bast fiber of the hemp plant.
Fineness	Finer and softer; takes a smoother, more refined cloth.	Coarser and rougher, though it softens with washing.
Strength	Very strong, one of the strongest natural fibers.	Even stronger, and especially resistant to rot and salt water.
Coolness	Cool and breathable; the classic hot-weather cloth.	Also cool and breathable, with similar comfort.
History	The fine cloth of shirts, sheets, and tableware for millennia.	The rugged cloth of sails, rope, canvas, and working clothes.

Which to choose

For a finer, softer, more refined cloth, linen leads; for maximum strength and rot resistance in a rougher cloth, hemp. They are so similar that they are often blended, and a hemp-linen mix is common. The honest summary: linen is the dress shirt, hemp is the sail.

Common questions

Can you tell linen and hemp apart by looking?: Often not easily. Both are bast fibers and produce similar cool, crisp, slubbed, wrinkle-prone cloth. Hemp tends to be a little coarser and may have a slightly greener or grayer natural tone, while linen is usually finer and softer, but a hemp-linen blend can look like either.
Which is more durable?: Hemp, slightly. Both are very strong, but hemp fiber is even tougher and notably more resistant to rot, mildew, and salt water, which is why it was the fiber of choice for sails and rope.
Which is more sustainable?: Both are low-impact natural fibers. Hemp is often cited as especially fast-growing and needing little water, pesticide, or fertilizer, while flax for linen also grows with modest inputs. Both are far less resource-intensive than conventional cotton.

Full entry: Linen Full entry: Hemp

Sources & References

1.Linen, Wikipedia
2.Linen, Encyclopaedia Britannica
3.Hemp, Wikipedia
4.Bast fibre, Wikipedia