In December 2019 I was packing up and moving out of our office in Ealing Broadway that THTC had called THTC HQ for 10 years.
For the previous 5 years, I had been lucky enough to have been supported by my trusty sidekick, Ashwin. In 2014, the screen printer that we had been using for over a decade burnt down in an arson attack and we had lost all of our screens - thousands of them.
I was considering packing it all in at that point. I was burnt out, overwhelmed and broke. I decided to put a post out on facebook announcing that, if THTC were to continue, I needed a digital marketing and social media expert who was willing to work for a meagre salary and help me build THTC’s social media presence.
I had a fair few replies, but Ash stood out from the rest, and joined me almost immediately, having become disillusioned with working in uninspiring marketing roles. For the next 5 years, Ash played a massive role in helping me build our online community and retail sales - It’s fair to say that, without him, THTC would probably not exist today. I will be forever appreciative for what he brought to the brand.
At Boomtown with Ashwin (centre), a few months after he joined THTC.
By the end of 2019, despite our retail sales improving dramatically, I was not even close to making minimum wage and still couldn’t afford to pay Ash anywhere near what his skills and contribution deserved. Reluctantly, we both agreed that he would be moving on pastures new in 2020.
At this point, I decided I needed a break. They say that directors of firms should step back and take some time off to reassess every 7 years. I had been running THTC for 20, often single handedly or with just a part time PA, and it was all getting too much.
Once again I turned to Facebook, and put a post out to announce I was going to take a sabbatical. We had been running UB40’s merch for a few years and they were due to embark on a world tour for the whole of 2020, so I’d planned to join them.
Then COVID hit, tours were cancelled and my opportunities were disappearing. I spent the next few months picking orders from a storage unit in Acton and sending them from our local post office, as and when lockdown allowed. My stock began running out, and I had no money to order more.
My friends at Teemill called me and suggested I move the THTC shop to their print-to-order platform, at least while the pandemic was underway, which has allowed me to continue selling organic and recycled cotton since September 2020.
It was around this time that I got a call from another good friend - Seedsman’s boss Reg, offering to help me fulfil THTC’s potential. We had been mates since meeting at a cannabis trade show around 2005, and Reg had kindly supported us by giving us space on Seedsman’s trade show stands in the UK, Germany, Austria and Spain, often without accepting payment.
Over the years, Reg and I had become good friends, and I have huge respect for the way he runs his business. There are very few people that I would trust with my business. THTC has been my baby for 22 years now - exactly half my life. I have stubbornly carried on all these years because I love the brand and have always believed in the positive role it could play in the fashion industry and society as a whole.
Me with Reg, back in the day at Cultiva trade show in Vienna.
Over the years, Reg and I had become good friends, and I have huge respect for the way he runs his business. There are very few people that I would trust with my business. THTC has been my baby for 22 years now - exactly half my life. I have stubbornly carried on all these years because I love the brand and have always believed in the positive role it could play in the fashion industry and society as a whole.
I have spent the last 22 years trying to juggle every role in the business, from finance to production, sales to graphic design and everything else in between. I’ve been through some tough times, enduring personal and professional bankruptcy. The business has been robbed three times, and Hounslow council illegally towed away and crushed the THTC van.
One year at Boomtown, a hurricane swept away our entire stand.
That said, I consider myself insanely lucky to have met so many amazingly positive, talented and supportive people over the years, from my wonderful staff, who have often taken big pay cuts to come and help me to the musicians who’ve pulled on a t-shirt and shouted my brand’s name from stages across the world. THTC is a huge family, and it is nothing without our fans, customers and supporting artists.
I also am very aware that I never would have had the chance to run this brand without the initial support of my parents, who gave my brother and I some startup money and never told me to pack it in and get a ‘proper’ job. My Dad passed away in 2003 and I have been on a mission ever since to make THTC succeed.
Now, with Seedsman’s support, it finally feels like THTC is on the verge of becoming what I have always believed it can be. They have built one of the world’s most successful cannabis seeds brands, and have done so whilst treating people well. I have never met anyone in the cannabis scene that has had a bad word to say about them, which is rare for this industry.
It will take a little time, but we are already in the process of building our hemp range back up to offer the sorts of products we were selling around 2008. We are also planning to become the go-to supplier of bulk unbranded hemp garments for any charity or business that values the environment in the same way that we do.
A photoshoot from 2008 with actor Ed Skrein and others. Our range included hemp tees, polo shirts, hoodies, joggers, beanies and more.
I feel that the time is now right for a brand such as THTC. We’ve spent over 20 years ranting about how hemp can help solve so many of the world’s resource issues, including plastics, engine fuel, paper and building materials, while we continue to cut down our ancient forests and pollute the seas with plastic waste. More recently, campaign groups and charities such as Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace have brought these issues very much into the mainstream, so much so that controlling global warming and carbon emissions are now being woven into policy of government and big business.
The cannabis industry is finally being taken seriously and must play a massive role in this new era of greener, ethical business. People are no longer able to write off saving the planet as somebody else’s problem and there is a genuine feeling that we are all in it together and must all do much more to reduce emissions and consume less resources.
On a visit to our factories in China in May 2018
Those of us who live in the developed world must lead by example. Replacing the cheap, throwaway products we consume with better quality, more durable items is a crucial step. The fashion industry produces more carbon emissions than aviation and maritime shipping combined, and only 1% of clothing is currently recycled into new garments. We all need to rethink the way we live our lives, and our wardrobe is a great place to start.
