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When I first called Sofi Thanhauser and told her about the production of a fully USA-made, hemp-based shirt, she seemed skeptical. Thanhauser wrote a book about the history of clothing manufacturing and knew how new and challenging the idea was.
The federal government banned the cultivation of industrial hemp from 1937 to 2018. So while hemp once flourished in the United States, it had been a while. In addition, the domestic textiles industry has shrunk so much that around 97% of clothing sold here is made overseas.
“Over time, that infrastructure has disappeared,” Thanhauser told me in January. “And so it’s really hard for companies who want to do supply chains in the U.S., because a lot of the time, the equipment and expertise is not here.”
But two Montana companies made it work with an experimental run of just over 200 hemp-and-cotton-blend work shirts. The production had to be pieced together across several states, but from seeds in the ground to a retail rack, the shirts stayed within the country.
Great Falls-based apparel company Smith and Rogue came up with the idea. After working with some overseas factories on existing lines of workwear, apparel merchandiser Brandon Kishpaugh convinced company leadership to pursue an experimental run of domestic shirts.
“We haven’t made garments on a large scale in the United States for a long time,” he said.
The key link was IND Hemp, a Fort Benton company founded in 2018, just as Congress lifted the prohibition on industrial hemp production. The company sources hemp from regional farmers and processes it for a range of products, including textile fibers. It’s done with massive, French-made machinery in the company’s 52,000-square-foot warehouse.
While overseas clothing manufacturers can be more vertically integrated, the smaller domestic market required the two companies to piece together a production chain to get the shirt over the finish line. Using a blend of Montana hemp and Arizona cotton, the production passed through four more states before returning to Montana retail racks.
“The problem is, one, getting them to want to work with hemp,” Morgan Tweet, co-founder and CEO of IND Hemp, told me in January. “A lot of the domestic mills are running at full capacity, and they don’t want to shut down a line to run some prototype.”
The shirt, called the Benton, was a proof-of-concept. But the $150 retail price reflects the number of domestic links in the production chain. Kishpaugh said that work is underway on the next generation of the shirt, and the experience of that first run could help bring down the cost. It’s tough to see that model competing on retail prices with well-established, efficient overseas operations, yet the allure of “made in the USA” remains strong across lots of different industries.
There is demand, Tweet told me. IND is looking to line up more apparel companies to try and convince the country’s largest textile mill to bring hemp into regular production.
Given the relatively recent restart of domestic hemp production and the complexity of the domestic textile industry, Thanhauser was impressed when I reached back out toward the end of my reporting.
“It’s extremely rare,” she said. “It’s vanishingly rare, and it’s so exciting that they’ve done it.”
Read the full story behind the Benton shirt here.
— Matt Hudson
Following the Law ⚖️
Montanans offered a mixed reception to the federal government’s move last week to undo a key greenhouse gas regulation. Some described it as a cost-saving repeal of an overreaching federal mandate; others characterized it as a short-sighted, health-damaging “gift” to industrial polluters.
At issue is the “endangerment finding,” a 17-year-old determination that authorized the federal government to regulate greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide on the grounds that they “threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.” Since the Obama administration implemented the finding in XYEAR, it has served as the scientific foundation for the federal government’s efforts to steer auto manufacturers and power plants toward tighter emissions standards.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin touted the move as the “single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” in a press release the agency issued Feb. 12. The EPA argued that by removing the finding, the Trump administration is restoring consumer choice, making vehicles more affordable and driving down other costs pinching Americans’ wallets.
Montana Petroleum Association Executive Director Sonny Capece echoed Zeldin’s assessment of the consumer benefits. But he said the association’s members are unlikely to significantly alter their operations given the proliferation of lawsuits that followed the EPA’s announcement. (Among other claims, the Environmental Law & Policy Center is arguing that the EPA has made a “legally untenable decision” and “cannot credibly claim” that the work that underpinned the finding “is now incorrect.”)
“We’ll hurry up and wait, see how this shakes out,” Capece told Montana Free Press. “I’m sure that some good will come of it. There could be some bad that comes of it. It’s kind of too early to know.”
Montana nonprofits working on climate and environmental issues argued that the repeal will contribute to preventable illnesses and accelerate the climate change-driven catastrophes wreaking havoc on the United States’ economy.
“The current Endangerment Finding is a statement of fact: Climate change is dangerous and threatens our health,” Lori Byron, a physician with Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, wrote in an email to MTFP. “The fight is not over. Montanans don’t want dirtier air or sicker children.”
Northern Plains Resource Council, which was founded more than 50 years ago by farmers and environmentalists to oppose coal development in eastern Montana, called the move a “desperate attempt to funnel millions of dollars to the oil and gas and coal industries.”
“This is just another callous example of this administration’s greed, aversion to science and the facts, and willingness to exploit our communities for their own personal gain — made even worse by refusing to work with other nations across the globe in solving what is clearly a serious threat to all life on earth,” Northern Plains chair Norane Freistadt wrote in a Feb. 13 press release.
— Amanda Eggert
The Gist 📌
Sibanye-Stillwater, the South African company that operates the nation’s only major palladium mine in south-central Montana, does not plan to rehire the roughly 700 workers it terminated in 2024, despite the federal government tentatively approving tariffs on Russian palladium this month.
A spokesperson for Sibanye-Stillwater told Montana Free Press this week that the new tariff “won’t have any immediate change on how many people are working for us.” The facility near Columbus laid off about 40% of its 1,650 workers in 2024, citing diminished profits.
The U.S. Department of Commerce Feb. 13 gave preliminary approval to the tariffs that Sibanye-Stillwater requested as a countermeasure to Russia’s alleged practice of subsidizing palladium extraction and selling the mineral to American buyers for less than its cost of production, a tactic known as dumping.
But despite the new tariff and palladium’s 54% increase in price since last summer, Sibanye-Stillwater spokesperson Heather McDowell said the company won’t rehire the laid-off positions. McDowell said that if the market continues to improve, the company expects to need additional workers “in the next couple of years.”
McDowell pointed out that palladium, currently trading at $1,700 per ounce, hadn’t returned to its 2022 price of $2,300 per ounce and said that the company wanted to avoid premature rehiring.
Almost all of the world’s palladium, which is an integral part of gasoline-powered vehicles’ catalytic converters and an important component of some electronics, comes from deposits in three countries: Russia, South Africa and the United States.
The Friday U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down many of President Donald Trump’s broad global tariffs does not impact the palladium duty, according to University of Montana economist Derek Kellenberg.
— Zeke Lloyd
3 Answers From ❓
Community fervor over a proposed state mental health facility in Laurel has continued to boil at a rapid pace.
This month, residents repeatedly lined up before the Laurel City Council to register hours of public comment with elected officials. The vast majority of commenters urged council members to deny a yet-to-be-filed request from state officials to annex the 114-acre site for the facility to city services and boundaries.
Within the sea of opposition, one voice of support came from a Sen. John Esp, a Republican state lawmaker who lives in Big Timber, about an hour’s drive west of Laurel, and has spent several sessions in the Legislature campaigning for investments in Montana’s behavioral health systems.
In a letter to the Laurel City Council in February, Esp responded to a slew of questions and concerns raised by local residents about the 32-bed psychiatric facility intended to treat patients navigating the criminal justice system, either before trial or after sentencing. Esp’s letter — including his own questions and corresponding responses — has been edited here for length and clarity.
Will Warm Springs close and move to Laurel?
Given the fact that you, the state taxpayers, just spent tens of millions of dollars upgrading the main hospital, and by the way, it is a beautiful, and now a much safer facility, no. We are currently in the process of spending another $20 million to repurpose another building for patient care on that campus. As hard as it was to get the money to rehab those buildings at the Springs, it would be impossible to conceive of a scenario in which the Legislature appropriates another half a billion dollars-plus to move the operation here to Laurel. It simply isn’t going to happen. Western Montana legislators, local leaders, and county law enforcement in western Montana appreciate the proximity of nearby mental health services. They also appreciate the economic impacts that the high-paying union jobs have on their communities.
Will it be used for future expansion of prisons for the “criminally insane,” or for “the worst of the worst” or for “murderers and rapists?”
Those choices of words are certainly unfortunate and, in my view, inaccurate hyperbole. Mental illness can affect any one of us, or any one family at any given time. There but for the Grace of God go you or I. Most of the clients of the facility are there to be evaluated to see if they have the capacity to stand trial in answer to the charges against them. If they do not have capacity, the staff works with them to recover from their illness to the point that they can participate in their own defense. The vast majority of those held in this proposed facility have not been convicted of anything yet. And nearly all will be discharged back to the jail that they were brought to the facility from. Nearly every state in the U.S. is building capacity into their forensic health system, so yes, if current trends continue, at some point in the future, Montana will need more forensic beds. It’s hard to predict where that demand will be, or where those beds may be located.
You talk a lot about other prisons being in residential neighborhoods, but would you be ok with this facility in your backyard?
I have the advantage over most of you in that I have toured all the state’s major institutions multiple times. A month or so ago, I was in both the Montana State Prison and the Montana State Hospital. I have spent several hours in the Galen Forensic Facility and in most major and some smaller county detention facilities. At no time did I feel unsafe. A little over a month ago, we walked through the High Security Side at [Montana State Prison] in Deer Lodge. I would not have concerns having a forensic mental health facility near me … We can solve the need to serve one problem population with the construction of this facility, but there is much more to do in supporting and caring for your neighbors and friends that deal with behavioral health issues, sometimes on a daily basis.
— Mara Silvers
By the Numbers 🔢
The increases in spring enrollment over last year at the University of Montana and Montana State University, respectively, according to recent press releases.
While both universities reported consecutive growth in student numbers over the last several years, the categories of students seeing increases varied.
This spring, 11,123 students are enrolled at UM, up from 10,793 students last year. UM’s growth was largely driven by increased enrollment at Missoula College, including high school students taking college courses, and in a graduate program for professionals needing updated academic credentials, according to the spring census report. The number of other graduate students decreased from spring 2025 to spring 2026, and the number of undergraduate students remained steady. While dual enrollment students made up more than half of Missoula College’s total enrollment, the number of non-high school students also increased from spring 2025.
At MSU, the number of students increased from 16,237 to 16,373, mostly due to a jump in undergraduate students. The university reported a slight decrease in the number of graduate students from spring 2025. Gallatin College saw a nearly 6% increase, largely driven by an increase in dual enrollment students. The high school students also made up more than half of Gallatin College students in the spring, while the number of other students declined.
Spring enrollment is typically lower than fall enrollment for all categories except dual enrollment. Both universities reported increased enrollment last fall, with MSU hitting a record 17,165 students, a 0.1% increase over the previous year. UM saw a 2.3% increase in enrollment in fall 2025, with 11,064 students.
— Katie Fairbanks
Snapshot 📸
Supporters of Konnor Ralph, a 23-year-old Olympic skier from Helena, react as he lands a trick during the finals of the big air freestyle skiing competition at the Milano-Cortina Olympics. The Tuesday-morning watch party at Ten Mile Creek Brewery in Helena was sponsored by Great Divide Ski Area, where Ralph started skiing as a child. Ralph finished fifth.
Highlights ☀️
In other news this week —
- There’s a pending $85 billion merger between national railroad companies. Why should Montanans care?
- Montana cities have different ideas about working with ICE.
- Closure of the beloved Izaak Walton Inn near Glacier caught employees and community members by surprise.
On Our Radar
Amanda — Biographies aren’t typically my cup of tea, but I thoroughly enjoyed “True Nature: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen.” I’ve always thought of Matthiessen in the context of “The Snow Leopard” (a chronicle of the three-month period Matthiessen spent in the Himalayas circa 1973), so I was surprised to learn that he fancied himself a fiction writer at heart. I was also surprised that the longtime Long Island resident had threatened to relocate his family to a shack in Montana.
Lauren — On my radar this week is the sweet, sweet feeling of the piercing chill in the air. After our unusual, disregulating warm winter, I missed the tingly sensation in my fingers right before they went numb. I missed being blasted with an arctic-level wind as I walked to work. I missed, most of all, how extra good a warm apartment and hot soup are to come home to at the end of the day.
Zeke — I was ill-prepared for the recent cold snap, so I felt a lot of empathy for this deer stranded on a frozen lake near Ennis.
Jacob — If you’re eyeing a new laptop, phone, tablet, TV or any electronic device smarter than a microwave, it’s worth factoring in that memory prices are rising rapidly and will continue to do so due to demand from AI data centers. Analysts do not expect prices to improve this year or next, barring some sort of bubble popping.
Mara — Maybe I was too busy reading and rereading the Harry Potter series as a child, but I somehow managed to miss the boat on Agatha Christie’s prolific mystery novels. Thankfully, the Seven Dials miniseries on Netflix has succeeded in spoon-feeding me a sampling of her literary brilliance. I’m officially soliciting suggestions on the next Christie novel I should pick up in paperback.
Eric — Stay with me on this one: An artificial intelligence bot proposes revisions to an open-source coding project. A human who manages the project rejects the changes. The AI bot responds by writing a blog post accusing the human of gatekeeping — then eventually apologizes. This actually happened last week.
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This week’s edition of Lowdown was edited by Nick Ehli, with additional copy editing by Eric Dietrich.