Eric Sellew The pandemic hit right in the middle of Eric Sellew’s senior year of college. He was living off campus with a few friends and smoking “more joints than we should have at the time,” when a simple observation changed the course of his life.
“We were using the name brand papers out there, and I just saw an opportunity to do something unique with the packaging,” Sellew says. “The idea was honestly just a sort of a high idea.”
That high idea grew into ZZZ’s Collective, a cannabis accessories brand that allows emerging artists to use its packaging as canvases. The company, which donates a percentage of each sale back to the creators, sells rolling papers, trays, pre-rolled cones, clothing and art prints in more than 600 stores across the United States.
“We’ve sold hundreds of thousands of these rolling papers that are really business cards for us and the artists,” Sellew says. “We’re really proud to say we’ve gotten all these impressions for our artists.”
In addition to its ancillary offerings, ZZZ’s Collective recently launched its own cannabis product, a pre-roll kit called “The Homie Pack,” that is now available in Massachusetts, Maine and New Jersey.
Last year, ZZZ’s Collective saw nearly 50% growth in sales. This year the company hit a milestone with $75,000 in donations back to artists, and it is on pace to increase sales again by an even greater percentage.
“I think what really caught people’s attention was when we started working with multiple artists coming out with multiple different designs across different mediums,” Sellew says. “Just having a really diverse set of styles and artists gave it this gallery-like experience for the customers.”