To you, your dog's collar is a minor accessory: it holds a name tag and clips to a lead. To your dog it's a constant companion, resting against the skin of their neck every waking hour. That's worth a bit more thought than most of us give it.
Here's an honest comparison of hemp and nylon — what each material is actually like to wear, how it ages, and what happens to it at the end of its life.
What nylon is, and where it falls short
Nylon is a petroleum-based synthetic. It's strong, cheap and holds colour well, which is why most collars on the market are made of it. The trade-offs are real, though, and they show up over months rather than days.
- Skin contact. Nylon is usually dyed with synthetic dyes and finished with chemical treatments. Dogs with existing skin sensitivities or atopic dermatitis can react to prolonged contact. If your dog scratches persistently at their neck, the collar is worth ruling out.
- It holds water. Nylon webbing doesn't breathe well. A collar that's repeatedly soaked on wet walks and never fully dries stays damp against the skin, which is how the smell develops and how irritation gets a foothold.
- It stiffens as it wears. Nylon starts soft and gets scratchier with age as the weave frays. On short-coated dogs, long-term friction at the same spot can thin the fur.
What hemp offers instead
It breathes, and it dries
Hemp is a natural bast fibre. It absorbs moisture and releases it rather than trapping it against the skin, which is the main practical difference you'll notice on a rainy-country dog. Less time damp means less of the smell, and less of the irritation that comes with it.
It's genuinely strong
Don't let the natural look fool you — hemp is among the strongest natural fibres available, and hemp webbing is more than adequate for a collar on any size of dog. It also handles sun exposure better than most synthetics, which matters more than people think for a collar that lives outdoors.
It softens rather than degrading
This is the real argument for hemp. Nylon starts soft and goes scratchy. Hemp does the opposite: it starts a little stiff and breaks in, softening and moulding to your dog's neck the way a good pair of jeans moulds to you. A two-year-old hemp collar is more comfortable than a new one.
It breaks down at the end
A nylon collar outlives your dog by decades in landfill. Hemp is a plant fibre and biodegrades. Hemp also grows fast, needs little in the way of pesticides, and doesn't require irrigation in most climates where it's farmed.
One caveat worth being straight about: the hardware is the exception. Buckles, D-rings and clips are metal or plastic regardless of the webbing, so no collar is fully compostable. Solid brass or stainless hardware at least lasts long enough to outlive several collars.
Getting the fit right
A collar that's too tight presses on the trachea. Too loose and your dog can back out of it. Both are worth avoiding.
- Wrap a soft tape measure around the middle of your dog's neck, where the collar naturally sits.
- Check you can fit two fingers flat between the tape and your dog's skin.
- If your dog falls between sizes, size up with hemp. It doesn't stretch the way nylon does, and it will soften into the right shape rather than loosening.
Hemp or nylon: the short version
- Choose hemp if your dog has sensitive skin, gets wet often, or wears the same collar every day for years.
- Nylon is fine for a spare, for a puppy who'll outgrow it in three months, or when budget is the deciding factor.
- Either way, check the fit every few months on a growing dog, and rinse and dry the collar properly after wet walks.
A note on our collar range
We're not currently selling collars. We changed supplier, and rather than leave listings up we can't fulfil, we took them down. A new range is being prepared — you can read where things stand and join the list if you'd like first word when it lands, along with the neck-sizing guide we're putting together.
What we do make well right now is the dinner end of your dog's day: handcrafted stoneware bowls, placemats and felted wool toys. If you're setting up a feeding corner, the starter sets are the place to begin.