1. What made you want to start a Cannabis brand? Where does the name Fog & Tree come from?
I have been in Cannabis marketing since 2015 and have a deep appreciation for the plant and all its parts. In 2018, after the signing of the Hemp Farm Bill Act, I decided to launch a broad-market Cannabis brand of my own and that’s how Fog & Tree was born. At Fog & Tree, we are a Cannabis fragrance and personal-care company that uses clean formulations and whole-plant therapy to bring the benefits and education of Cannabis to the masses particularly through the use of Cannabis Terpenes and non-psychoactive Cannabinoids like CBD. We source our Cannabis Terpenes from an accredited genetics company in Humboldt County California. As a keystone of the Emerald Triangle, Humboldt County is known for its fog and big ass trees!
2. Where do you source your CBD from and what makes your company and products stand out?
At Fog & Tree, we only use organic, US grown CBD from FDA certified farms in our products. Since hemp is a natural bioremediatory, it has the ability to draw toxins and heavy metals from the soil. The Fog & Tree brand promise it to make you smell good and feel good about what you are putting on your body and into our earth and waterways so it’s crucial we use natural and responsibly sourced ingredients in our formulas, even the alcohol we use in our fragrance is sugar based! What makes us stand out from the competition is our use of Cannabis derived Terpenes. Fog & Tree is the only fragrance company in the world to use real Cannabis Terpenes in our formulations steam-distilled by hand from California-grown Cannabis flowers.
3. Your product offerings are very unique from fragrances to haircare. What made you focus on these products specifically?
We launched Fog & Tree with our signature Cannabis Terpene Eau de Parfum and quickly realized that fragrance has a slow shelf-velocity and sampling is crucial so we wanted to create some ancillary, everyday items that would introduce consumers to our amazing Cannabis Terpene scents. Haircare made sense because not only do we love when our hair smells fabulous, but you get the relaxing olfactory benefits of Terpenes while using the products and CBD is remarkably good for your hair and scalp!
4. Why should consumers focus on scalp/hair care and why is CBD an important ingredient? How does this benefit us?
Unfortunately, due to the legality of Cannabis, there hasn’t been a lot of clinical research on the benefits of CBD but we do know it contains all 21 amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein so, when used regularly, CBD acts as a protein treatment to restore and strengthen damaged hair. CBD also has anti-inflammatory benefits which help to soothe skin and scalp conditions creating an optimal environment for new hair growth. I think it’s important to note that CBD has to remain on your skin and hair for a length of time in order for absorption to take effect so leave-in conditioners and treatments are going to have much higher efficacy than a rinse out shampoo or conditioner. So far, the feedback on our Fog & Tree hair products has been really amazing to witness and I feel like this is just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits of Cannabinoids. I look forward to future research and clinical studies that validate these claims alongside a host of other benefits.
5. How long ago did you launch your company and what are some positive milestones have you gone through and what are some of the challenges you still face?
I launched Fog & Tree in January of 2019 through bootstrapping and spent much of the year in R&D and expanding our product offerings. In January of 2020, I was accepted into an accelerator through Canopy Boulder. There were 300 applicants and I was one of 10 that made the chohort (3 were female-led). We were getting some great retail traction and had a lot of momentum and then COVID hit. Ooof. Retail shuttered, consumer confidence was in the toilet, there was a global pandemic, a recession and a turbulent election. Luckily, we were able to lean in to our direct-to-consumer channel and I am super proud to report that by the end of 2020, we beat our 2019 revenues. Fog & Tree products are now in over 30 doors nationwide including luxury retailers like Fred Segal in LA and Saks Salon in NY and 2021 is shaping up to be a breakout year for us.
6. We are blessed to live in a state where you can travel the mountains, ocean, forests, deserts and lakes all within a few hours, can you share more about how Fog & Tree gives back to the Wildfire Relief Fund and why this particular organization is important to you?
Having lived in Northern California for over 10 years, I witnessed first-hand the devastating destruction of wildfires. I’ve seen businesses and family farms destroyed, families displaced and lives and homes lost so for me it’s a very personal cause. The Wildfire Relief Fund is a great organization that supports the recovery and preparedness efforts for major California wildfires. At Fog & Tree we are also advocates of the environment, because there is no denying that devastating wildfires are fueled by climate change, so everything we create has a positive impact on people and the planet, from our sustainably sourced packaging components, to our formulations and ingredients, to the point it reaches your home. As part of a shared eco-system, I feel all brand owners and consumers have a responsibility to be stewards of the earth.
7. You receive many firsthand testimonials from your consumers, are there any stories that have left an impression with you and do you mind sharing?
Absolutely! One of our customers has a genetic condition called Monilethrix where she is missing a layer of her hair causing a lot of breakage but with regular use of our CBD hair mask, she has reported 3” of new growth. We also have a CBD Beard Conditioner and customers have noted less patchiness and thicker beards. By happenstance, the anti-inflammatory properties of CBD have also helped to alleviate mask itch caused by friction with beards plus, scented with our Redwood Coast Cannabis Eau de Parfum, it makes beards smell divine. I love that the combination of natural ingredients and Terpene and Cannabinoid science makes for some really innovative and at times, unexpected therapeutics.
BONUS: What one quote could you leave our audience with when it comes to Fog & Tree’s core values?
“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
To learn more about Fog & Tree, please visit:
https://fogandtree.com / @fogandtreefragrance
Shop all Fog & Tree products on Svn Space here.
About Fog & Tree:
At Fog & Tree we capture the essence of California. Our clean fragrances and personal-care products are infused with exotic California botanicals, calming Cannabis Terpenes and beneficial Cannabinoids to transport your mind, body and spirit.
Mass market personal-care products are boring and filled with synthetics when compared to their exotic Cannabis counter-parts. Fog & Tree bridges the two worlds bringing all-natural, therapeutic formulas infused with beneficial botanicals like Cannabis to the masses.
Everything we create has a positive impact on people and the planet from our packaging and formulating to the point it reaches your home so you can smell good and feel good about what you are putting on your body and into our earth and waterways. As stewards of the forest, we also donate a portion of our proceeds to the Wildfire Relief Fund.
All our products are non-psychoactive and are available for US distribution.