February 15, 2025

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Barristers swap horsehair for hemp as they try out first vegan court wigs

The initially batch of vegan court wigs are becoming trialled soon after a barrister bought 10 hemp-based headpieces to colleagues who ordinarily use types manufactured of horsehair.

Samuel March, a junior barrister at 9 King’s Bench Walk, mentioned his ambition to shake-up the Bar’s 200-calendar year-old custom of sporting horsehair wigs in court is now in the “testing phase” as recipients head to the courtroom in his biodegradable invention.

Mr March explained to The Telegraph that he is examining the wigs can stand the examination of time with a modest selection of barristers in advance of he pushes forward with a more substantial launch.

He explained: “Hemp is a notoriously rough content so I do not anticipate there being any difficulties, but there is often a threat the place you’re the very first in the earth to try some thing. Building them here [in the UK] on this scale and value issue suggests my market is mainly limited to vegan barristers, which is a tiny industry – but one that I intend to hold marketing to.”

He claimed he offered the initial batch of wigs via social media and “robing home term of mouth” but is discovering advertising foreseeable future batches through the UK’s initially legal clothes shop for females, Ivy & Normanton.

The Cambridge-graduate very first unveiled his options for a biodegradable hemp wig on social media a calendar year in the past, when he posted on Twitter and Linkedin: “The prototype has arrived. This is the world’s 1st hemp barrister’s wig. 0pc horsehair, 100computer vegan friendly”.

At the time, he envisaged the product to be in production by the stop of the yr and to be the norm inside courtrooms in the area of “a several years”.