With some of the country’s harshest marijuana laws, Arkansas would seem to be far from an ideal location for cutting edge cannabis-related projects. The state is also not among the places that first come to mind when you think of a home base for a fashion innovator. But it is both for Little Rock-based fashion designer Korto Momolu, who is presenting a marijuana-themed collection with industry group at New York Fashion Week.
“My clients are like, ‘Now what are you doing?’” says Momolu in a phone interview with High Times while she works in her studio. “But I think where we are right now in Arkansas, there’s a future for [cannabis]. Once we do get going, this will be a great place for Women Grow to have market leaders, and to help women here who want to get into the industry.”
It is true that Arkansas’ first dispensaries opened their doors earlier this year, and that some activists are making a concerted push to get a recreational cannabis measure on an upcoming ballot. Certainly Women Grow, founded in 2014, has a mission that goes beyond helping entrepreneurs get going in the country’s coastal metropolitan centers.
“We are always seeking innovative ways to address and erase the stigma that still exists today for women who embrace cannabis as a career and/or in their personal lives,” says Women Grow CEO Dr. Chanda Macias. She says that this latest high profile collaboration with Momolu — which will be shown at NY Fashion Week’s official Pier 59 Studios venue on September 7 — was strategic. “On the surface, fashion might not seem like the most pressing of issues, but we see it as an opportunity to reframe the conversation around what is possible as a cannabis business,” says Macias.
Momolu was a compelling choice …
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Author: Caitlin Donohue / High Times
