How did Raywear come to be? Did you go through multiple prototypes to finally land on this fabric? What are your origins in the apparel manufacturing?
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I have several friends with boats and they all swear by my gear. The reflection off the ocean is INSANE and you are 10000% correct with being worried about skin cancer.
I have never actively pursued that industry, but again, if there is someone or some industry that wants our gear, then we will do whatever we can to help protect them.
Yes, we do private labeling for companies with a large enough minimum order, otherwise, we can send you âblanksâ that you can have labeled on your own. I have yet to get an order from South Africa, but I would gladly ship anywhere, we would just adjust our shipping rates per order.
But I would love to learn more about the yachting industry and how we can help protect you and those in your industry. Shoot me an emailâŚ
djordan@raywearcc.com
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It was a long and painstakingly hard road to get where we are now. The earlier versions of RayWear were only focused on UV and had several organic fabrics (bamboo, hemp, etc). But as I consulted more doctors, radiation specialists, dermatologists, etc, we quickly realized there was more than UV to worry about, especially with indoor cultivation. From there we just went down a rabbit hole with fabrics and testing to get where we are today. This is a very âcliff noteâ version of our history, but it has been a crazy road so far. But I still wake up everyday loving what I do and why I do it. So I wouldnât change a hurdle or set-back for anything.
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Once you finally nailed down the fabric, what was the patent process like?
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With our patents pending, I donât want to get too much into that process right now, but all the hurdles we had with creating our final version of the gear have only been matched by our patent process. I advise all businesses to hire great patent attorneys.
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Thank you so much for answering my questions and your time.
Will definitely get ahold of you, regarding both opportunities!
Cheers
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Thatâs fair. looking forward to hearing more when you have finally secured those patents 
Increasingly growers are using UVB lights (myself included) as part of their lighting arrays to stimulate cannabinoid production. Do you feel growers are failing to recognize the link between UVB exposure and cancer risk? What have you found to be the biggest hurdle with getting the word out about the risks faced by growers?
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Growers by nature (specifically cannabis) are not risk adverse. So most simply donât think about the topic. UVB is brutal, and long term exposure is not good at all. The problem with radiation, people only recognize it when they get a sunburn. If you donât get a burn, then the assumption is that you werenât affected. This is just patently false. Education is the biggest hurdle we faceâŚthat, and an industry that has next to no safety standards or regulations to protect growers.
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Go back to my earlier posts and you will see the radiation spectrum breakdown by category. Read the UVB portion and tell me if the industry should be concerned. We are seeing more and more UVB supplemental lights in grows. This is a serious issue for the future of the industry!
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As the industry becomes more legitimate, more often growers are dealing with workplace issues commonly faced by other industries, including insurance. Do you or any of @InsuranceProviders believe insurance rates could be impacted by the implementation of Raywear as part of cultivation facility SOPâs?
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We would love to work with @InsuranceProviders to create effective underwriting for this topic and reward companies taking the necessary steps to protect their team. I could easily see incentives, either by us to those with insurance, or by the insurance company directly that could offset the cost of our gear with rebates. Ultimately, this will be an issue once we go federal. OSHA already has standards for cannabis cultivation, and light radiation protection is apart of that standard. So this isnât an âifâ question, rather a âwhenâ question. When will big operations wake-up to this reality?
Here is an example from ColoradoâŚ
Guide-to-Worker-Safety-and-Health-in-the-Marijuana-Industry_FULL-REPORT.pdf (1.6 MB)
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Clearly some federal agencies have taken note of the inherent risks facing workers in our industry. Besides Colorado, what other states and/or countries have taken an initiative to protect workers through legislative or regulatory efforts?
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Well, that is a hard question to answer. Since it is not federal yet, OSHA wonât touch it, so really you have local agencies trying to handle this. Sadly, they are uninformed and understaffed to effectively enforce almost any of this right now. And I get it, with the goal posts constantly moving for businesses to just stay legal, employee safety is not a huge priority right now. That is why you see ZERO efforts being made by larger operations. It is an out of sight out of mind realityâŚuntil it isnât. I believe it will take a large lawsuit to wake-up the industryâŚsadly. And this is not just cannabis, cultivation in general is severely lacking with protecting workers from light radiation. So it is a very large issue that is right under everyoneâs nose.
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Do you really think it will take a lawsuit to bridge the information gap?
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I truly hope not. And if I am being honest, I actually think this will be a snowball effect. Once a few key companies change, the industry will quickly follow. Plus, growers will start demanding this gear. This is a tight community and everyone talks, so once a team at one facility is protected, they will inform their friends. It would be great to see cannabis be a proactive industry for its workers on the frontline.
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I couldnât agree more! I would like to think that we cannabis growers have the potential to represent a broader paradigm shift that might transcend our industry and penetrate the cultivation practices of other agricultural commodities (think organic protocols, proactive IPM practices, and indeed protection of workers as well).
How has the reception been for the Raywear product line among large-scale cannabis cultivators and their accompanying workforce?
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First of allâŚI almost want to hire you as a content writer with that kind of lexicon! Well done Sir!
But to your wonderfully written statementâŚthe reviews have been mixed. And I mean that in the most complimentary way. Larger operations are truly trying to keep up with regulations and avoid shutdowns. Some agree with the issue and concern, but have no incentive to act beyond caring for their workers. Some donât believe the science. This argument has always confused me, but I am not in the business of beating anyone over the head with anything. You either want to protect your team or you want to wait until youâre forced to protect your team. We will be here for both paths.
The great news is, that once growers actually get my gear they love it. Protection never felt so good, so it makes it very easy for growers to share their stories about RayWear.
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Thank you for your kind words. I am available for freelance copy writing in my spare time â next opening is 2021 
I wonder if appealing directly to @GrowOpEmployees and @mastergrowers might be the most successful marketing route? I know when I have directly spoken with facility managers and cultivation staff about products that might benefit their operations, I often make way more successful inroads than I have speaking with @growopowners. Sometimes the workers can have a powerful effect on owners/operators when they band together and request to be protected. Thoughts?
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I am always encouraged when speaking with @mastergrowers about health and safety. So many growers have been misinformed and love it when we share current science and our solutions to the problems.
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We make a point to not ad any chemical to our fabrics. Our protection is woven into the fabric, so it canât be washed out. But I wish your product well.
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