Oregon Firm, Harrelson Team on Hemp Shoe

It may not become another Air Jordan, but a small Oregon-based company plans to market a hiking shoe made of hemp and endorsed by actor and environmental activist Woody Harrelson.

Deep E Co. of Portland said Tuesday that its new Headwaters day-hiker, due to hit stores in October, will feature an all-hemp canvas upper and other materials considered environmentally friendly, such as recycled tire rubber and water-based adhesives.

The shoe would appear to be a perfect match for the Oscar-nominated Harrelson, whose activism landed him in a Kentucky jail last year when he planted several seeds to publicize the cause of would-be hemp farmers.

The charge against Harrelson--star of the TV series “Cheers” and the movies “Natural Born Killers” and “The People vs. Larry Flynt”--was thrown out after a judge ruled that Kentucky law failed to distinguish between hemp and its cousin, marijuana.

Harrelson and other advocates of industrial hemp say the fast-growing crop provides an environmentally friendly alternative to trees as a source for fiber used in paper, fabric and other products.

Hemp cultivation is illegal in the United States, although it can be imported from Canada, Australia, China and Germany, where it is legally grown.

“We’re sort of behind the times here in lumping hemp with other forms of cannabis sativa,” said Deep E Co. (pronounced “deep eco”) executive vice president Bob Farentinos.

Under Harrelson’s first-ever endorsement deal, the actor will receive undisclosed royalties from sales of the company’s $80 Headwaters and other hemp-based shoes. Most of Harrelson’s proceeds will be donated to environmental organizations seeking to save the Headwaters old-growth forest in Northern California, Farentinos said.

Based just a few miles from sports product giant Nike Inc., Deep E Co. was founded last year and has five full-time employees gearing up for its first major shoe season next spring.