DIRTY WEED WORDS: COMMERCIAL VIABILITY Commercial viability may be the phrase that has changed in cannabis the most over the decades for the industry. During my chat with First Smoke of The Day, which dropped last week, the subject of commercial viability came up. Basically, I said once you got past the lovely people that got…
DIRTY WEED WORDS: COMMERCIAL VIABILITY
Commercial viability may be the phrase that has changed in cannabis the most over the decades for the industry.
During my chat with First Smoke of The Day, which dropped last week, the subject of commercial viability came up. Basically, I said once you got past the lovely people that got screwed by circumstances of licensing or location, there are a lot of people who got eaten up by the times because they wouldn’t change their ways. This received the most positive feedback of anything I said during the hour-and-a-half talk. While I’ve attempted to articulate the idea of people not being able to keep up with the game, it was never with the ethos of how many of the world’s best growers hit me up or tagged me on Instagram over the last week.
At its core, the attempt to define commercial viability in cannabis has proven a double-edged sword. On the one side, the meaning represents progress in the game. The bar for commercial viability has risen with the progress of the times across every market. This includes recreational and the still massive underground cannabis economy thought to dwarf California’s legal market at least 2 to 1, given the vast swaths of the state without legal access and people everywhere else wanting our weed. The pot has certainly increased in quality on both sides of the market.
On the other side, not all ships have risen with the tide due to various circumstances. Be it their own stubbornness to not change their ways as advancements in the game had been made, or never actually knowing what the bar was for commercial viability in the first place whenever they jumped ship from whatever industry expecting to carve a piece of the cannabis industry for themselves.
Let us not forget a mere 20 years ago, brick weed stuffed in a tire was commercially viable for American distributors. So imagine you’re a person operating under the protection of 215 in that era. Ninety-nine percent of the domestic marijuana supply is absolute garbage. It’s fair to say you’re a hot cookie at that moment.
But, as the years rolled on, the bar went up.
Commercial viability got to the point where it didn’t just mean you were talking about the quality or price of the product, but also accessibility and ease of transport. California has a firm grip on illicit domestic cannabis production as the feds’ annual plant eradication counts firmly show. But it’s not the same. In the past, the worst cannabis California has to offer used to get scooped up faster than Olive Garden breadsticks coming out of the oven.
Now we’ve reached the point where people don’t have to buy California’s worst product anymore. California cultivators aren’t competing with Mexican brick weed anymore. They’re competing with the Oklahomas and the Maines — hell, there are probably even some decent beaster packs from Canada still making it over the border.
A lot of the lost souls in California on the illicit side are those who couldn’t keep up with people growing decent weed in those places where people could drive to pick it up. The best weed in the world is still grown in NorCal, especially on the illicit side of the market. Not being able to grow commercially viable pot in the rec market is one thing, but if you are having trouble on the other side, maybe it’s time to do some soul-searching on your craft. Do those little things you see your neighbors doing that you didn’t want to because you convinced yourself you knew what you were doing.
The most important thing you can do to survive in this market is to grow the best cannabis possible. People that worry about pinching pennies first are destined to fail. At that point, the quality of the marijuana is the second most important thing to you, and you’ve already lost.
AMERICAN CANNABIS INDUSTRY NEARS $30 BILLION VALUE
The latest forecast from the data crunchers at BDSA has the U.S. cannabis industry growing to just south of $30 billion by the end of the year.
Globally, they project the industry to be worth $36.7 billion in 2023 with roughly 80%, or $29.6 billion, of sales coming from the U.S. state markets. BDSA is expecting the global marketplace to grow about 13% a year through 2027. The U.S. market is expected to be worth $45 billion by that time.
“Over the next five years, the biggest drivers of cannabis industry growth in the U.S. will be the thriving Midwest and East Coast markets,” said Roy Bingham, co-founder and CEO of BDSA. “New markets, especially adult-use markets like Missouri, New Jersey and New York, will lead growth. Although mature Western markets such as Colorado and California have experienced sales stagnation or decline due to price compression, they will continue to account for a substantial portion of legal sales through 2027.”
BDSA went on to cover some of the key numbers that will be playing into the growth. This includes the new Missouri market, which is expected to do $1.4 billion in sales this year. BDSA expects New York to do about $631 million this year but jump to $2.5 billion by 2027. New York sales are projected to see an annual compound growth rate of roughly 71%.
Then there are the markets that haven’t come online yet, even hypothetical ones like Florida play into the number where BDSA is expecting sales to start in 2025 and have a value of $4.3 billion per year by 2027. Minnesota, which legalized adult-use cannabis last month, will begin sales next year and is expected to do $117 million in sales next year and grow to $875 million by 2027.
The growth of midwestern cannabis markets is going well. Illinois is projected to do $2 billion in sales this year. Michigan has seen sales bump 19% in 2023 and the market is expected to be worth $3.5 Billion by 2027.
BDSA went on to note that here in California, the numbers are being impacted by the price of the pound crashing and the fact the illicit market still dwarfs the legal one. BDSA argues these are the main reasons California’s legal market saw a decline in sales for the first time in 2022. The report notes that based on the sales in the first quarter of 2023, the California market is expected to decline by 9% this year.
“California cannabis price compression emerged as a result of ongoing competition from the well-established illicit channel, and an oversupply of cannabis products as cultivation has ramped up in the legal channel since the start of adult-use sales in 2018,” Bingham told L.A. Weekly in an email. “This led to a decline in average retail prices beginning in Q3 2021. BDSA Retail Sales Tracking data show that equivalent average retail prices in California declined 21% between Q3 2021 and Q1 2023. Other mature markets, such as Michigan, have grown in total dollar sales despite price compression, but unit sales growth in California has not been strong enough to counteract price declines.”
Bingham went on to cover some of the positives that came out of the storm of 2022.
“While consumers benefited from more affordable cannabis, industry players had to adapt by optimizing operations and focusing on quality and brand reputation,” Bingham said. “The experience highlighted the need for strategic planning and a balanced regulatory framework in the evolving cannabis industry.”
Even with the decline in sales, California is still expected to represent a massive chunk of the U.S. cannabis industry for the foreseeable future.
It’s going down in Thailand’s cannabis scene and you can see plenty of California influence on the marketplace on their new, very open medical marijuana market.
Earlier this month I visited Thailand to check out what legal medical cannabis looks like six months in. It’s wild. There are now hundreds of dispensaries operating in Bangkok. In some cases, you’ll find a dispensary with a cannabis street cart operating across the street. As Thais wait to see what the final regulations look like, they are doing their best to take advantage of the moment. Currently, you don’t need a doctor’s recommendation to access cannabis.
And one of the best ways to take advantage of the moment? Proven practices. A number of the first-wave Thai cannabis business people are familiar with California and other American markets. As opposed to attempts to create their own retail theory, the Thais are leaning on the things that have worked in California for the last 25 years.
One of the funny things is, you’re kind of seeing every kind of dispensary at once. Those who are scared the law might change have a street cart or minimal indoor infrastructure because they are scared it might not last like those in California prior to 2008. The middle of the pack is nicer retail environments with minimal upgrades similar to those years early in The Obama Administration before the landlord letters from the Department of Justice. The final tier of Thai dispensaries is already all the way in. They have LED screens everywhere and primo retail space. As far as they’re concerned. cannabis is completely normalized.
A street cart with a dispensary directly behind it in Bangkok’s Japanese Village. – Photo: Jimi Devine
But the biggest link to California? Commercially viable cuttings. It was very difficult to find authentic Thai genetics. Thailand’s cannabis seemingly isn’t quite ready for full production when it comes to local genetics. We lucked out and had a Thai Stick and a local hybrid that was crossed with some California dessert weed at Phandee in Bangkok, but it was few and far between. The best cannabis we saw was grown by Dr. Dope in Bangkok. Their Double Dawg and Sensi Dawg were the two nicest things we saw grown in Thailand.
Ron Brandon, the founder of California brand Kingston Royal, emphasized it’s not just American genetics we’re seeing. He thinks the market is emulating stateside practices in every form possible.
“I think that genetics are obviously a huge thing. You can see that when you walk up to any of these trucks, you walk inside any one of these dispensaries, there’s just a bunch of genetics from American brands bred by American breeders,” Brandon told L.A. Weekly. “I think California is a culture in itself, whatever, it’s the epicenter as far as cannabis goes. So I mean, you’re going to see a huge influence from California in every single aspect. You see the mylar starting to transition out here in the stores as well. California did dispensaries bigger and better than anyone first, right? And you can see that they just took the California model.”
As for the thing that surprised him the most about the scene six-months into legalization?
“It feels just like back home, right?” Brandon replied. “For the most part, but then there’s the Thai way.”
Josh Schmidt is helping Cookies move into Asia. Schmidt and his Thai partners brought two groups together to form Cookies Asia Co. Schmidt has been visiting Thailand since 2005 and eventually married a Thai woman.
“In 2005, I traveled to Thailand with thoughts of taking a three-week break from cannabis, as laws were so strict. Fast forward to living in Thailand four years and having to consume cannabis in secret,” Schmidt told L.A. Weekly. “I grew plants on my balcony and at my in-laws’ in the Northeast and was worried daily someone might find out and cause problems. I used to go to a Reggae Bar on Khao San and get bags of pressed Lao brick to hold me over. I dreamt of days like today in Thailand, as good cannabis was the one thing I was missing from my daily routine.”
Schmidt went on to point to Thailand’s rich underground culture pushing the plant along since those days.
“Similarly to USA, we are seeing a convergence of underground and new players and it’s creating a fresh, vibrant scene very few have experienced before,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt reminds everyone to play it cool when they visit.
“Being a Californian in Thailand we have to remember that Thailand is still only legal for medical use and we shouldn’t exploit the laws or push any boundaries,” he said. “We have to respect the law in Thailand and learn about “Thainess.” With a uniquely rich history, Thailand is very different from California (or the West for that matter) and we always need to remember where we are and what the Thais have done to keep their heritage and traditions uniquely “Thai.” I have been blessed to be a part of Thailand’s growing cannabis community and am excited for what is to come over the next years!”
We’ll keep an eye on the developing market in Thailand and its impact on the wider cannabis conversation in Asia.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM LIVES UP TO THE MASSIVE HYPE
Link’s latest adventures in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom (TOTK) are everything we were waiting for.
The game has proven a roaring international hit. One common phrase often seen across social media in the past two weeks since the launch is the idea that Breath of The Wild, Zelda’s previous foray on Nintendo’s Switch when the system launched, almost feels like a beta version of what we ended up with in TOTK. How wild is it to call a game that went on to sell 30 million copies since and win a ton of awards a beta test? But it honestly feels kind of accurate with how much TOTK built on the last version of Hyrule we visited six years ago.
The Legacy of Zelda Enthusiasm
There are few dates on the video game calendar that get circled with more enthusiasm than a new Zelda game. Since the first one dropped in 1987, its raving fan base has always wondered what would be next for the franchise that often served with Super Mario Brothers as a flagship game that showed off the capabilities of Nintendo’s hardware from generation to generation. Zelda’s creators Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka were a part of both famous franchises. While it doesn’t quite serve that role in the same fashion given Nintendo has now allowed many more developers to publish games for their hardware in the Switch era, Zelda still very much serves as the benchmark for how much fun you can have on the Switch.
Zelda has turned down the cartoon style from 20 years ago. But the current look and feel still have a very anime feel that looks a lot cleaner than Wind Walker released in 2002. But 2006’s Twilight Princess feels much more similar to what the game looks like today. The modern version feels a lot brighter and more fun, like the way the lava pops with bright red and orange bubbles.
Miyamoto explained some of the thought processes they had as Zelda continued to transition into the 3D format in the 2000s. He noted part of the reason they went for the cartoon look was it made it easier to show expression in the characters. He also wanted it to feel like you were playing a cartoon in 3D, they definitely aced that test.
Breath of The Wild provided a lot of the building blocks for this new sequel on the same generation of hardware six years later. In an interview with Game Informer, Miyamoto noted one of the big jumps as Zelda made the move to the Switch was the nature engine. Exploration has always been a significant backbone of the fun in the play-it-at-your-pace game where you can toss around chickens or make a speed run for the master sword.
“Adventuring and exploring nature is what makes the game,” Miyamoto told Game Informer when the game launched. “I had to relook at what dungeons look like for us and kind of take it out of the dungeon. We spent five years kind of working on that.”
Miyamoto admitted he himself likes the open-world aspect of players creating their own adventures across the storyline over the years but understands there are folks out there that like those deep storylines with a lot of backstories. He thinks this modern generation of Zelda games has done a good job balancing the two.
The Tears of The Kingdom Launch
Over the past few weeks, the world has now had a moment to dive into Hyrule. But the months and years leading up to this moment had a bit of mystery to them. Regardless, once the game hit shelves, it was on.
In just three days, it became the fastest-selling Zelda game of all time. Ten million units moved globally in that first 72 hours, 4 million of them here in North America. That makes it the fastest-selling Nintendo game ever on any system in North America according to Nintendo. A major achievement for the game’s creators.
“Many players are returning to Hyrule with all its new mysteries and possibilities, and with the record-breaking launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for Nintendo Switch, we can’t wait to see what they’ll create in the game and the stories they’ll share next,” said Devon Pritchard, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales, marketing and communications. “We’re grateful for all of our fans who’ve shown their passion for The Legend of Zelda over the years, and these sales numbers for the latest installment continue to show the strong momentum for both the franchise and Nintendo Switch this year.”
Reviews and Livestreams Pumped The Hype
One of the things that helped the massive launch was just how positive all the reviews were. It’s currently sitting at a 95 on Metacritic, the most noted aggregator of video game reviews by a mile. That score puts it as the 49th greatest game of all time per their review system. While 22 other games in history have scored a 95 on the site, TOTK ranks No. 1 one among those games that have scored a 95 since the website was founded over 20 years ago.
Zelda’s 1998 edition Orcana of Time is the number one game of all time on Metacritic as the only game ever to score a 99. The last installment on Switch, Breath of The Wild, ranks No. 14 on the all-time list with the Wii U version coming in No. 26. Twilight Princess is No. 39, and The Wind Walker is No. 44. There are a few on the list after TOTK also. The Gamecube Collectors edition from 2003 came in at No. 54. The Game Boy Advance edition of A Link to The Past came in at No. 59 with Majora’s Mask right behind it at No. 60. Twilight Princess is two spots later at No. 62. A 3DS version also made it. With the TOTK’s reviews getting added to this all-time list, basically one in 10 of the top-reviewed video games of all time on Metacritic is a Zelda game, if you count the two versions of Breath of The Wild as one.
“The fandom behind the Zelda franchise is stronger than ever and to date, Tears of the Kingdom is the best reviewed game of 2023 on Metacritic,” Marc Doyle, Co-Founder of Metacritic told L.A. Weekly. “In fact, it currently ranks in the top 50 games of all time and the number four Zelda game to ever be released.”
We asked Polygon Senior Reporter Nicole Carpenter if she thought the game got scored tougher by critics as a direct sequel.
“I don’t necessarily think it got scored harder, but Breath of the Wild did have a major impact on the industry so there was an expectation for what Tears of the Kingdom would be. The bar was already set high and people expected Tears of the Kingdom to jump over that bar,” Carpenter told L.A. Weekly, “The game sold 10 million copies in a few days so it’s definitely up there for the biggest game of the year. Beyond that, Tears of the Kingdom will be one of most influential games of the year.”
Another thing the newer generation of Zelda games has had play to its favor is the rise of online streaming. The launch has been a hit. According to TwitchTracker.com, over the last week, people have spent 8 million hours watching other people play the game and the streams averaged about 50,000 people watching at any given time. Things peaked on May 11 when 351,714 users were simultaneously watching TOTK streams.
50 Hours In
What?! The Great Deku Tree has a stomachache again?! Sign me up. That’s not even a spoiler at this point, it’s presumable Hyrule’s bad guys at any given moment have had an impact on his acid reflux. Those kinds of expectations are one of the things that have made the series great. Each time we go back, the little things we love are done even better.
We are about 50 hours in. I’ve completed the Wind Temple but have predominantly spent most of my time exploring. I’ve hit about 35 Shrines so far in the process of building up hearts for the main storyline. One of the reasons I’ve hit so many shrines early is because of how fun the new gameplay mechanics make them. The massive refreshing of all the minigames makes each one feel very unique.
Those four new core gameplay mechanics are called Fuse, Ultrahand, Ascend and Recall. Fuse lets you attach objects from the world to each other or your hand after you use Ultrahand to move them around. You’ll use a combination of those powers and the world around you all the time to upgrade your weapons, solve puzzles and even build vehicles.
Ascend adds another vertical element of gameplay in addition to the massive sky map that covers the whole game from above. It allows you to climb through ceilings within reach of the ability and emerge through the floor on the other side.
Recall allows you to move objects and then recreate that object’s movement through time. Say a rock falls down a waterfall you want to go up, you hit the rock with recall and ride it up the waterfall. There are some wild uses for one when it comes to all the puzzles.
There also is a ton of wild physics mechanics attached to the main storyline. As you dive further and further in, you’ll get access to an even wider array of tools to combine with the Ultrahand and Fuse abilities.
With all that, and what feels like triple the game compared to Breath of The Wild, I think the only reason TOTK isn’t higher on the all-time list is that it’s a direct sequel. Regardless, it’s one of the best games ever.
The Emerald Cup is deep into its judging cycle for 2023 as organizers prepare for May’s Award ceremony and we’re back on the solventless team.
We’ve had great access to the contest since 2018. This is my fifth year judging one of the hash categories. While the state has seen some upstart contests making waves in recent years, the two decades of consistently bringing the heat still had The Emerald Cup firmly cemented as the top dog.
Currently, the judges are meeting once a week to go over the various categories. Edible and flower judges have to stick to the most vigorous schedule. You can smoke all the hash in a day if you party hard enough, but between the hundreds of flower entries and the pace of your metabolism on edibles, it’s easy to understand why some of the categories are referred to as a full-time job.
High Time’s Jon Cappetta noted on Twitter this past Sunday, it took him three weeks to finish all the flower samples. He also said it was a gauntlet that he was glad was over.
For better or worse, the cup tends to prove as a launching point for a lot of ideas within the game. That goes from everything from new flavors to hardware. The ideology there is if you can pull it off out of the gate at the cup, the wind will be in your sails as you enter the market.
But if you go all in for the cup without consistency in the product that hits the market after, the win isn’t worth much. There are plenty of brands that took the top prize in various categories that were never to be heard from again after the win. Maybe they just couldn’t scale up, maybe they entered white label they couldn’t grow themselves.
L.A. Weekly is back on the solventless team to help judge some of the best concentrates, or hash, on the planet. The reason The Emerald Cup’s hash categories are home to some of the best terps from around the globe is the quality of material California extractors have access to, this goes for both the solventless and hydrocarbon categories.
Hash is one of the places we see the new ideas we mentioned before. Every year there are experimental consistencies, especially in the personal use category. This is one of the places where the most important lesson of all is terps over tech. If the material you are using to make the hash isn’t that good, you’ll never be able to compete with the top of the food chain, regardless of how pretty you’re able to make it look.
The kit I’m using to judge this year is essentially the same as last year with a few upgrades and additions. Most notable is the new hitman rig, it hits a bit smoother than the mini beaker I was using last year. Also, all the quartz I’m using to judge this year was made in Los Angeles by Alien Flower Monkey Glass. Puffco also released the Proxy since last year. It’s great for water hash, so that will help speed the process up for judging water hashes this year.
I’ve focused on the rosin and personal use categories so far. I’m currently in The Canary Islands judging flowers at The Canary Islands Champions Cup and couldn’t bring the entries with me, so I wanted to make sure I had solid notes for the meeting I’ll do with the other judges while I’m here. When I get back to America, I’ll bust through the water hash entries in a day or two, since it’s the smallest category with about a dozen entries. On the other hand, Rosin has 42 entries and personal use has 13.
Most of the entries are either fresh-pressed or a cold-cured batter. The fresh-pressed is glorious looking and tastes bomb, but the market is moving more toward the shelf stability of cold-cured rosin. This could definitely be seen this year with the number of fresh-pressed entries way down, but a couple of them are still bangers.
We’ll share all the winners with you next month when they are announced.
Los Angeles is preparing to crown its latest Zalympix champion after the most competitive version of the contest yet.
Over the past couple of years, Greenwolf’s Zalympix has firmly taken hold of the title of L.A.’s elite cannabis contest. This was even as it expanded throughout the state with Mainstage in Sacramento and The Outpost in Santa Rosa now taking part in the distribution of the boxes.
I think one of the things that makes Zalympix so fun is the fact it’s genuinely highlighting the best of the best. It’s a pure representation of the Ethos that Greenwolf has used to fill the shelves at the shops since day one. It’s also refreshing to see a bunch of names in one place that are all crushing it during these dark times in cannabis.
This rendition of Zalympix was the wildest yet. It was simply massive. The initial amount of over 120 entries is considerably larger than all the previous Zalympix boxes combined. The Greenwolf team selected 25 judges to go through the entries and whittle them down to the finalists.
One of the best parts of that preliminary round finals was the fact they were blind. We didn’t know which weed was which. Past renditions of Zalympix had the product in whatever bag it came in. The haters would point to this as evidence of a popularity contest between the big dogs, even if it never was. So, kudos to Greenwolf.
The finals box this year was insane. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of Z terps. But there was a lot of other cool stuff, too. There was some great OG with the #3, some weird sweet funk notes on the #1, and both #15 and #18 have some fantastic fuel notes.
After you get through talking elite entries, you can’t forget how awesome the party is, too! Zalympix is easily one of the best cannabis events of the modern era, as many of the world’s best cultivators gather to see who will take the top prize.
We’ve smoked every Zalympix entry ever. For us, the most dominant Zalympix victory ever was when Blueprint took home the top honors as it beat out a box of monster heat from all over the state. Now a year and a half later, we caught back up with Blueprint’s cofounder Jordan Aguilar.
“I would say what was cool about Zalympix was just the authenticity that I think leaks through. Who set it up, to the people smoking it saying this is what I enjoyed the most,” Aguilar told L.A. Weekly. “So I thought that was really cool and almost surprised me in a lot of ways. Just because I was like, wow, people are in tune, and I was surprised with how in tune people were, which was a good relief.”
Aguilar also noted he appreciated the transparency. He felt like it was one of the things that made the contest stand out for him.
Aguilar went on to speak to what the win meant at the moment coming out of 2021 where their launch was already considered the best new company of the year.
“I think it’s always good to give that moment to kind of smell the roses, because outside of that moment, and just before then, just after, we just get back to the grind,” Aguilar said.
Spending a lot of time in grow rooms is one of the curses of being elite. Much of the time running into your peers outside your immediate circle can be rare; Zalympix represents one of those nights of the year the various tribes get together to talk heat and debate who has the best weed.
“To go with the guys who are in the same boat as us. These other growers do the same thing. So it’s for all of us to come out and get to see each other,” Aguilar said. “It’s a we’re all at the watering hole together type of thing.”
Aguilar went on to say how supportive people were all over. He also pointed to the Zalympix win as probably what ended up getting him on the First Smoke of The Day podcast. That was another huge moment for getting the word out about what the Blueprint team is doing up north.
Greenwolf’s Zalympix Awards show is tomorrow night. We chatted with Brian from Greenwolf about the festivities. Those in search of the heat can expect over 40 vendors with many offering consumer-direct pricing.
“It’s exciting, it grew again,” Brian told L.A. Weekly. ”Obviously a lot more vendors. I think that the preliminary round and then having it this way and having it be one event really helped, having more time, and more people hear about it getting bigger.”
A lot of times people point to the rec market as garbage, with a few places like Greenwolf doing their best to chase down the real heat floating on top of the mess. We asked how cool it was to carry that reputation with elite consumers.
“There is fire out there a lot of time,” Brian laughed.
He went on to note there is a big parking lot across the street, but they’re recommending you Uber. Also, people will be on the prowl for the best stuff; if you’re trying to get your hands on some fireball heat, make sure you beat the crowd there.
Fidel’s x Carrots is proving to be the hottest cannabis industry clothing drop of Q1.
As we’ve covered many times here at L.A. Weekly, Shant “Fidel” Damirdjian is one of the local faces shining during these dark times in the cannabis industry. He had a wild 2022 with his victory over some of the best cultivators in the world at Transbay Challenge IV — the Hash Hole exploded to the most famed ‘preroll” in California if you’re even comfortable calling it that, and he opened up his own cultivation spot in the desert without the help of the corporate oppressor. A great year for anyone in cannabis.
Topping 2022
So how does he top it? He comes out of the gates early in 2023 with a fantastic collaboration with Anwar Carrots. Carrots got into the fashion game in 2007; in 2015, he’d launch the Carrots by Anwar line. Vibrant oranges among other colors with stylized carrots and rabbits are par for the course with the popular menswear line.
The collaboration with Fidel’s started just over a year and a half ago.
“Anwar blessed us with complete creative control the entire project,” Damirdjian told L.A. Weekly. “Dabber Dan and I, my right-hand man, designed every bit of the box. Even the bags the clothing was in. Even the cut and sew on the hoodies.”
They would eventually settle on a 50/50 cotton and bamboo blend made in Los Angeles and find that bright orange they were looking for, after some trial and error over the last 18 months.
The Box
Each box in the limited edition of 500 includes the hoodies and sweatpants set made, screen printed and packaged in LA. There also is a Fidel’s x Carrots T-shirt, headwear, four Croc Jibbets, a commemorative 3D printed carrot with a hash hole, and a half ounce of Fidel’s popular weed.
It’s very fair to argue the cannabis aspects of the box are easily worth more than half its $600 price tag.
Where Fashion Meets Weed
After the entertainment industry, many would argue cannabis and fashion is where Los Angeles has some of its biggest global influence. We asked Damirdjian his take on that sentiment.
“100% it’s something you don’t see done often; if it has, it didn’t catch my attention and I apologize,” Damirdjian replied. “But I feel like fashion and cannabis have so much to do with one another. They are different audiences within the same audience. It’s a great thing to work with another cannabis company and within our community, but to branch out of it to get the attention of people in the clothing industry, it’s amazing.
Damirdjian argues it triggers so much more love crossing his audience and Anwar’s audience he’s built over the years. He appreciates how wowed people from both sides of the fence have been after months of effort trying to get it right to their vision.
Damirdjian is excited about what’s next; don’t expect to see these boxes again.
“This is like one and done. I’m trying to touch as many people that follow my following, Anwar’s following with this,” Damirdjian said. “This cost $600 for the box; it’s not something that everyone can afford. But the true collector is getting so much in the box. I’m not just taking money from the consumer, I’m giving so much more.”
Again, a lot of it comes back to being a unique spirit in a crowded space for Damirdjian.
He knows everyone’s trying to do something different. He considers the Carrots collaboration a sought-after project for anyone, and when he got the chance, he was not letting it slip through his fingers.
“It took so much time, finances and we did it with so much cadence, but it opened up a lot of doors for me now. I can already see it this early on. I can’t wait till more people consume it,” Damirdjian said,