Cannabis: Flower in Fashion - Branding Bud Live Episode 26
THE SUMMARY
In this episode, From the creativity and self-expression that both fashion and cannabis inspire to the unique lifestyle choices that unite enthusiasts of both, we'll be exploring the ways in which these two cultural movements influence and shape each other.
THE CO-HOSTS
David Paleschuck, Adriana Hemans
THE SPECIAL GUEST
Brett Heyman, Founder, Flower by Edie Parker
THE TRANSCRIPT
David Paleschuck
Welcome to Branding Bud Live, the live stream that’s 100% THC and 0% WTF. Every week we speak with business people about the business of cannabis. I’m David Paleschuck, founder of Branding Bud Consulting Group and author of the first book on cannabis branding. I’m joined by my co-host Adriana Hemans, a Marketing executive with over 8 years in the cannabis space. Hi Adriana!
Adriana Hemans
Hi David. Thank you for that intro. I’m so excited to co-host the show with you. We’re bringing amazing guests from across the cannabis ecosystem to share their perspectives. My favorite thing about Branding Bud Live is that we focus on building community - and we encourage audience participation. It’s not just about us talking, it’s about all of us building something together. So feel free to drop your questions and/or opinions in the chat, and we’ll share them too.
David Paleschuck
Thank you, Adriana. And thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We have a lot of hot topics to get into today. Today, our topic is, “Cannabis: Flower In Fashion”. Some of the topics we’ll cover are:
What do these cannabis & fashion have in common?
In what ways is cannabis being marketed by the fashion industry?
What does the intersection of these two industries look like in the future?
Our guest today is Brett Heyman, Founder, Flower by Edie Parker. I’m excited to have her on the show today.
Adriana Hemans
Me too! Let’s welcome her onto the show. Hi, Brett! We have a lot to cover today. So let's just jump in. I want to start by asking a question that we ask all of our guests. And I love to hear because we're so passionate in this industry. Right. So let's hear from you. Tell us about your passion for fashion!
Brett Heyman
Well, I want to I'm one of those people that's always had a passion for fashion. I would steal my mom's fashion magazines; I would make my own outfits try to do my own makeup. So it's always appealed to me since I'm a kid, and I think it's because at its best, it's extremely creative, right? I mean, it's, it's extremely creative, it's extremely individual, you're sort of, it's the easiest way to tell the world who you are, for better or worse. And I always thought that was just really fun and lean into it. And then at large, I think it's like, it's a real visual marker of change. And again, I'm like, I'm giving you only the rosiest picture of fashion. Obviously, there's, we could, we could say some negative things about it. But the way that I love to look at it is like, sorry, how to how you sort of mark these revolutions, these cultural revolutions in the clothes that people were wearing. And so even as early as like, Coco Chanel, introducing Jersey as a fabric and getting women out of corsets, and then putting women in the 60s and mini-skirts and then the two piece it's really all of these moments where people are, are, are screaming about their individuality and the change they want to see culturally and they're wearing it on their bodies.
David Paleschuck
Let's talk about that a little bit more then then how does really how does your passion for fashion sort of translate into your passion now for cannabis in the line of cannabis that you've created?
Brett Heyman
I think it's similar. I think. I think fashion is obsessed with subculture right fashion is obsessed with skating and surfing and all these sorts of subcultures hip hop, obviously being one of the greatest examples that fashion is sort of tapped into and brands that were sort of like niche subcultures became huge brands like a Thrasher, a supreme what have you. And I think that obviously, cannabis there is a subculture becoming very mainstream, just like the aforementioned subcultures, but cannabis is a subculture. And I think, fashion is interested in it and fashions obsession with what's next and what's new. And what's youthful is, I mean, obviously, it could be exploitative. But I think like, what's more appealing is the creativity that both love and that's where my passion comes from my obsession, as you said, like I just love this idea of, here's cannabis as an industry as a professionalized legalized industry is going to be fascinating. It's going to make so much change, it's going to drive culture and like, participating in the fashion side of that how fashion and corporate side is exciting to me.
David Paleschuck
In many ways, this, it kind of reminds me of, what happened with, I don't know, I'd say, Quicksilver or Ocean Pacific, where it was all about surf culture, but I think the majority of the tee shirts and apparel, was sold in the middle of the country. it was those people that were aspiring towards surf culture, but that was their only way to touch it.
Brett Heyman
Right? Well, I mean, isn't that when you talk about fashion, and it's a capital F ash fashion is aspirational, right. I mean, you're, you're creating a story for somebody so Billabong is a great example. I mean, I grew up in LA I'd never surfed once in my life, but I was wearing the Quicksilver everything or Roxy. I mean, I think it's just like, you want to be a part of something and buying the t shirt is the easiest way to do it. And certainly, I mean, you brought up cookies, but like, perfect example of people who couldn't buy cookies or access cookies, but they could buy the t shirt and feel a part of the culture.
Adriana Hemans
We wear our aspirations on our sleeves.
Brett Heyman
Literally. On our jean pocket on our sneakers, certainly, we do. And in the associations, I mean, you really like when you put something on like that you're sort of really screaming your association to your affinities.
Adriana Hemans
So Brett, can you talk a little bit about how you see consumption of cannabis impacting the fashion industry?
Brett Heyman
Well, I think I mean, I just think that obviously, cannabis legalization and consumption will just continue to affect culture. I mean, I'm really obviously the New Yorker, I'm so excited about what New York's going to look like, not now. Because it seems to be a disaster now, but like living in three years from now, I think New York is going to be as significant as California was maybe even more so it's going to really, I think, change the way we buy and consume and what dispensaries look like. And so anything again, like fashion, like anything that's happening, culturally, is going to be represented in fashion. So I think obviously, I don't know exactly what that will look like. And I certainly don't think it's like, throwing leaves on clothing, but the fashion industry will be participating in meaningful ways. And I'm excited to see what they look like. I mean, great example, Sundae School, who I love, just hosted a fashion show at the Museum of THC in New York. That was incredible. And certainly first of its kind, we actually we sent accessories for it. We went sent bags on the runway, little accessories. And I just feel like that will happen more and more. It was a great first foray.
David Paleschuck
Yeah, it's so interesting, just a few things really quickly before I lose them. speaking of cookies I had, I was at the airport when I was traveling, I was at a Starbucks, which is the only time I go to Starbucks when I'm at the airport. And I was in front of a mother and son, the son was probably about 12 years old. He was wearing a cookies hoodie. I said, Wow, that's cool. we're in a Cookies hoodie. You know? D, and his mother turned around, because obviously a stranger was talking to him. And I said, Well, do you know what cookies is? And she said, yeah, it's a skateboard brand. And, I kind of laughed and the kid was panicked, because he was like, he knew I was about to drop a dime on his mother that it was a cannabis brand. But it's interesting how some people don't even, don't even realize what they're buying into. They're just buying into, the outer shell, right? the skin, if you will. And they don't believe and understand the breadth of what the brand is about. Just like, you'll see a 16 year old girl wearing an independent tee shirt and she doesn't even realize or Thrasher t shirt doesn't even realize it's rooted in skate culture.
Brett Heyman
Look, I think people want to be a part of something and they want to be cool. And I think if buying a tee shirt makes you feel cool. Even if you're a sixteen year old girl and you don't really know the origins – that's how people sell thousands of tee shirts.
David Paleschuck
That's right.
Adriana Hemans
I want to call out a comment from Nico, who said cannabis legalization is a theme for Met Gala. Calling it right now. It's going to happen. I hope that you're right, Nico, because that sounds like an amazing event.
David Paleschuck
Yeah, just before we get on to, we were talking about the Met Gala, and Brett's participation in and around that.
Brett Heyman
Well, I'm starting lots of hemp clothing at the Costume Institute. I mean, certainly we could start there.
David Paleschuck
Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, hemp. Hemp makes sense for so many reasons. But for so many good reasons. Not all of the hemp is sort of stereotype hempy things, but there's some, there's some really cool, cool reasons why it makes sense.
Brett Heyman
Fashion has a sustainability problem. And it's something that is talked about all the time, and people don't really take it that seriously. Hemp makes a lot of sense for fashion, and we should pay attention to that.
David Paleschuck
It does. It's could probably be one of the more sustainable aspects of fashion since fashion is always going out of fashion. Right. That's, that's what fashion is. It's built to go out of fashion.
Brett Heyman
And it all comes around again. So, you just have to hang on until it’s retro!
David Paleschuck
That's right. Well, so we're talking about cannabis and fashion. We're talking about your brand, Edie Parker and Flower by Edie Parker and the convergence of fashion and cannabis. So, before we go any further, why don't we just jump in to a quick slide that sort of shows your brand and some of the things that What we're talking about here. So, obviously, do you want to talk about this?
Brett Heyman
Sure. I mean, this is just I mean, this is representative of some of our THC skews out in the market. Those I believe are boxes, there are gram jars, or we call them flower pots that we launched with first in California. And that airbrush art is, we work with a lot of airbrush artists for our brand collateral. And I think you can see the point here is just to make these really compelling skews that jump off on a shelf that look really feminine that look like fashion items. If you're walking through our dispensary, and previously just seen packaging that looked really medicinal, or really minimalist, we are sort of like unabashedly, our tagline is for a good time, because we think it's just cool to really like weed and to get high and all the other benefits are there. But we just really lean into the pleasure of it all. And then we're also looking at a wild posting. We did those wild postings in New York, New York, Illinois, LA and mass last year around 420. And there's two different we did side by sides. And I almost got in real trouble for this. One of them is the first campaign that we did, which is we've come a long way baby, which is obviously a nod to the Virginia Slims ads, which are we're you've come a long way baby. Our brand, Edie Parker, when I launched in 2010, is deeply rooted in nostalgia, the original idea for the company was to remake vintage acrylic bags that had been produced in the 50s and 60s and sort of evolved them and innovate them. We were paid homage to this period and post-World War Two America where we were setting fashion trends globally and really using innovative materials. So I love that this campaign spoke to that time and also that this campaign, when you look at it now seems so dated and ridiculous. But at the time, it was so feminist, and it was the first campaign cigarette out I'm sorry, targeting women, and encouraging them to like to get out of the kitchen and have independence. So we just thought it was really special. And we thought that when you know when we launched it in 2022, that women who used to smoke cigarettes smoke flower now those are like the independent cool women. So that was the origin. We laid that next to Forbes, and had had written an article Warren wrote an article once and the tagline was the Coco Chanel of cannabis. And while I think that's certainly presumptuous, and I don't believe it. I love Warren for saying that. And so we put that next to it to sort of tie in our fashion and flour. And we wrapped a truck with it and parked it right outside of the Chanel 57th Street store, with “wild postings” around it. And I have one of my best friends works at Chanel. And she called me and said you need to move the truck. We're not paying attention. You need to move the truck right now. This is like you're pushing us too far. So we did we drove to Brooklyn, but it we just loved the campaign and had a great time with it.
Adriana Hemans
That is so daring. I love that story.
David Paleschuck
Yeah, I love that too. That's, that's really great. it's funny, too. I mean, when you speak about Virginia Slims, I often think of Do you remember the Enjoli perfume. And there they had a song which basically said, “I could bring home the bacon. Fry it up in a pan, and I'll never let you forget you're a man.” And so this transition point of where women could not only work and be a housewife, but also beat the stereotype stereotypical thing that a man wants or an objective desire. So it's really interesting to see these ads and to see how you've harkened back to a lot of that. Should we have a couple of videos that we'd love to show because they sort of take these nostalgic sort of pieces and sort of bring them into to a new light, which I think is sort of fun and quirky and cool.
David Paleschuck
Well, obviously that was where's the beef for those people that put didn't put it together. Where's the beef? is now Where's the kief?
Brett Heyman
Yeah, you mean for the young people watching who didn't grow up with that being extremely iconic.
David Paleschuck
So you know that It begs the question. Okay, so we just spoke about a Virginia Slims ad. And then we spoke throughout the Enjoli ad. We're talking about feminism. and now, where's a Wendy's, which you call out as Weedies? Where's instead of where's the beef? Where's the key? If so, who are you appealing to?
Brett Heyman
I mean, certainly, like our flower audience skews much more Gen Z than the ads would suggest. But I think what we find fun in the office is that there's a sense of discovery, like, we feel like our audience is engaged enough that if she doesn't get the reference, if she doesn't get the reference, the ad works. It's fun. It's stony mama. The grinders are colorful, the point of that is to launch our new grinders. And so we think it works if you don't know. But I do feel like people come on this journey with us. And we give them little clues. And when they find it, I think, people think it's funny when they when they discovered on their own. But the reason that I think we feel comfortable still, like in that nostalgia place, where I clearly live, is that we we've been a brand since 2010. I mean, we've had an audience engaged with us since 2010. And granted, not all of our historic Edie Parker customers are flower customers at all. But we still we do those for her to like, we know, she knows that we know she likes it, it's still like there is still the brand ethos that that while we're selling totally different items and the different brands like the spirit is still there. And so that's a little bit of a nod to our to our heritage.
David Paleschuck
We have two more quick videos let's go through.
Brett Heyman
So, I mean, just to give you some background, this was our campaign, all three of these videos are part of our campaign for 20. This past April last month. And I think the idea was, we had played with this idea of a weedy TV before in a in a campaign just like a casual campaign. And I think we're so deeply offended by the very onerous marketing restrictions that we have in this category. And obviously, we can't advertise in traditional ways. And so this idea was like, let's make our own TV spot. Let's if we had our own TV station, and if we could make commercials, what would it look like? And again, because clearly, I live in the past, and I should think about that, that coming in a little bit into the future. I love like, I love old MTV ads and sort of when MTV was launched and every musician on the planet was doing that spot for them to make it work. We just like we feel like that same sort of rebellious spirit where people don't want us to do this and cannabis is still so stigmatized and a little bit in the shadows so we're going to make an ad that sort of nods to that time.
Adriana Hemans
And Kate also commented love the for 20 campaign ads clever spin offs, I agree. I also liked that there's a little bit of an allusion to the home shopping network was like such a classic was late night viewing sessions.
Adriana Hemans
We should ask the audience if they know what original ad that was inspired by.
David Paleschuck
I think either you get these immediately because you were just around. Or they're new and quirky and funny. And they're still enjoyable. And they're, for me way more enjoyable than memes. But I think I think that's perhaps an age thing to I don't know. I'm curious audience feel free to jump in.
David Paleschuck
That's it? Well, every week we have an audience participation. And I think the audience is just getting warmed up with that. Thank you, Kate. So why don't we jump into one of our audience? So which fashion item was first made from these fibers? Is it a sunglasses B? C shoes with the balance? Curious to know. Audience, feel free to jump in. Again, which fashion item was first made from cannabis fibers? I'm guessing that I'm guessing without giving too much information away. That sounds like a heavy thing like we were talking about before it, doesn't it?
Adriana Hemans
Yeah. What do you think?
Brett Heyman
I'm guessing Hats.
David Paleschuck
Hats. All right. Well, let's just jump to it. What is the answer? The answer is Hats. That's right. Someone said this is a tough one because some of the earliest examples of hemp clothing come in the form of hats which were worn by ancient civilizations, such as the Scythians in what is now modern day Russia.
Adriana Hemans
I feel like that's a trend worth bringing back.
Brett Heyman
We made a hand hat our first baseball hat was made out of hemp and it's my favorite hat to this day. It was not inexpensive is the problem. So I think we that's sort of the tension is finding, using hemp fiber, but people willing to pay a little bit more for it and knowing I think maybe we have to do a better job of education, like why hemp is worth it, why it's long lasting, et cetera. But it was it is still my favorite hat. It's amazing.
David Paleschuck
Hemp is anti-microbial to most people don't know that.
Adriana Hemans
Look at all this knowledge floating around today. All sorts of good stuff. Let's talk a little bit about design and brands and how cannabis is sort of being incorporated into some examples you could share with us, Brett?
Brett Heyman
Sure. I mean, obviously we mentioned Sundae School. That's really very top of mind for me. Also, Brandon Blackwood. He's an amazing Well, I was going to call him a handbag designer, but he's now launch ready to wear and shoes. And he just did. I don't know if he co lap with raw but he made a shoe with a Plexi heel with a raw sort of joint in it. And he's like, he's a great example of someone who's building such an amazing business for himself. He's based in New York. He's very cannabis positive. He loves cannabis he openly consumed I'm not sharing, his life. And I think he's going to be really part of the conversation of this intersection of fashion and cannabis, because he really loves it and he's already integrating it in designs. Obviously, then, there's the pure beauty of it all. I mean, that they haven't like, they did their areas collaboration, which was amazing. And I think they do a great job of not only fashion collaborate collaborations, but just being really culturally relevant, just presenting cannabis in a culturally significant way, which I really respect and admire. I love what they do.
David Paleschuck
Just to be clear, because you said the Pure Beauty of it all. Are you referring to the brand, Pure Beauty?
Brett Heyman
Yes. Pure Beauty. Beauty calm collabed with Aries.
David Paleschuck
Right. So for those for those that don't know there is a cannabis brand based in California called pure beauty, which, in many ways Wow. That's as close to a fashion brand as it as it is a cannabis brand. Or I know let me take that back. They leverage all the elements of fashion into their cannabis brand, I think is a better.
Brett Heyman
Right. I think they shoot their product the way people in fashion shoot their product. I think their campaigns feel editorial. I think they're extremely elevated. I think they're extremely considered. So I think they mimic a fashion brand but I don't think of them as a fashion brand.
David Paleschuck
Correct. But, but it's that perspective and viewpoint, which, which is pretty interesting.
Brett Heyman
Yes, I agree. Yeah.
David Paleschuck
So, preparing for the show and sort of sending out all the things we do on LinkedIn, I kind of tongue in cheek said, is cannabis being marketed by the fashion industry? hoping that it was clickbait herbal, and not that people would, would come and listen to our conversation. But that said, is cannabis being marketed by the fashion industry now?
Brett Heyman
Yeah, I mean, I, I don't feel that way … yet. I still feel like it's a little fringe like I like really live in fashion. I live in that space. I read all about it. So I see it a lot too. But there's yet to be a really mainstream designer, like none of the LVMH brands, none of the Gucci group brands, no American publicly traded brands like nobody with like real international presence has dipped into cannabis, I think there's still a lot of fear there. And there's a lot of sort of negative stigma associated still. And people that really like have big China businesses and Europe businesses, they're not jumping in quickly. And so for me, until that happens, I still think while people are interested in this space, it's not marketed. It's not helping with normalization as quickly as I would like it to, I think that is what will happen. But until that happens, I still think it feels like I don't care if someone throws leaves on a sweatshirt and throws it down the road and sends it down the runway, like that's meaningless. So that's, I think, will be the sea change.
Adriana Hemans
Do you think that fashion can play a role in helping to normalize cannabis and have a more positive outlook? And more acceptance?
Brett Heyman
1,000% I think that will be a huge deal. When fashion accepts cannabis as the way that it does, alcohol or, or any kind of spirit like that. Cigarettes, even though cigarettes are obviously out of fashion. Yes, I think that's going to be huge. And I think that's where we try to contribute as well. I mean, David, and I've talked about this before, for our own brand, like, I'm very aware of who we are and who we speak to. We don't think we're esoteric strain people. We haven't been growers. We know who we are. But we think bringing in other people to the cannabis conversation, and people who are interested in fashion and people who buy fashion, absolutely, that aids in normalization, and just, making the conversation a little bit more robust.
David Paleschuck
Yeah, what's interesting, just a quick side note, just a few weeks ago, we had David Goubert, on who's the president and CEO of AYR Wellness. And he came from LVMH. Not only that he also came from then he went to Neiman Marcus. So it's just interesting to see somebody coming from luxury into the space and heading up. I believe they're well this year. They're the largest one of the I think they think they have 17 locations. I'm not quite sure if I'm remembering that correctly. But they're in multiple states. We integrated and it's great to see somebody at AYR Wellness, understanding what luxury what customer experience is. Those types of things.
Brett Heyman
I think the customer experience piece is huge. And I think it's really smart are there to do that because I think we need that kind of help and cannabis.
Adriana Hemans
Yeah, he made a great point to that I'll just mention briefly is that that experience of shopping in a dispensary for the first time can be really intimidating for people. And it's the same way with shopping in a luxury store. You may feel a little nervous to set foot in there if you haven't before, like what to expect or are Am I justified in being here do like do I have the credentials to come in and have a conversation about these things? And one way to overcome that is by making it a welcoming environment and introducing people to other people at the store and making it feel like you're inviting someone into your home?
Brett Heyman
No, I think that's a great point.
Adriana Hemans
And while we do that, let's jump to another audience participation, shall we? Yeah. Cool. So this is a fun one, which, and cannabis brands have teamed up to create unique collaborations? Is it A. Weedmaps and Diamond? B. Lowell & Loius Vuitton, C. Swami Select and Supreme, or D. Cookies and Got Milk? Drop your best guests in the chat.
David Paleschuck
Cookies and Got Milk? Wow well I'm hungry now.
Adriana Hemans
Process of elimination. Yeah, we have quite a few guests. We have two guesses for D. Sharif and Kate are guessing D and Nicole is guessing A.
David Paleschuck
D would be awesome. Some I'm guessing either. Kate said. Would. We must work on those. Adriana. We must get Cookies and Got Milk together.
Adriana Hemans
I believe it could happen.
David Paleschuck
All right. Well, we have you answered. The so it's fashion and cannabis brands have teamed up to create collaborations? All right. Well, let's see. We've it seems like we've got more ways than anything else. Now I see kids guessing. Let's go to the answer.
Adriana Hemans
Weedmaps and Diamond with Whiz Khalifa.
David Paleschuck
And the Taylor Gang is involved in that. I feel like there's probably a soundtrack that goes along with the line of apparel as well.
Adriana Hemans
Somebody mentioned a second ago about Nike and Pax Labs, which I thought was interesting.
David Paleschuck
Yes. I did see that. And I did see the row as well. And that's typical, where, Adidas and Nike do limited editioned 4/20 shoes that, but they're sort of the one offs are where they're the limited edition runs or they're worth, they don't even exist in real life. They're just for PR purposes. But it's interesting to see that read to you. Do you often see. You don't want to call them phony or made up although I just did items or products that are just created for from a hype?
Brett Heyman
Totally. I mean, as you said, it's like a clickbait in real life. It's absolutely participating in something at a moment when it's convenient, but not actually doing it. By the way, I have no I don't I'm not saying that it sounds so pejorative. I didn't mean it as such a just, it's like a way to get conversations going. But yes, I think those things don't really exist.
David Paleschuck
In the era of fake news, how important is storytelling to a cannabis brand or to any brand for that matter?
Brett Heyman
Important, for any brand, I mean, I think just really storytelling product education, really making your brand values known. It's, it's everything. I mean, people really want to feel like they're connected to around they want authenticity from a brand and they want to know, there's just so many options. So I think to pretend you're kind of friendly and 4/20 by like, mocking something up that doesn't exist is not cool? But it starts conversation so fine.
Adriana Hemans
It's kind of like grandstanding. Like we see a lot of brands doing this around social equity and diversity and inclusion. How do you sort of stand out amongst that noise and communicate to your customers that what you're doing is really authentic?
Brett Heyman
I mean, I think you just keep doing it. I mean, I think like, there's, there's you like we've made we've made a choice we've gone all in and cannabis, it's been extremely difficult. It's extremely capital intensive. We've lost so many of our, heritage customers because of it, but we really believe in it. We really believe it's a magical plant. We really believe we're at the beginning of something exciting and putting good out into the world. So I mean, I feel like you just have to keep reinforcing your message and not just walk away from something if it doesn't work.
David Paleschuck
Right, right. Agreed. I mean, you can’t support the LGBTQ community during June only, you have to support them all year round. You have to, be authentic and credible. And, and all the other words that I'm trying not to use. But it's important. You know how to do. I'm curious. I want to talk about the future of cannabis here. But what's interesting is, and I'm pausing on my words, because we just saw three videos that were very nostalgic. And so I almost feel like there's this Back to the Future thing happening. And, and even if younger consumers don't understand you're pulling from certain things, they're still funny enough to live on their own. Could you talk about nostalgia cycle or fashion cycle and sort of coming over?
Brett Heyman
Well, look that again, I'm sure you hate this word. And I've already used it. But that sense of nostalgia is very authentic to Edie Parker. we are a nostalgic brand by nature. We started by making nostalgic clutches because I couldn't find them anymore. It was an art that didn't exist, and we remade it for a new generation. So we're not out here trying to be nostalgic, because we think it's going to be fun for a season like that is a very much a part of who we are. And as it exists for cannabis. I mean, part of what I think works with the campaigns is that they're so unintimidating. They're so like when you recognize something, you automatically feel comfortable, like whether or not you like it, like there's like a sense of familiarity. And so that's also where I think we contribute to cannabis, which is to say, like, We are the least intimidating brand in cannabis, we are not the ground, that's going to get you the highest. As I said, we're not the most esoteric strains, we are going to be consistent, we're going to be safe, we're going to be fun, it's going to be a good experience and we're going to make you feel familiar even if you don't smoke cannabis and you're curious about it or your those boomerangs I can have my parents friends who smoked in the 60s, and now they're coming back. There's something about the playfulness that I think just puts people at ease. And so that is where the space that we live in for now. And who knows if maybe, in five years, we will feel differently, and we'll be totally thinking future. But it's always been who we are. And so that's what we do.
Adriana Hemans
We gravitate back toward that familiarity. Thank you so much for sharing these videos and your approach to bringing in new customers and, and your viewpoints about how fashion and cannabis can play together and help each other. Brett, Where can people learn more about Edie Parker and Flower By Edie Parker.
Brett Heyman
Our website is www.edie-parker.com. And you can find information about fashion and flower there. And our Instagram, is @edie_parker. Please follow us DMS ask us any questions. Thank you so much. It's so nice to talk to you.
David Paleschuck
Absolutely. And before you go, the one thing we didn't talk about just briefly, you're in, I believe four or five states currently. Can you just talk about that a little bit? Because most cannabis brands cannot claim, that right? They're typically single state operators. So bravo to you for not only creating a cannabis brand, but actually putting it out there. So in the last couple of minutes, would you mind just talking about where the brand is?
Brett Heyman
Sure. Thank you. And so currently we are so we are everywhere in dispensaries with our accessories. We're in over 250 doors, we have national exposure, so you can find our accessories almost anywhere or on our website, we can ship to you. Our THC skews right now are in Illinois and Massachusetts. But by end of this summer, we will be in addition to Illinois, Massachusetts, we'll be in Ohio. We'll be in Maryland. We'll be in New Jersey. We're going into Pennsylvania shortly. And I'm certain I'm forgetting one. But yes, and then we're in advanced talks to enter other states. So we are it is something that's been incredibly hard to achieve. And it's slow and everything and cannabis takes about a year and a half longer than I anticipated. Well. But yes, we're very proud that we will be in six states and hopefully, 10 by 20 and 2024.
David Paleschuck
Awesome. Well, Brett, again, thank you for joining us today. Thank you for what you do, and please continue to do it.
Brett Heyman
Thank you so much for having me. Thank you, guys. Nice to talk.
Adriana Hemans
So fun. Thank you.
David Paleschuck
Thank you Brett for talking about the convergence of cannabis and fashion, and we'll continue to see what happens on that front. We're super excited about what we've got next week. Our guest next week is Tom Stewart former editor of the Harvard Business Review, and co-author of the bestselling book “Woo, Wow, and Win: Service Design, Strategy, and the Art of Customer Delight”. Tom will show us how businesses of all kinds – including cannabis businesses – can use service design to differentiate their themselves, build customer loyalty, and create lasting relationships. Some of the topics we’ll cover are:
What are the key elements of a successful customer service strategy?
How can cannabis retailers measure customer satisfaction?
What role can technology play in the customer experience?
Join us again, Thursday, May 11th. As always, every Thursday 11am PST 2pm EST. You can also find us on our YouTube channel. We put a couple of links in the chat so please check those out. And until then, be sure to check out cannabis’s best kept secret at www.brandingbud.com. Thank you, Adriana. Thank you, Brett. Thank you, audience for checking us out and listening in. Have a great week. See you next week.
Adriana Hemans
Don’t forget to register for next week’s event here:
https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:7059305494577917953/
Bye everyone. Thank you!
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