Founder Feature: Haylee Jordan and Tom Eddleston of FABRIC

0:09We started in January and it's I'm like I don't know what date it is I guess it's October now. but we've kind of fast-tracked everything from an idea to execution to being on the shelf so we feel like we're in a whirlwind but super excited we can't believe how much traction we've had so far and how much excitement we've had and I mean I tie that a lot to our a meaningful piece of the brand which is our unfucked tomorrow right that's our brand story our and our tagline. Hey everybody this is Caitlin Brooker editor at Startup CPG. We are back with another founder feature. Today we're talking with Haley Jordan and Tom Edelston, co-founders of Fabric.

0:50Fabric is a THC-infused hop fizz built on doing good from day one. As a public benefit corporation, they commit 2 % of revenue to mental health while creating zero-calorie, zero-sugar hemp beverages in a category typically loaded with sweeteners. From sourcing Australian botanicals and galaxy hops to potentially becoming the first B Corp certified hemp beverage brand in the world, they're building a company where purpose is not an afterthought. Fabric is already chilling in my fridge for when I'm ready to break my three-year THC hiatus. So wish me luck and enjoy this episode.

1:30Hey everybody, welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. This is Caitlin and today I'm here with Haley Jordan and Tom Edelston, co-founders of Fabric. Welcome to the show. Thank you for having us. Thanks, Kaylin. I'm super excited to have you here because this is the first time I am speaking to a hemp-focused beverage company in my role with the podcast. So I'm super excited. For anybody who's listening, a little bit of background about myself is that I worked in the cannabis industry for five years prior to joining startup CPG, but it was on the manufacturing and extraction side of things. And it was for a publicly traded company, got laid off on maternity leave.

2:12I know everyone's like, is that legal? It's legal. Okay. That's crazy. It is legal. But things happen for a reason, right? As much as I hate to say that, but it was a very happy transition for me because now I get to do something that I enjoy and talk to people like you. So Haley, for anybody who's listening and is not familiar with Fabric, can you tell us very briefly what Fabric is? Sure. Fabric is a THC infused hot fizz. We are Australian, half Australian founded, half US founded on the US side, but we have an amazing biochemist and brewmaster in Australia, as well as our CEO here, Tom, who's Australian.

2:56So we have some really nice Australian botanicals, galaxy hops, pearl lime, all of that good stuff. It's zero calories, zero sugar, super easy to drink more than one. I could totally get that vibe. You sent me samples. I haven't cracked into them yet, but I just know looking at that ingredient deck that it is totally up my alley. And I feel like it's very standout when it comes to these types of beverages, these functional THC, hemp-focused beverages and just beverages in general. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I saw no natural flavors and I saw no added sugar on the ingredient label. That's right.

3:35Our ingredients are super clean. We really wanted to differentiate with that zero calorie, zero sugar, especially in the hemp beverage space where many beverages have a lot of sugar and added ingredients. So a pretty clean nutrition label. I love to see it. I think consumers are really going to latch on to that because like I said, it is standout. And for people who aren't looking to these beverages for a recreational purpose, people who are looking for it for more of a medicinal purpose, I think that that's something that maybe they're gonna look at and say, okay, they've really thought this through.

4:08I don't have to get a sugar high while I get high, basically. And being able to drink more than one too was important to us to kind of mimic that beer experience. You have two light beers at the pool and not, you know, you know, it's okay to have two of them is what I'm saying with the low sugar count. So you're not put out for sure. So before we dive more into the brand, I need to know what your backgrounds are. So Tom, maybe you could start us off. What were you doing prior to Fabric and how did you get into Fabric? Sure. I was in the corporate world. I was in real estate, private equity the last 10 years.

4:46And yeah, I burned out kind of during COVID, probably the same as the rest of the world, had this existential crisis of, you know, what the hell am I doing with my life? And started to think about what was next. And it was kind of coincided with me trying to curb my alcohol intake and, you know, just look to a healthier alternative. so I saw the non-alcoholic beer boom and that was like a really great alternative for me that I was leaning on a lot as I tried to continue to reduce my alcohol intake and then yeah saw that hemp beverage was really emerging and thought like what an amazing way if we can combine kind of the best of the non-alcoholic category with you know the functional benefits of THC and then kind of providing people like a really viable alcohol alternative where you can still you know catch a buzz and kind of we like to say be able to stay in the round we have this vision of the world where you can go to the pub and you know sit down with your mates and that go drink for drink with them and you can still participate so that was really the idea behind fabric and then you know even the name just lends itself to you know beverage has always been a way that people socialize and get together and to be able to create a new way to drink.

6:04It's all making sense to me now. Haley, tell me about yourself. What were you doing prior to this? I'd been following you on LinkedIn for a while. We finally got the chance to meet up in person very briefly in Austin, but I love the work that you've been doing, but I just need you to let everybody know what you were up to. Thanks. I appreciate that. I was doing brand identity and brand strategy for CPG brands specifically is really digging into design for a lot of non-alc brands and in the beverage space. So Tom and I got connected through LinkedIn. I've made all of these amazing connections through LinkedIn.

6:39Of course, Laura Silverman from Zero Proof Nation connected us, but I know Laura from LinkedIn and we had a little podcast called N.A. Dossier for a bit. So kind of just dabbling in the non-alc world, I'm interested in it and kind of doing design in that world connected us. And I I mean, I met you on LinkedIn too, so I'm pro-Linkedin over here. Oh my God. LinkedIn helped me get this job, actually. Somebody who I've been connected to on LinkedIn for over a decade, I think, referred me for this position. We still have never met in person, so shout out LinkedIn. If you want to sponsor this podcast, send me an email.

7:13Yeah, I agree. So, Tom, you touched on this a little bit. I was very curious about the name Fabric and how you landed on this for the brand. In my mind initially, I'm thinking maybe it's the feeling that you get when you get a little elevated, things start to feel a little better. But I like what you're saying about social fabric. And I'm curious if maybe Haley, since you're the brand brain behind things, maybe you can fill us in a little bit about that strategy. How you landed on the name fabric and how you branded everything in the fabric universe. Sure. I also want to shout out Anthony, who's not here today, but he is our third founder and he is a brand designer as well.

7:57So he's a huge part of Fabric. But, you know, we went through a lot of different names and finally landed on Fabric. It was sort of thinking outside of the box. I don't know if anyone here has ever tried to trademark a beverage brand, but it's quite difficult. So we were trying to think outside of the box and to create something really meaningful. You know, sure, we talk about Fabric in the way that, you know, we're getting together and we're socializing. but also our 2 % back to mental health. All of our revenue, we give 2 % back. So we're really helping to mend the social fabric in a deeper way as well.

8:26So kind of just getting outside of the box, I was thinking personally about clothing and how different types of work wear can be a protest or a statement on your politics, like how you dress is a statement on your politics. I'm not a fashion person, but digging into some of that, doing these exercises and thinking outside of the box of how do we say something meaningful without calling it, you know, a stereotypical beverage name. One, because we couldn't. It's so hard to trademark. But also thinking on a deeper level, who are we and what is our mission? And what's a cool name that's easy to say everyone can pronounce it, right?

9:00So hitting on all of these different things was really important for us when naming the brand. And I really like how you've been able to claim the social handle Drink Fabric because even if you don't know anything about the brand, And it's like the visual that I get when I look at that and say it out loud is crazy. Yeah, it's weird. It is weird. I said it last night and I was like, God, drink fabric. Never thought about that before. It's really good. And I got your stickers too. And that nice little package that you sent. I just need to say this again because it was the best brand experience that I've ever had with a sticker.

9:37I have tons of stickers on my water bottle, on my laptops, on all of my things. Never once have I had that experience with a sticker before. I wish I had it in front of me right now, but you can actually feel the texture on the sticker, and it's unlike anything I touched before, so well done. Thank you. We like them. I am super curious, too. I need to know more about you all being a PBC. Haley, you touched on giving 2 % back for mental health. Tom, maybe you can talk to me a little bit more about becoming a public benefit corporation, how you decided to make yourselves a PBC and maybe what that process looked like.

10:19It was super important to us to kind of infuse purpose into fabric from day one. And we really wanted to kind of put our money where our mouth is and it to be something that was a front and center rather than an afterthought. And so with 2 % going to mental health, that was something that we were really focused on. And then we're looking at, you know, how can we protect our ability to make decisions that we want to make? And so for those, you know, I'm from the finance world and there's a term called fiduciary responsibility. And that basically means that we're always, you know, beholden to doing what investors is in their best interest.

11:02And so a public benefit corporation gives you the legal obligation to consider societal impact as well as financial. And so without that, if you decide that you want to do something radical in social responsibility or sustainability, that an investor can come to you and say, well, hey, there's no short-term return from this. And I don't think we should be doing this. We should go the other way. and it can get litigious. You know, they can basically come to you and say, but you're not acting in my best interest. So being a public benefit corporation helps you get around that and basically says that we maintain the ability, a legal ability to be able to do that.

11:46So it's something that I think it's then, you know, ingrained into the company's DNA and it's parlays really nicely with B Corp certification as well. And so that's something that we're actively pursuing right now too. I really, really love that you are mentioning that it's not an afterthought, that it's really ingrained in what you're doing. And it was at the forefront of your minds building this brand because not to say that any other brands who have introduced any mental health initiatives or socially responsible initiatives later on aren't doing the right thing. But it just shows that from the start, you knew that this was more than just a product.

12:22And I really like that. And that's another thing that I think consumers will really latch on to. Haley, maybe you can talk to me about this new initiative that you have going on with Protect Our Winters. I'm really curious to hear more about this. And I know our listeners will, too. Absolutely. Protect Our Winters is in Boulder, Colorado. They're a 501c3 nonprofit that helps passionate outdoor people protect the places and experiences they love from climate change. So Fabric has decided to partner with them for Mental Health Awareness Day, but we're pushing it out. For the whole month, we're going to give away the proceeds from 10 ,000 cans of our Clarity SKU, which people may not have heard as much about.

13:02But Clarity is a functional beverage. It has 10 milligrams of CBG. so non-psychoactive but really gives you that clarity focus it's sort of an uplifting feeling so we're partnering with them to give away 10 000 cans all the proceeds goes to pow we're really excited we feel like it aligns with our brand so much and being a colorado first brand it's just where we are excited to launch you know with our d2c campaign i am very excited for you to launch and that coupled with it is just whoa everything you said was so colorado and so spot on i think Like this is going to be really, really great for everybody in Colorado.

13:40And I am curious, why the CBG skew? A lot of people have familiarity with CBD and CBD has a bit of a connotation of being a sedative. So it's relaxing, but also I think there's this perception that it's going to put you to sleep. And so CBG is another minor cannabinoid. So it's not psychoactive in any way, but it has properties that are more like caffeine. So it's almost like caffeine without the jitters. And so it is, I would say, becoming extremely popular. We think this is going to be a SKU that does really, really well for us. And it is, yeah, like perfect for the afternoon slump, you know, 2 p.m.

14:27You want to reach for that second coffee, but you know that it's going to impact your sleep and your next day. And so CBG gives you that kind of like uplifting alert feeling without any of the downsides. And so this SKU remains zero calories, zero sugar, super clean ingredients and tastes great. And so we think it's a really nice kind of afternoon substitute for that coffee or tea that replace your caffeine intake. I really like how fitting it is for this campaign that you're doing too with POW because the CBG SKU seems very accessible for people who don't want to touch CBD, don't want to touch THC.

15:08So launching that, and I really want to talk about your launch too, because right now I've seen that you are launching into liquor stores, which is not something you can do in Massachusetts where I'm located. The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, Water Multiple, does not allow the sale of THC beverages or hemp-focused beverages in liquor stores. So I'm very intrigued by your model there in Colorado. unfortunately I'm just like not too versed on what's going on in Colorado as far as the laws go but it's cool seeing you launch in liquor stores as an NA option with the THC hemp-based option and then also with your DTC launch in partnership with POW and then there's just so much going on so tell me what it feels like being at this point in your launch right now with the brand and what you have coming in the future?

16:03It's pretty crazy. We started in January and it's, I'm like, I don't know what date it is. I guess it's October now. We've kind of fast-tracked everything from an idea to execution to being on the shelf. So we feel like we're in a whirlwind, but super excited. We can't believe how much traction we've had so far and how much excitement we've had. And I mean, I tie that a lot to our, a meaningful piece of the brand, which is our unfucked tomorrow, right? That's our brand story and our tagline. And so we feel excited and we're just we're hitting the ground running. Very edgy tagline. Thanks, Anne.

16:35Yeah. Thanks. And Caitlin, I think to touch on like the difference in Massachusetts and Colorado and as some listeners may or may not be aware, hemp beverage is federally legal. But at the state level, it is a total patchwork of regulation. And so funnily enough, a lot of the states that had regulated dispensary models were the first to ban or limit hemp-derived THC because it kind of represented a threat to the dispensaries and they said, we've got to shut this thing down. So California is probably the most notable example of that. Hemp-derived THC is completely banned. Colorado, there was the marijuana lobby who kind of said, hey, we want to limit this thing.

17:20And so they imposed a dosage cap of 1.75 milligrams per can, which is pretty damn low. But that meant that a lot of the brands playing in this space kind of overlooked Colorado. And they said, yeah, minimum skew is two and a half milligrams. We're not going to reformulate for Colorado. The market's not big enough. But I think that was a huge oversight. And if we look at like some of the states that have fully embraced this space, Minnesota always comes up. Minnesota has 300 odd brands on the shelves there. In Colorado, there are five. And so we saw this as the opportunity to kind of really build the brand and stake our claim as like the Colorado hemp beverage brand.

18:04And we think that those onerous restrictions right now are going to be loosened at some point in time anyway. There's overwhelming support to go to five milligrams and the dispensaries that kind of saw this as a threat now see it as potentially a gateway for bringing new consumers into marijuana and cannabis in general and then having you know the my mother-in-law is an example at 75 years old has recently switched from chardonnay to thc and that uh she's the kind of person who would have sent her daughter to rehab for being caught with a joint. So I think beverage being such a familiar format just really helps destigmatize cannabis in general.

18:48And then, yeah, if people enjoy it, it kind of expands their horizons and they may be more partial to going into a dispensary. So we are incredibly bullish on Colorado and not to mention we have an outdoor active demographic and 90 plus million tourists per year. So we really think that others are snoozing on Colorado, but that's really the big opportunity for us. We'll be right back. Okay, you know that moment when someone hands you a business card and then it disappears into the void 10 minutes later? Yeah, same. If you're out pitching your CPG brand, grinding at trade shows, networking like it's your job, Unicode's digital business cards are the smarter, scalable upgrade that you need.

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20:33I feel like you're also tapping into a space here with a low dose beverage because I'm sure I am not the only one who's had a horrible experience with a high dose beverage. And I say high dose, but it could have been low dose for me or low dose for many people, but too high of a dose for myself. So I really like the approach of the low dose because you can just kind of like taper your way up instead of just being like, what the fuck did I just do to myself? And you can't take it back. You can't say, okay, turn the dial down. So tell me about the decision making that went into creating a low dose beverage and why you did that, because it speaks to me for sure.

21:18Yeah. So part of it, of course, is meeting our market, the Colorado regulations, which is the 1.75 on shelf, which we know will get to be higher down the line. But mostly we wanted to mimic the beer experience because we are sort of a beer adjacent. You know, we have those great galaxy hops. We wanted to have someone be able to be at a party and have three. You know, we don't want you to have one beverage and then be totally knocked out. We want to mimic that experience where you're drinking throughout the night and kind of being able to find your personal sweet spot, whether that's one or maybe it's one and a half that you share with someone, or maybe it's five fabrics.

21:56So kind of just tailoring it there. Adding on to Hayley's thought there, we are not only playing at the low dose, we actually have a 10 milligram beverage as well. And so we're kind of playing at both ends of the spectrum. And the reason for that is that early adopters in this space tend to be kind of legacy cannabis users. And there's a lot of people who have a very high tolerance and, you know, a 1.5 milligram for some people is the same as 10 milligrams for others, you know, the effect. And so 10 milligrams is super popular as a DTC product. And we wanted to ensure that we're kind of meeting the market where it's at while also kind of thinking about where it's going.

22:40and really that was kind of looking at the data as well because cannabis I think most people even regular users think of being something that is like at home it is winding down it's kind of you know getting a little bit buzzed and chilling and so we and you know 70 % of the use case is relaxation and so we wanted to kind of cater to that and acknowledge that because I think you know you foolish not to and so our 10 milligram can appropriately is called downtime and kind of speaks to the occasion and then our 1.5 milligram is called rhythm and so that same idea of you know it is it can be pre-hike pre-gym you know during your hike it can be post it can be at your favorite cocktail bar or over dinner and so it's super versatile and we actually included cbg that we mentioned in that skew as well so that it has a bit of that uplifting property because THC in general can affect a lot of people as a bit of a sedative.

23:43So yeah, we kind of balance out the ingredients really nicely and having multiple cannabinoids, you also get what's called the entourage effect where the whole experience is kind of elevated by using multiple cannabinoids and not just THC. Haley, I'm super curious. Having a THC brand and being a creative, I'm assuming that you're kind of behind all things social media and brand focused to the public. How are you tackling all the regulations when it comes to social media and THC and hemp and just this whole list that I could go on and on and on with? What are you doing to tackle that and how does it feel being a brand that is kind of ostracized with what you're doing, even though you're doing good work.

24:31Yeah, it's been sort of a group effort of us going back and forth because there isn't a rule book, right, of like what you can say about drugs on Instagram. Like I wish there was a rule book, but we're kind of looking at, you know, what is everyone doing? How do you get flagged? How do you stay safe? So it is pretty complicated on Instagram and through Meta. So, you know, never saying CBD even THC, hemp, drugs, weed, marijuana, staying away from all that. We're learning as we go. People get shut down all the time. So really focusing through social on the feeling. So it's a functional fizz or, you know, we love saying it's a buzz without the booze or just kind of highlighting that feeling is what we're really driving it.

25:12And then, of course, not showing the THC on the can. So covering everything up, which you're familiar with, Caitlin, we had a conversation and you're like, I already know all that. I'm like, I should have been talking to you earlier about this but I mean sometimes I feel like the laws or I shouldn't even say the laws I feel like the rules are changing every single day when it comes to this I don't know if you can speak to this but LinkedIn five years ago was like the friendliest platform for psychedelics and cannabis you could talk about whatever you wanted on there and it didn't matter like you didn't get shadow banned whatever but I've seen that some brands a maybe they're just not posting great content or these founders are not posting great content but I've heard complaints of getting shadow banned on LinkedIn now too has that happened to you or fabric or what what's that looking like for you now I've been a lot less careful on LinkedIn I've kind of just said whatever I feel like so far it's been okay but something to look out for for the future of course it's really funny how even when we're sampling in stores or on social people you know they get really scared of the THC but I always like to remind people that alcohol is the craziest drug of them all.

26:21So a little dose of that 1.5 of THC is not scary. So I'm hoping eventually it'll change. But so far, I've been a bit more liberal on LinkedIn than Meta. I think that makes a lot of sense. I feel like LinkedIn is definitely an untapped social platform in many ways. And I think especially for brands that are more into the psychedelic cannabis, hemp space for sure is the place to go and definitely was five years ago. I have one more question from the branding side of things. You did mention that you have another co-founder. What has that been like having two creatives on the team? And Tom, do you ever feel outnumbered?

27:01Haley first. So Anthony and I have both run our own brand studios in the past. So coming together and creating a brand together where we're not leading it, we're collaborating, has been honestly really rewarding. We've butted heads a few times with nothing crazy. And I think we kind of, we got really lucky with our full team. We all have the same vision. And I think that it's been somewhat easy for us to navigate that vision. We all see it going to the same place. We all care so much about the mental health aspect. So designing with Anthony has been pretty straightforward. And I take more of the strategic role and Anthony takes more of the design and execution lately.

27:36So we're not each, you know, designing the logo at the same time and all of that. We definitely brainstormed together, but we've kind of found our roles and eventually we'll get even deeper in, you know, creative execution and then strategy as we grow. It must be nice to have some synergy and also different perspectives when it comes to brand strategy and design as well. Absolutely. It's hard to be in a little vacuum working on brands, which is what I was doing before I was the only brand designer. I worked with an amazing photographer, but not quite a brand designer. So being able to shoot stuff to Anthony and say, hey, does this look weird?