8000Kicks is Breaking Ground: Inside The Making of Waterproof Hemp Shoes with Bernardo

In this lively episode of Bite Me, trailblazing 8000Kicks CEO, Bernardo, shares the quirky origin story of his hemp shoe empire, born from a late-night joke turned eco-revolution. With his grandmother's textile wisdom, Bernardo crafts durable, sustainable sneakers, books and bags that defy the norms, navigating the tricky tides of global cannabis perceptions. He's not a daily toker, but he's riding the wave of change, even scattering hemp seeds across Berlin in a bold statement. As Germany enters the era of legalization, Bernardo's stoked about Europe's green future and his latest feat: launching the world's first hemp running shoes. Dive into this episode for a dose of green innovation and a splash of big wave passion!

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Interview With 8000 Kicks Founder

Speaker 2 1:16

Welcome , friends , to another episode . This week we are doing a Faces of Cannabis interview with a very special guest . Welcome , bernardo of 8000 Kicks . Welcome to the Faces of Cannabis interview series , where we take a break from talking about edibles and focus on the people behind the plant . Whether it's fellow podcasters , bud tenders , gangiers , advocates , cultivators , cannabis lovers , all have their stories to share and I want to share them with you . Greetings , friends , welcome back to another fantastic episode of Bite Me and another Faces of Cannabis interview , because I like to interview people who don't necessarily fall into the narrow category of edibles and this gives me the creative freedom to do just that , because it's my show and I get to do what I want . If you're just tuning in for the first time , I'm glad you found me and I would love to hear how you discovered the show . If you've been around for a while , my heartfelt appreciation goes out to you , because it is not easy creating a show from scratch , and I wouldn't be able to do it without you out there listening week after week . So thank you .

Speaker 2 2:30

Now , this episode is a fantastic look into the world of hemp is a fantastic look into the world of hemp . I had the opportunity to sit down with Bernardo , ceo and founder of 8000 Kicks , a waterproof hemp shoe company . They don't just make sneakers , they also make boots and backpacks from hemp , which is a sustainable and durable and organic . I discovered the brand by accident and if you've been listening to the show for a while , you know that I was doing a segment called things you can make with hemp , which is why I felt compelled to reach out to Bernardo and he generously agreed to lend me some of his time to talk about the company .

Speaker 2 3:08

That hemp is a versatile fiber to work with is an understatement , and it always surprises me that it's not used more widely in various industries , but I think , as you'll learn this episode , there are unique challenges to working with hemp as a raw fiber . We also talk about his grandmother's influence , the cannabis landscape in Portugal , which is where the company is based , the stigma that still exists around cannabis and the crazy stunt that Bernardo pulled off in Berlin in 2023 . With that in mind , please enjoy this conversation with Bernardo of 8,000 Kicks . All right , everyone , I am really pleased to be joined today by Bernardo , ceo and founder of 8000 Kicks , and I was hoping you could take a minute to get us started , bernardo , by introducing yourself to the listeners of ByteMe .

Speaker 1 4:05

Hello , marge , super , super happy to be here . Thank you for inviting me . Yeah , so 8000 Kicks started . Yeah , so 8,000 Kicks started . Well , first let me tell you what it is right . Let's tell the listeners it's basically a company that sells cannabis shoes , hemp shoes and hemp backpacks and everything made from hemp .

Speaker 1 4:33

And people must be wondering so why cannabis shoes ? Basically , hemp . It is a very durable material . It's antibacterial , antimicrobial , it's very sustainable . That's why it's called a weed , not because it's for smoking , but because it grows pretty much organically . It grows in the forest and it used to grow everywhere and that's why it's called weed . It's not just weed in English , it's also weed in Portuguese , weed in every other language . So it's a funny fact . But hemp doesn't require water to grow , it doesn't require pesticides , it just , once again , grows almost organically and that makes it a very sustainable fiber , very sustainable plant , and also it's , like I said , very durable , antibacterial and it makes it a great material for making shoes and backpacks , and that's where the idea came from . But when I started the company , I didn't know about this . It was all a bit of a joke . It was 2018 . We were all like a bit drunk and it was 5 in the morning and someone came up with the idea of making cannabis shoe because they thought it was funny .

Speaker 1 5:46

I love that it was totally not a business idea . It was like it's a stupid idea , until I realized that him had a lot of potential . And this is when I actually ordered some hemp , because I've seen cannabis backpacks and cannabis wallets , so why could I make a shoe ? So I called my grandmother , asked her for some help and we ordered some hemp fabric . And this is when we actually realized that the fabric was very interesting , because my grandmother has over 50 years experience in textiles and when she looked at the fiber , she was like , okay , this is very interesting , this material is very strong . And a couple of Google searches afterwards and I was like , okay , this can be a game changer . So we went from , uh , from getting drunk at five in the morning with stupidest idea ever until we realized that we have a game changing idea on our hands .

Speaker 2 6:47

I love that . So there's a lot that like . There's a lot that I want to talk about that you just touched on right there . No , that's totally fine . One of the reasons I wanted to have you on is because I used to do a segment on my show called things you can make with hemp . Okay , it's incredible the things you can make with hemp , but I don't see a lot of companies out there utilizing this amazing material that , like you said , has all these unique properties to it and also is environmentally friendly to grow , and so , of course , when I came across your company , I was like , wow , I got to have this fellow on my show to talk about it . But before we get into more of that , maybe we can talk a bit more about your own relationship with cannabis , if you're comfortable talking about that , because I think you talk about on your website where and you just mentioned a minute ago that all you you're up late with your friends having some drinks and smoking some joints do you still use cannabis as part of your daily routine ?

Speaker 1 7:44

not daily , but once , socially mostly , or when I needed to for medical reasons . Um , but only then I don't . I'm not a habit smoker , actually , which is kind of funny . And I just do all the weed I want , which is , uh , yeah , even more funny . But uh , as you know , it's not completely legal in Europe . Germany is moving . Legal in the Netherlands , it's to me it's . It's a gray zone . In Portugal it's decriminalized , but it's not like there's , it's not like California or Colorado or Canada , right .

Speaker 2 8:17

Right . So what's it like to buy or consume cannabis in Portugal , cause , as I understand it , you're based out of Portugal ?

Speaker 1 8:24

Yeah , I'm based out of Portugal , but I spend a lot of time in the U S . Uh , we were just recently in Atlanta for the shoe show and in California for another shoe show and I was visiting the uh show , and in california for another shoe show and I was visiting the some of our customers and we have operations there too . So , uh , but what's the situation here ? It's pretty much like in the us before it got legalized . It's like people go on the black market or they call their dealers and this is how it works in portugal , but you can actually buy CBD . Cbd now is yeah .

Speaker 2 8:57

Okay , so you can buy CBD kind of legally or quasi-legally .

Speaker 1 9:03

In Portugal . It's funny , but they sell CBD as decoration . Same thing in most European countries . It's sold as a like ornamental thing , as something to put on your house to keep up , keep out the bad smells , right no one uses it for that reason , but it's just funny that they sell it as such okay , and is there a lot of stigma around cannabis use ?

Speaker 1 9:33

yeah , the ? U US is way more advanced in terms of cannabization of society In Portugal and Europe as a whole . We feel that we are not so advanced , but it's still pretty big .

Speaker 2 9:48

There's still a lot of stigma . Yeah , I still find there's still stigma , even in Canada where I am , so it's slowly changing . Of course , legalization certainly helps , but you know there's still a lot of people that will . The lazy stoner stereotype is a really tough stereotype to to die and uh , yeah , so it's still out there . But now you're talking about how you're up really late one night with your friends and you were talking about creating a shoe company or just making something with hemp . Most people don't come out of those nights and actually put this stuff into action . So that's pretty , pretty unique that you actually went ahead and said hey , there's something to this . What prepared you for running a hemp based shoe company ? Like , did you have any past career experience or family inspiration , hobbies , what was it that you felt prepared you to take this on ?

Speaker 1 10:41

I honestly had nothing . I'm going to be honest , I had nothing . All I had was an immense will to create something and drive positive impact to the world , and that's it . I mean , I've tried .

Success Story

Speaker 1 10:54

This was actually my first business that actually took off , but I had many other businesses that didn't . I was selling virtual reality headsets and solutions . It didn't catch up . It didn't caught up . It didn't work . I was selling yoga mats . At some point , I was selling all sorts of things and well , this one took off , and this was back when I left London . I came back , I moved to Portugal . I was looking for something to do , something to launch , and this is when I came up with this idea . I had other ideas running on the side because I wanted to launch something . I had free time , I was testing , but this was the one that got off and this is the one that I'm putting all my money in .

Speaker 2 11:47

Awesome . So basically hard work and determination is sort of what got you started .

Speaker 1 11:52

I love that Failing a couple of times and just waiting .

Speaker 2 11:55

Well , we all learn from our failures , right Like just because something doesn't take off . There's always lessons to be learned from that and I think not enough people talk about the failures often because we see these magazine articles or podcast episodes or whatever the case is of people who succeeded and stuff .

Speaker 1 12:14

It's before that . There's years and years and years of work and now we're actually better than ever . But honestly , it was not always like that we bankrupt . A couple of times , especially during COVID , it was really tough for us . We didn't have production , factories were not manufacturing , we had no sales , no income , no nothing . Then we had production problems where a lot of our products came with defects . Well , we survived and we're here .

Speaker 2 12:38

Right . So why hemp shoes versus any other hemp product or clothing article ? Because I feel like it's a super competitive market .

Speaker 1 12:49

It is , it is , but we feel that our differentiation is pretty clear and that puts us in a whole new category , and sustainability is a big factor . Right , the people that care really about sustainability . They look at us in a different way . They look at shoes that use vegan leather or vegetally tanned leather , right , or cotton , right . They know that hemp has a whole set of properties that makes it much more sustainable , much more breathable , and this sets apart the shoe immediately . Then people we have to educate people a lot for this . But the durability is a big factor too . What else ? The fact that it's antibacterial is pretty cool . I mean , I take off my shoes every day . It doesn't smell . It's amazing .

Speaker 2 13:46

Wow . So the antibacterial properties of the shoe prevent foot odor , or at least from your shoes from smelling .

Speaker 1 13:53

Yeah , exactly , I mean , it's not 100% right . If people have bad socks or if they sweat a lot , there's always going to be smell , but the difference between other shoes is immense .

Speaker 2 14:06

Right . So how do you ensure the durability and longevity of a hemp shoe , especially in challenging weather conditions ? Because I understand your shoes are also waterproof .

Speaker 1 14:16

Yeah , it's a basic waterproof , but it's more than enough for 99% of the customers . We would not recommend this shoe to be like go in the mountains , go crazy , right , take a pair of trekking boots , so right . But what we normally say is these shoes are casual outdoorsy but not heavy outdoorsy , and they are made to last . But it's a shoe , right . You cannot expect them to last forever . It's a $100 shoe , not a $400 shoe , and it's made to . I mean , what we see right now is , even though the hem lasts a long time , the soles deteriorate , the glue deteriorates . I mean right .

Speaker 2 15:10

Oh yeah , yeah , I mean , that makes sense . I've owned expensive pairs of Nikes that have started to fall apart faster than I'd like to admit , and I think I'm done with Nikes personally . But yeah , they don't last forever , that's for sure , especially shoes . I feel like people are really hard on their footwear .

Speaker 1 15:30

I mean , look , the harder people that we've seen is like FedEx , ups workers , usps , like all these mailer people . They go crazy on shoes . They need shoes . Every four or five months at least they go , because they walk every day like I don't know 20 miles or something .

Speaker 2 15:50

Right , yeah , well , that's a lot of walking and , yeah , I can see how you need to keep up with your footwear if you're doing that much walking . Now , in what ways does 8,000 Kicks contribute to environmental sustainability ? Because I will mention that when I first discovered your company , I think it was on the website your eco stylist , which sometimes , when I'm looking for things , I check there first because I like to support companies that are doing different things in their various product categories . So what do you do as a company to contribute to environmental sustainability ?

Speaker 1 16:24

Sure . So we do a lot of things , and the first is the fact that we use hemp , but that we already covered in the last things we've talked about . But then we also plant trees . We're very transparent and we even share a list of all the trees we've planted around the world .

Sustainable Practices in Footwear Industry

Speaker 1 16:43

It's on our website , on the About Us section we I mean this is not sustainability but we try to reuse or donate a lot of pears that are not in perfect condition but they still can be used . Every Christmas , we've been donating from 10 to 50 pears to pairs , something like this every year . We we go to people in need and we share with them whatever needs to be shared .

Speaker 1 17:13

We also promote second life . Right , you are a user , you no longer want your pair . You can uh , we can take it back and we can try to fix it and sell it as an outdoor item . But this comes in very special cases . It's tough to do this in a massive scale because the costs of shipping a product let's say , for instance , from New York to Washington or from California to Virginia , where we have our new warehouse , washington , or from California to Virginia , where we have our new warehouse it takes a huge impact on the environment more than actually fixing the shoes . So it's like it's complicated to do this . We tend to do this more locally , but this is something else we do . Then we also promote with our factories the use of renewable resources , which we , which we transparently share on our About Us page .

Speaker 1 18:06

About 50% of our factories in Portugal , 50% of the energy of our factories in Portugal , come from renewable sources , so this is also a pretty big thing for us . We also share the salaries , but that's not really sustainable . It's more like fair paying of our workers . Yeah , but that's pretty much it . We also everything , oh , and the dyeings we also try to promote . This is really tough for us , really really tough . We've tried to use dyes as natural as possible , but it's really hard to use 100% natural dyes because the fastness , the color I mean basically the shoes will lose color faster if we don't use some chemical components on top of the natural dyes . And this is something that , unfortunately , we are trying to fix . But it's really hard because otherwise we have customers complaining after a few weeks or months , right . So we have to be really careful of this . Complaining after a few weeks or months , right , so we have to be really careful on this . For instance , if they leave the black pair of shoes outside for a full day , it's going to deteriorate the shoes faster , right ?

Speaker 2 19:14

Yeah , yeah , no , that makes sense , and so you do what you can , where you can . And when you finished off by saying what you were doing , you're saying I think that's pretty much it , but I would venture to suggest that that's a lot , especially compared to what most companies are doing , and I would also like to say that I really liked that you put on the website like what factors you're using and the wages that the workers are getting , because to me , I think paying workers a living wage is important , especially for things like fashion , foot footwear and other things that we're buying . So we're doing quite a bit yeah .

Speaker 1 19:49

Yeah , we try , and now we are putting a new carrier that we're going to use green fuel as well . But it's like all these small things . It's nice to have someone to tell you , because most customers don't really care .

Speaker 2 20:01

Yeah , well , it's all these little small things add up and , from a customer perspective , I feel like when I try and support companies and buy their products , they're doing these things . For me , it's the little things that add up as well , and if more and more people do the little things , then those small things turn into big things , and that's how you make big change in the world . So now yeah , exactly Now what challenges have you had to overcome in the face of introducing a hemp based footwear in the market , and how did you overcome them ?

Speaker 1 20:33

The first big challenge was sourcing . This is really tough , as you probably imagine . It's not like cotton . You can just go to every supplier in the world and say , oh , give me a meter of hemp . Oh , I want sorry , give me a meter like cotton . You can just go to every supplier in the world and say oh , give me a meter of hemp .

Speaker 1 20:45

Oh , I want . Sorry , give me a meter of cotton . Give me a meter of blue , pink striped cotton . Easy , when you try to source hemp , good luck . It's like it all comes raw , Mostly , it comes in very limited colors and it probably sucks . The durability is not good and we've seen this firsthand . We had to go to the suppliers and manufacture our own hemp .

Speaker 1 21:14

Yeah , I'm not kidding , for the last four years , yeah , we've done our first production . We sourced hemp from a hemp resource , from another factory , from the supplier . We said , no more , we have to do our own thing and we do our own hemp . We go to suppliers , we tell them exactly what they have to do . They make the hemp according to our specifications , the diet according to our specifications . We sometimes even suggest the dyes and we suggest the yarns and we suggest , okay , you pick the yarn and the fiber from this supplier . We go almost this deep no , we go this deep sometimes , but we literally go this deep to make sure that hemp is really good . And this is the challenges that we face . The biggest challenge is to have the most amazing hemp fiber in the world .

Speaker 2 22:08

Right , that does sound like a significant challenge .

Speaker 1 22:11

Yeah , you can see that on the Trust Pilot reviews and the reviews on our website . And we know because we've tested other people's shoes , we've tested other people's fabrics and we have the best hemp in the world because we have data and we have the results to back it up and it took us four years to do it .

Speaker 2 22:30

Right . So that leads me to my next question , then and you touched on this earlier that your grandmother was instrumental in helping you , I guess . Get the company going because she had all this experience in the textiles business . Is she still working with the company and what would her current role be ?

Speaker 1 22:48

No , she doesn't work actively , right . So she's more like an advisor . Right , she doesn't speak English , she's retired , she's eight years old , right ? Right ? But what she does is once a week , twice a a week , or sometimes . I just go have lunch with her regularly . I show her the new product , she gives her advice . I mean , now , we sometimes we still do iterations with him . We now we are in our fifth iteration with him where we change the specs .

Advancing Sustainable Fashion With Hemp

Speaker 1 23:17

I show the results from the lab . She asks a few questions . She said , okay , this might be because of that . The dyes need to be like this what dyesyes are you using ? So this kind of feedback . But she doesn't actively work in the business like visiting suppliers . But the experience that she has is what brought us here . I don't know anything about shoes , I mean , obviously , now I know .

Speaker 2 23:39

But the one that really helped you catapult your success . Is there any insight that she brings in particular that you'd be lost without ?

Speaker 1 23:51

Yeah , completely . The way that the fibers are woven , the way that we use the colors . I mean , for instance , the first manufacturer that we did did a lousy job , but for me it was I couldn't . I couldn't explain the guy why the shoes totally suck . But she came to the factory and she explained what needed to be done and I don't know what she said , but it looked , it worked . She said reduce the foam , this , this seams have to go inside , not outside . This has to be like this . This has to be like that . The shape of the shoe doesn't make sense . The last is wrong , the laces are wrong . So she then said oh , I don't know what he did , but the shoe looks good now .

Speaker 2 24:41

That's amazing . I love how you're like these don't feel right . You knew intuitively that they didn't , but she came along with her 50 plus years of experience and was able to articulate it exactly and here you are today , yeah 100% . I can see how her advice , her mentorship is probably invaluable .

Speaker 1 24:59

Yeah , and I want to prove as well . She said this is not going to work because the seams overlap and then there is going to be a hole . You have to do the seams in a specific stitching way and then you have to seal them with a specific sealing band and this is the way it's going to look waterproof and blah , blah , blah . But all these details I don't know right .

Speaker 2 25:20

Right , that's amazing . I love that . Now , how do you see the future of hemp-based products in the fashion industry moving forward in the future ?

Speaker 1 25:31

It's funny that now hemp is starting to come up a little bit like oh , we make hemp stuff , we make hemp stuff , which is great . To be honest , every time people talk about hemp we get brought along in the conversation , right . But not so many him shoes out there and the main reason is because it's tough , and we see that whenever nike or adidas , when they try to launch a shoe , we look at the , we look at the fiber and the and the fabric and we're like these guys are gonna have problems in four months right and they're like these guys are going to have problems in four months , Right .

Speaker 1 26:06

And they're like I'm never going to use hemp again . And we're like , yeah , we understand why . You just went to the closest supplier , like we did back in five years ago .

Speaker 2 26:20

And you got problems with customers four months after , right ? So do you see like more ? I mean maybe not shoes , because it sounds like footwear offers some particularly unique challenges , but do you see more seeing more hemp in fashion generally speaking ?

Speaker 1 26:32

yeah , yeah , yeah , definitely . Um , we've been doing a lot of awareness communication . Hemp is starting to come up as a cool thing , right .

Speaker 2 26:41

Right so this .

Speaker 1 26:42

This brings along the hemp conversation and brands want to be in the conversation and they want to use hemp because they want to be sustainable Right , so we see more and more brands using hemp in the future . Some brands have even contacted us to to get some feedback and I always recommend a couple of suppliers if they want . But it's like we always promote , because the more hemp gets talked about , the more everyone wins , and we are in a super small hemp product market that we help each other to grow , because if someone uses hemp shoes , they're going to want to wear hemp socks and hemp shirts and hemp trousers and hemp pants and hemp hats and so right . So it's good that we help each other and we see more brands coming up with hemp stuff and it's very good and I see that coming up . But you have to understand that most brands also care about the margin and also cotton is way cheaper than than hemp I can tell you that .

Speaker 1 27:45

For instance , we're buying hemp now right for new production for 20 20 dollars per square meter , while cotton costs like five wow , that is a significant difference , yeah , so that is a big thing when deciding what materials to use .

Speaker 2 28:05

Yeah , and I guess that also depends on the values that you have as a company , which direction you're going to go . So obviously you have different values and using hemp is important and I love that . And I love that you were talking about supporting other businesses that are looking to explore hemp as a sustainable option . Yep , hemp as a sustainable option , yep

Legalization Impact on European Cannabis Industry

Speaker 2 28:26

. Now I was also looking around on your website and this is switching gears a little bit , but there's a question that appears in your faqs , which means that a lot of people have asked this question enough to warrant it . But the question is can I smoke the shoes ? Too many , too many ? So I mean , I suspect , if I had to guess , I'd say you can't . But can you talk about that question're used ? Uh right , you can wear them and smoke at the same time , like every way , everywhere .

Speaker 1 29:08

Every email , every , not every email , but a lot of emails , a lot of messages . I mean we were like , really people are asking this . We really have to address this question , to put it out for q right , right . What else can we do ?

Speaker 1 29:24

Right , I find that really funny , but do you get a lot of support from the cannabis community ? Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , we get . I mean , there are some people that put more effort than others , there are some people that are more willing to share than others . But a lot of people ask these questions because the stigma right , not just the stigma . But we have to understand that we're looking , we are working with a fiber that was banned for 50 years , right , so people don't know exactly where it comes from . People think that our hemp has CBD or substances on it , because they still don't understand that it's not collected from the trunk of the tree , from the stalk , it's collected from a different plant at all , right , they think it's this plant that we use also as flowers and they don't understand where the CBD and the THC comes from . So there is a lot of misinformation about this and everyone knows what is weed , but not everyone knows what is industrial hemp right and it looks very different than the stuff you pick when you go in your backyard or whatever .

Speaker 2 30:32

It looks very different and I'm going to suggest to the listeners out there if you buy a pair , do not smoke the shoes you will be , disappointed yes and you should just continue with whatever source you're using , because the shoes aren't going to be yet , but I'm sure you would just get a probably pretty terrible headache if you tried that . But now also , I learned that in july of 2023 you were arrested in germany and that was because you were spreading 500 industrial cannabis plants in Berlin . Can you talk about why you took on this project , what happened and why Berlin ?

Speaker 1 31:10

Yeah , sure . So this was last year . The main topic everyone was talking about in Germany was legalization , legalization , legalization , legalization . Everyone was talking about this . Legalization , legalization , legalization . Everyone was talking about this . And we were like , let's do something crazy , we need to shake , shake , shake things up , right , let's ? Let's punch the table and break a little bit , break some eggs . And we didn't know what . And then , uh , we were talking as a team and we were like , uh , guys , why don't we spread a lot of plants ? And do we know anyone making hemp ? And then , actually we didn't . But we knew a couple of people that knew a couple of people that knew a couple of people that might knew where to make where .

Speaker 1 31:55

Eventually , we found a Berlin guy that had a farm one hour and a half from the city . We visited him a couple of months before . We said , okay , bro , we're going to buy half of your farm . Keep us in your head . We bought a lot of vases , we rented some trucks . Six months later , or a couple of months later , we came with a lot of vases , six trucks , and we just shoved them all into vases . We put them all into the trucks and one day at night , we shoved them all into Berlin everywhere . I mean you can see them everywhere . Right , we just shoved a lot of plants all over the city . It was crazy . People were like very impressed .

Speaker 1 32:44

This was actually filmed with plastic plants , because it was really tough to do it with real plants . We actually spread a lot of plants . I'm not sure if it was 500 , maybe a little bit less , maybe a little bit more . It was a lot of trucks . We had to do a couple times the back and forward between the farm just to put everything into the truck . We were going crazy .

Speaker 1 33:07

We were like more and more and more and more and more , and then the smell is intense inside the house . And then , you know , germans are like if they see that you're doing something wrong , they're going to call the police . They're not going to tell you , they're going to call the police . And this is just the way it goes In America if they see something wrong , they're going to confront you right away . You cannot do this In Germany . They're like looking on the window , they don't tell anyone , they call you . Someone called you , you don't know who .

Speaker 1 33:37

Suddenly , police knock on our door and they were like we got several , not one , but we got several complaints that you guys are dealing with and trafficking and we cannot allow this and you cannot come here and do these things . And we were like it's just some foreigners spreading weed all over Berlin , right ? So it's a bit intense . We had to . Well , there was a couple of police officers . It was like more intervention police . Couple police officers . It was like more intervention police .

Speaker 1 34:12

I I still have an older picture of this . It was intense . I was , uh , very nervous . Then they took us to the police station . We were there . They took a couple plants we still had in the house .

Speaker 1 34:20

This was towards the last day , so it was very few plants there but uh , they took me to the police station . They asked me a couple of questions . It was a little bit of a nervous morning . Then things kind of chilled out . They explained to me there were people complaining . They saw my videos . They understand it was industrial hemp and they understand what I was trying to do . But they had a lot of calls and they had to intervene . Very intense situation , but eventually I got . I went to the judge , to some kind of audience , and he said we understand what you're doing , but you cannot come and do this . You have to clean up after your mess and you have to collect the plants . The funny thing was that when we arrived on the street on day four or day five , I can't be precise most people already collected the plants and took them home .

Speaker 2 35:14

They did the work for you . That's beautiful . Those were the ones calling the police then , obviously .

Speaker 1 35:20

Yeah , yeah , but unfortunately a lot of people call the police . It's just the way it goes . They see that you're doing something that it's not supposed to , they call the police and they start denouncing these activities .

Speaker 2 35:35

Right Now . It's interesting that you were doing that in Berlin last year because at the time of this recording , Germany is going to be legalizing in a couple of weeks , which is very exciting . So where do you see the the legal cannabis industry in the next five years in europe , with germany about to legalize ?

Speaker 1 35:55

I honestly germany . In europe everything works like this if germany does it , most people can do it , because germany did it right , okay so there could be like yeah , the domino effect .

Speaker 1 36:07

Once germany legalizes , we'll see a lot of other countries in europe legalizing too for sure it's explaining some more conservative countries and , uh , I'm probably gonna take a little bit longer , but uh , it's just the way it goes because , um , left-wing countries are gonna start first , because normally a lot of these movements are going to start with more socialist countries I would say Scandinavian , and there's already some countries that are talking about this . It's just going to happen because , if Germany did it , if for some reason it fails , people are going to say , oh , but Germany did it too and we also failed . They also failed . So we have the bonus of Germany failing . That gives us some like leeway on failing because Germany also failed , right , yeah ?

Speaker 2 37:00

well , I don't . I hope they don't fail , because I think there's a lot of areas of the world that are watching what happens in the next few weeks in Germany . And I mean when Canada legalized , there was a lot of areas of the world that are watching what happens in the next few weeks in Germany . And I mean when Canada legalized , there was a lot of people who were probably , oh , the sky's going to fall , it'll be terrible , and nothing happened . Yeah , nothing bad happened Really

Cannabis Legalization and Breaking Stigma

Speaker 2 37:18

. Kids aren't smoking more weed or anything . It's actually way harder to get weed if you're underage .

Speaker 1 37:27

This is something big , and I'm actually pro-legalizing a lot of drugs because it's way more secure . You're buying from a licensed shop , even if it's owned by the government . You can control what everyone gets . You can control what everyone is consuming , and that is very safe , instead of you just buying from someone on the street that puts some weird stuff on it . That is not going to be good for you , yeah .

Speaker 2 37:55

Yeah , exactly Because you just don't always know what you get . But hopefully Germany will also . I don't know I can't remember what I've seen so far if they're going to allow for home grow or not , because as someone myself who likes to grow and make my own edibles , I also like to know what I'm putting in the stuff that I'm making . So you know , the best way to have control over that is to do it yourself , but of course , legal dispensaries are your next best thing .

Speaker 1 38:20

Exactly , but I think , one way or the other it's progress and that's what we should cheer for .

Speaker 2 38:28

Now , if Germany legalizes , Portugal has been decriminalized for so long . Would Portugal consider legalizing cannabis ?

Speaker 1 38:38

There's a lot of conversation about it . There's already illegal CBD selling in pharmacies , but it's still going to take a while because legalization is a full step right .

Speaker 2 38:52

Right .

Speaker 1 38:53

It's easier to take incremental steps towards it . I was very surprised that Germany is the talks are full legalization . I thought first they're going to do medicinal , which I think it's already . Yeah , medicinal is already . First I think it was going to be medicinal , which I think it's already . Yeah , medicinal is already . At first I think it was going to be medicinal right , it's already , I think . And then I thought it was going to be clubs and then I thought maybe recreational , if it works . But I felt that , oh , these guys want to go full on recreational . Okay , well , progress is progress , exactly .

Speaker 2 39:29

I wish more places would go that route and just dive in and see what happens , because I think they would find that , like I said , nothing bad happens really just a lot of queuing in the first week , and then the fat is over yeah , exactly so in your own personal life . How do you break the stigma around cannabis use in like your personal life and in your work life ?

Speaker 1 39:52

um , as always , I told you before I'm not an avid smoker , uh , but I I do encourage people if they have problems , they should consider cbd and hemp as part of the solution not as a solution , but as part of it . They should because CBD and hemp as part of the solution Not as a solution , but as part of it , because a lot of people don't consider it just because it's cannabis . And , for instance , I had a meeting with a couple of doctors , friends , and they don't use CBD and I was telling them you should consider it because it's a hot topic and you guys have to be on top of everything that is being used and you should consider at least and just read about it . I was getting the same feedback , but I also like to talk about it openly , and a lot of you have to understand that a lot of the people that we work with are really .

Speaker 1 40:49

We don't tell people that I'm smoking hemp or the or don't . Oh , I only smoke cannabis , I only smoke tobacco . Please don't tell anyone I smoke and I'm like I think you should be open about it . Um , but the thing is , if they are open about this , people think I smoke , people know I smoke , right , but ? But it's like a lot of these people think I'm a pothead and I don't look like a pothead at all . I barely smoke . But you know , no one wants to be a pothead , right ? The stigma working once again . Even if you like smoking , if it's important for you , you are going to have suffered from stigma just because you say you smoke .

Speaker 2 41:30

But I do think that the more you talk about it , like you said , the better . And if there's one thing I've learned from doing this show , is that cannabis consumption comes in many forms , in many styles , from people of all walks of life , and some people smoke a ton of weed and other people smoke a little bit , and they're all benefiting from it just the same . So just talking about it , I think , like you said , is important because it shows that you're a responsible business owner running a really cool company that's succeeding , and you're also sometimes consuming cannabis and you're not the lazy stoner stereotype , because there's no way you would accomplish what you're doing if you were a lazy stoner . So just even by talking about it and being an example is breaking stigma , in my opinion . So , yeah , Appreciate it .

Speaker 2 42:18

Yeah , yeah . Now what would surprise people about you ?

Speaker 1 42:24

Me personally . I don't know . I'm a very Me personally , I don't know . I've done a lot of things in life . I've surprised things . I've gone around the world hitchhiking .

Speaker 2 42:39

Oh , cool Really .

Speaker 1 42:42

I'm an avid surfer and recently I've been surfing big waves at Nazare , which is something people would make sense , but uh , have you heard about Nazare ?

Speaker 2 42:52

No , I haven't .

Speaker 1 42:53

Have you heard about the Mavericks ?

Speaker 2 42:55

The Mavericks ? Yes , I think so .

Speaker 1 42:58

Basically it's big wave surfing , like with jets and stuff . I've been doing that for a while now .

Speaker 2 43:03

Oh , wow , that's pretty good . I've done a little bit of surfing . I did some surfing in barbados once okay , um , and it was just like a learn to surf . But I went with a friend for 10 days . It was incredible , but the little baby waves we were on were probably laughable . The ocean is so powerful , so big wave surfing would probably be kind of scary and also thrilling at the same time .

Speaker 1 43:27

It's very thrilling and it's very scary at the same time . If you fall , you get hurt , right , yeah , no pressure .

Speaker 2 43:35

Yeah , that's very cool . I'm sure it's something , though that sort of helps to relieve work-related stress very effectively .

Speaker 1 43:42

When you're there , you can think of something else . It's just like I need to get through this wave .

Speaker 2 43:48

Right , yeah , I'm sure it's a very Zen-like experience .

Speaker 1 43:51

Yeah .

Speaker 2 43:52

Yeah , Now , last but not least , before I let you go today looking ahead , do you have any exciting developments or projects with 8,000 kicks that you're excited about or that you want to talk about ?

Speaker 1 44:05

Yeah , we are very excited about this new Kickstarter we just launched . Actually , I'm not sure if you saw it it's the world's first hemp running shoes . That has been growing and growing and growing and we are getting a lot of people interested in them and that's very cool because it's not every day that you have a plant-based running shoe , and for us , it's very cool and that's the biggest launch we have . It's totally new , like two , three weeks old .

Speaker 2 44:35

Oh , wow , I have seen it on your Instagram , the Kickstarter . I didn't realize that you had just launched it . Pretty much .

Speaker 1 44:41

Yeah , we did Just two , three weeks Right .

Speaker 2 44:44

That's awesome , and where can people find you ?

Speaker 1 44:48

8000kickscom . 8-0-0-0-k-i-c-k-s . That's it .

Speaker 2 44:55

So I will be sure to link to your website , your Instagram , your Kickstarter , all that stuff in the show notes so that people can find you and hopefully buy some shoes as well . And I just want to take a minute , Bernardo , and thank you so much for sharing your time with me today , and I think you're doing some amazing things in the world .

Speaker 1 45:14

Thank you , Marge . I appreciate it Doing my best Step by step .

Speaker 2 45:24

Well , everyone , I hope you enjoyed that episode with Bernardo and I encourage you to check out his website , 8000kickscom . You can find him on the socials and I'm personally on a mission myself to find his sneakers in Berlin , because I brought some footwear with me , but I really did actually come with the intention of buying some new footwear and I thought you know what . This is a great opportunity to try and find 8000000 kicks out in the wild . So if I managed to pull that off , I'll be sure to share it on the episode webpage , where you'll find links to things that we talked about in this episode

Sharing Hemp Creations With Marge

Speaker 2 45:58

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Speaker 2 45:59

Now , as always , if you enjoyed this episode , please share it with someone else that might be interested in some of the things that you can make with hemp . You can talk to me via email , the podcast hotline or DM me over on Instagram . Stay up to date with news , events , giveaways and the like with the Edibles Enthusiast email newsletter . It helps keep the episodes timeless , and consider using the products and services on the Marge Recommends page . It really does help to support the show . I'm your host , Marge , and until next time , my friends , stay high .