Communal Cowboy was formed in 2019 after partnering with our first hemp farm in Colorado. We sold eighth bags of whole hemp flower, on a janky website to curious customers, mainly on Twitter. We couldn’t even get a payment processor to work with us, so we were forced to make customers checkout on our site using an E-Check system (if you don’t know what that is, just know it is probably the most abrasive way to ask a customer to fork over their hard earned money). At this point in time, apart from a couple of merch-y t-shirts, clothing wasn’t even a route we imagined we’d take.
Shortly after forming, we secured a beautiful location for a shop on the East Side (which is now Community Garden). We had a dream of opening a spot where friends and neighbors could come and relax and experience this amazing plant called hemp, and it seemed to be coming true. We poured a lot of blood, sweat and money into renovating the spot and by that time we were so close to opening. COVID-19 had other plans.
We were forced to close the doors before we even opened them, and eventually had to say farewell to our beloved shop. We kept kicking through e-commerce, and decided to keep going.
Clothing became a reality once we were solely selling online. At that time, and even now, the hemp plant is considered to be in the same league as psychoactive cannabis when it comes to advertising and working with payment processors. Aside from marketing on podcasts and influencer marketing, we were pretty much blackballed from running social media ads on our products. That’s when the lightbulb clicked: let’s take our inspirations and brand aesthetics and create a clothing line - that way we can run ads and leave breadcrumbs to our hemp products.
And it worked (better than we could have ever imagined). Almost immediately, clothing was bringing in as much revenue as our CBD, and we were basically running two companies. This was an exciting time for us.
Fast forward to now. We’ve blended the two companies into one, but not without its challenges. We’re still jumping through hoops on the payment processing side, sacrificing the tools available to traditional companies, and constantly trying to dodge social media account bans.
As the year ends, we’re at a crossroads. Thanks to the much appreciated support of our customers, our clothing has held its own and continues to grow the business. We’re ready to step on the gas. We’ve had numerous team meetings on this topic alone, and we feel like in order to run wild with the least friction, it’s time to say farewell to our beloved CBD and THC products. For the rest of the year, we want these products into as many hands as possible. So until we run out, all CBD and THC products will be 50% off until sold out.
Communal Cowboy’s relationship with the hemp plant is not over, we’re just changing the way we offer it to you. In 2024, you can look forward to Communal Cowboy clothing being made with hemp blends in our fabrics. This amazing plant will always be the cornerstone of our company.
Through the years, we’ve met some awesome hemp companies who we would be happy to refer you to on your search for another CBD and THC brand. Just give us a holler via email or on Instagram and we’ll point you in the right direction.
For those of you who have been here since the beginning, thank you. We’re excited for our next chapter and can’t wait to take you with us every step of the way.
Your friends,
The Communal Cowboys