COMMUNITY & VETERANS PARTNERSHIP

Where Hemp Meets

the Heart of a Hero

How Hemptique's natural fiber products found their way into the hands of America's veterans — and became part of their healing.

PARTNER ORGANIZATION

Help Heal Veterans

LOCATION

Winchester, California

PARTNERSHIP

8+ Years & Growing

— THE STORY

Some business relationships are built on transactions. And then there are the ones that remind you why you do what you do.

IFor Hemptique, the long-standing partnership with Help Heal Veterans — the Winchester, California-based nonprofit dedicated to the men and women who have served this country — is very much the latter. It is a relationship rooted not just in commerce, but in purpose: the shared belief that something as natural as a piece of hemp cord can carry genuine healing power.

It began when Help Heal Veterans reached out to Hemptique with a need. They were searching for a natural fiber cordage — a strong, honest, plant-based alternative to the synthetic materials they had been using in their handcraft therapy kits. These kits are at the heart of their therapeutic mission: giving veterans a tactile, creative activity that keeps hands busy and minds present, gently drawing attention away from the invisible wounds so many carry home from service.

Hemptique answered that call — with hemp cords, linen threads, and carefully sourced accessories designed to meet the precise needs of therapeutic craft work. What followed has grown into something far more meaningful than a supplier relationship.

Peter Nyari Jr.

Hemptique

John Hernandez

Director of Production & Warehouse Management
Help Heal Veterans

Peter Nyari Sr.

Founder & President
Hemptique

— THE ORGANIZATION

Help Heal Veterans: Craft as Medicine

Founded on the principle that creative activity is a powerful form of therapy, Help Heal Veterans has spent decades doing one of the most important things imaginable.

Each year, the organization distributes millions of free craft kits to VA hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and military care facilities across the United States. These are not simple distractions — they are carefully designed therapeutic tools. The act of working with one's hands, following a pattern, creating something from raw materials, has long been recognized by occupational therapists as a path toward emotional regulation, reduced anxiety, and restored self-confidence.

The kits encompass a wide range of crafts: macramé, weaving, leather work, model building, and more. Threaded through many of them — quite literally — are Hemptique's hemp cords, fine linen threads, and specialized craft accessories, each chosen to complement the therapeutic experience.
What makes Help Heal Veterans especially remarkable is its recognition that not all wounds are visible. Post-traumatic stress, depression, and the profound sense of displacement that many veterans experience after returning to civilian life are challenges that conventional medicine alone cannot always address. Craft therapy fills that gap — offering veterans a gentle re-engagement with the present moment, one stitch and knot at a time.

Hemptique has been a valuable partner over the past 8 years, helping us provide1.2 million therapeutic kitsto our nation’s veterans and active-duty military. Together, we've helped healthe invisible wounds of warand supportsuicide prevention efforts at VA and military hospitals. Hemptique's awesome products are among the most popular that we give away — and prove thatcreativity heals.

— John Hernandez· Director of Production & Warehouse Management · Help Heal Veterans

— THE MATERIAL

Hemp, Linen & the Materials That Truly Matter

When Help Heal Veterans came looking for a natural fiber cordage, the choice of hemp and linen was not accidental.

There is something about working with a natural material — one grown from the earth, with texture and warmth and honest imperfection — that resonates in a way synthetic fibers simply cannot replicate. Veterans often find unexpected comfort in the realness of a natural fiber. It is genuine. It is grounded. It is alive in a way that plastic never can be.

Hemp & Linen

Strong, durable, and entirely natural, Hemptique's hemp cords and linen threads carry a warmth under the fingers that synthetic materials lack. Veterans working with these fibers are working with something real — grown from soil, shaped by hands. That authenticity matters more than most people realize.

Accessories & Tools

Beyond cord and thread, Hemptique has worked closely with Help Heal Veterans to source specialized accessories — including custom large-eye tapestry needles designed for ease of use — ensuring every element of the therapeutic kit is thoughtfully selected and purposefully made.

THE CRAFT

A Master Rope Maker in Hungary

Producing an authentic replica of an 18th-century twisted hemp cord is not a task for a machine programmed with modern tolerances. It requires a craftsman who understands fiber, tension, and tradition — and the patience to get it right through trial and refinement rather than assumption.

Peter Nyari knew exactly who to turn to: Peter Nagy, a rope maker based in Hungary with hands-on experience in traditional cordage. Working from the detailed specification sheet Hemptique had prepared — along with photographs and measurements taken directly from the lengths of original cord saved by Mount Vernon’s preservation team — Nagy set about recreating each element: sourcing the correct grade of natural hemp fiber, preparing the Madder Red dye in the traditional method, and twisting the plies to match the structure and tension of the surviving original.

Sample runs were produced and tested — for strength, for appearance, for authenticity. The cord had to hold the weight of an 18th-century window sash and had to look, to a conservator’s trained eye, exactly as Washington’s cord would have looked when first installed. There was careful back-and-forth with the Mount Vernon team until the samples met the required standard.

As the project moved into its final stages, Peter Nyari traveled to Hungary personally — to review the production, work through the remaining details with Peter Nagy directly, and ensure that the finished cord was everything Mount Vernon had asked for before a single meter left the workshop.

THE SCALE

460 Meters of Living History

Once approved, the full production run began. The scope was significant: 460 meters of replica sash cord, each meter identical to the last, each twist replicating the hand of an 18th-century London rope maker.

Peter Nagy worked with careful discipline, maintaining the consistency of color, diameter, and ply throughout. There was no room for variation — in a restoration of this caliber, even a slight deviation in the twist angle would be detectable. Every meter that left the workshop had to be every meter that George Washington would have recognized.

When the cord was delivered to Mount Vernon and installed in the restored rooms — the Blue Room, the Front Parlor, and across the Mansion’s historic windows — it passed the most demanding test of all: the approval of Thomas Reinhart and his team of architectural conservators, professionals who had spent careers studying Washington’s estate down to the finest material detail.

It held. In every sense of the word.

SPECIFICATION #215

Washington Hemp Rope — Project Specifications

PRODUCT NAME

Washington Hemp Rope / Sash Cord

George Washington’s window sash replica

TOTAL PRODUCTION

460 Meters

Full Mansion sash cord replacement

COLORWAY

Madder Red & Natural Hemp

Cochineal / Madder beetle dye process

FIBER

100% Natural Hemp

The same fiber Washington sourced in London

DIAMETER

5.5 – 6 mm

Replicated from 18th-century fragments

STANDARD

Historically Exact

Approved by Mount Vernon conservators

Woven Into the Story of a Nation

There is something quietly extraordinary about this project. Not the scale of it — though 460 meters of hand-crafted, historically-accurate rope is no small achievement. Not the technical difficulty — though replicating a 250-year-old fiber process requires knowledge that very few people in the world still hold.

What is extraordinary is the continuity. Hemp fiber accompanied George Washington as he built his world at Mount Vernon. It held his windows open in summer, let in the Potomac breeze, framed the view he looked out upon as he became the first President of the United States. And today, thanks to the scholarship of Thomas Reinhart, the skill of Peter Nagy, and the determination of Peter Nyari, it holds those same windows open still.

We are profoundly honored to have been chosen for this collaboration. We are proud that Hemptique hemp — the same extraordinary natural fiber we champion every day — has now been woven permanently into the fabric of American heritage. And we are grateful to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association for their trust, their exactness, and their unwavering belief that history deserves nothing less than the real thing.

Hemp is not just a product. It is a thread that runs through the story of this country. We are proud to carry it forward.

Hemptique

Vista, CA 92081 USA · hemptique.com · Est. 1997

Hemptique is a leading producer and innovator of natural hemp fiber products, committed to advancing the versatility, quality, and legacy of hemp across every application — from everyday craft and lifestyle to heritage conservation and industrial use.
This project stands as a testament to what hemp fiber has always been: essential. From the sash cords of the Founding Father’s home to the ropes, textiles, and materials of the modern world — hemp endures, as it always has, because nothing performs quite like the real thing.
To learn more about Hemptique’s full range of natural fiber products, visit hemptique.com.

“This item must be as authentic as possible. It will be used at Mt. Vernon, George Washington’s estate.”

— Original Project Brief, Spec #215, Hemptique × Mount Vernon

Hemptique

A N A T U R A L P R O D U C T O F T H E E A R T H