New Forti Goods collection brings high-tech locking furniture to more cannabis consumers
There’s value in having a safe, reliable place to store cannabis products. The world of stash boxes and smell-proof bags has evolved immensely in the last few decades. But when it comes to tech-focused locking furniture for bud, one brand stands alone.
Forti Goods was founded by a mother with a career in furniture design who realized that parents needed a safe, lockable place for their cannabis products. She was also aware of the sustainability issues of modern furniture manufacturing practices and the exploitation of factory workers overseas. The result is a consumer-driven high-tech furniture brand made with mindful materials and the capability of locking cannabis products safely away.
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Recently, Forti Goods launched the Everyday Collection featuring pieces at a lower price point that meet brand standards. Founder Sharon Kevil recently shared with GreenState that the new collection resulted from listening to consumers..
“I consistently heard the feedback that people wanted something at a lower price point. They didn’t need their lockable furniture to be the nicest and most expensive thing they own,” Kevil said. “The Everyday Collection will grow over time, but I wanted to start with just three styles to test the line out.”
The Everyday Collection
The first pieces include the Merritt Side, Merritt Media, and Merritt Console made with red oak and available in four finishes. Like all Forti Goods furniture, the Everyday Collection features a lockable drawer that can be accessed using a controller. The corresponding app can track when and how many times the drawer has been opened, a usefule tool for the parents of canna-curious teens.
To add functionality for cannabis consumers, Forti Goods crafts fitted accessories meant to hold individual cartridges upright and keep a jar of flower in place as a drawer slides in and out.
Most Forti Goods pieces are crafted using red oak to lower costs. Kevil prefers white oak, but the material is now scarce and expensive. A toning stain removed the red undertones, achieving a lighter color. The process led to a happy accident that Kevil calls the “oops color.”
“The manufacturer provided one of their light colors, but it turned out too white to be a blond ‘dupe.’ Consequently, we developed a custom color: flaxen,” Kevil shared. “However, due to the positive response to the whitewashed version, I decided to include it in the line at the last minute – and named it “dune’.”
The side table, media table, and console are available now for pre-order in Flaxen, Dune, Sable, and Dark Truffle. Manufacturing and delivery should start in the fall. The lead time allows the brand to renovate its technology, upgrade hardware, and update the mobile app.
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With these updates, the furniture grows with technology. Kevil decided to hold off on sales and opened a waitlist for interested customers. In the meantime, Forti Goods is completely revamping its tech to enhance user experience. The lock-and-latch will no longer be visible.
Additionally, the app and cloud are reconfigured to grow alongside the brand as it scales. The app is currently developed for iOS, with the possibility of Android being offered based on consumer interest. However, according to Kevil, as of now, 100% of Forti Goods customers are iOS users.
The controller will now have Bluetooth and wifi radios inside so the furniture can be updated, growing alongside technological advancements and new features. The new generation will have silicon chips that emit a stronger signal to maintain connectivity with the solid wood boxes.
Kevil admits the first-generation design could have a more efficient battery, which has been fixed in the update. But those who bought the first-gen don’t need to fret because everyone will be sent a new remote.
“All of our first-generation customers will be getting the new controllers at no charge to replace our first-gen solution,” said Kevil. “It is important to me to give the early adopters who supported Forti, in the beginning, the latest and greatest.
“I’m an early adopter myself and I hate it when I buy new hardware that has bugs only to see the revamped version come out later that I have to purchase. Our first-gen customers are first in line to get the new devices once our production run is complete.”
Technological updates
The Everyday Collection will feature the new tech and have some other cost-saving differences from classic Forti Goods pieces. Regular drawer slides will replace soft-glide, self-closing drawers outfitting the original Heirloom collection.
Drawers will also be unfinished. As a parent, Kevil designed the heirloom drawers with a finish for easy cleaning. But the brand has since become stash agnostic, meaning cannabis isn’t the only thing worth locking up–all Forti Goods customers aren’t cleaning shake out of their lockable furniture.
Some Merritt parts will be mass-produced, contributing to the lower price point. The original pulls are artisan made by machine, but the new metal pulls will be metal-cast and mass-produced in Canada.
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The new collection will also use a low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) finish instead of water-based finish like other Forti Goods furniture. The low VOC is very durable but won’t stink like other VOC wood stains used on mass-produced pieces.
Everyday is on presale to help manage the relaunch costs, but there is no minimum threshold to reach in order to kick off manufacturing. Everyone who buys a piece will receive it—the brand just needed lead time to produce the new tech. Payments can be made in full upon order, or half can be made at time of purchase with the other half due when the piece is delivered.
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“Aside from that (the lead time), it’s a smarter and more financially and environmentally sustainable way to produce because we’re not making furniture in styles or stain colors that people don’t want,” Kevil pointed out. “We also need time to produce the controllers, and the factories that make these things charge you to buy the turnaround time. By pushing the production time out a bit, we can get better pricing which makes the product less expensive for the customer.”
Maturing consumers are seeking cannabis storage options that not only work but match their interior design. Forti Goods delivered a solution with the Heirloom designs, only to round out offerings with the more affordable Everyday collection. Now, there’s something for everyone.