Jesse Clymer had a dream of getting into business, of selling clothing, accessories and skin products using hemp-derived products, but with more sustainable methods. So he did his research and opened an independent, online-only hemp store.
But that wasn’t all he envisioned. “I wanted a company that added some kind of good or value to it,” Clymer explains. “I realized that was the direction I wanted to take so I could help promote hemp products.”
Hemp Authority employs sustainable practices, from the production to packaging to his storefront using recycled paper and the best conservation methods. The store offers everything for your hemp needs, selling an array of clothing, accessories, socks, beauty products, topicals and yarn. It also produces business cards made of hemp for companies interested in being more eco-friendly.
And Clymer’s vision has caught on. After starting online-only, Hemp Authority drew so many customers that he had to open a brick-and-mortar storefront in Garden Grove, though it’s currently open only on weekends.
Having done things solo for the past six years, Clymer hopes to hire staff to help with production, as well as to continue educating people about the benefits of cannabis. He sees his primary responsibility as helping businesses reduce their carbon footprints through sustainable practices, starting with shipping. “A big part of hemp is the environmentally friendly aspects of it, so I have a company that provides all that,” Clymer says. “I try to reduce shipping materials, use recycled materials like recycled cotton in clothing, and not use chemicals in beauty products. I’m trying to provide a natural and holistic lifestyle.”
Clymer says he lives for those ah-ha moments in which people come back to exclaim how much his products have helped them and how they have now become believers. He has even converted his father, who was against marijuana, into becoming a cannabis supporter who promotes his son’s products.
Derived from the Sativa cannabis plant, hemp uses only the portion that doesn’t get you high. It was first observed to be able to be made into usable fiber more than 10,000 years ago. As the process has evolved, it can also now be turned into paper, plastic, yarn and food.
Hemp Authority products are sold inside legal dispensaries around Southern California, Oregon and Colorado. But Clymer’s primary focus is his own business and bringing his thriving operation to the forefront of hemp and CBD sales. The company also works with national cannabis organizations such as the National Hemp Association by donating, providing free hemp-based business cards and helping any way it can.
But Clymer wants new customers to know that Hemp Authority is not a dispensary. His store only sells locally sourced hemp and CBD products. “We definitely get everyday people coming in here thinking it’s a dispensary,” he says. “I am trying to de-stigmatize cannabis as a whole to present that there are a lot of benefits other than medical; that is a big part of this company.”
Clymer vows to teach as many people as possible about the natural alternatives and eco-friendly products he offers. “Just having this alternative for a lot of different things, I think many people are steering in that direction,” he says, “and as they’re doing that, our growth is reflective of that. We are just going with the trend of society.”
Hemp Authority, 12028 Chapman Ave., Garden Grove, (323) 992-4467; www.hempauthority.com.
