Sage Winn was raised in Frederick County, so it was only natural that when he co-founded Wander, which sells all-natural hemp products, the shop would be located in downtown Frederick. Wander sources botanicals from an extraction expert, who extracts the hemp using food-grade ethanol. The hemp product is manufactured by hand, by Sage and his partners Simon Arendt and Charles Banks, for sale at the shop on South Market Street.
With Wander, Sage has combined his experience with a Washington, D.C. lab that processed cannabis edibles and as a chef of 10 course tasting menus in New York and San Francisco. The three owners aim to connect with their customers and provide a high quality product and customer experience. Wander offers single-sale and subscriptions through both face to face retail and e-commerce.
Wander was attracted to FITCI in order to access lab space to manufacture the hemp, as well as to be part of a community of entrepreneurs. As the business scales, the three partners seek a food-grade contract manufacturer for automated production. The owners—Charles Banks is a veteran of the U.S. Army Special Forces—hope to one day work with veterans to farm hemp, bringing the company full circle from crop to shelf and doing good while doing well.
