Edmonton, CA

E-BOOTS has announced that its SMART boot project has entered the production stage, marking a significant milestone in the development of technology-integrated footwear for demanding work and outdoor environments. The announcement signals E-BOOTS’ commitment to advancing footwear solutions that meet the needs of workers and outdoor enthusiasts facing extreme conditions.

This move into production represents a key step forward for E-BOOTS, as the company works to create a new generation of winter and extreme-environment footwear. The SMART boot project is designed to combine traditional boot construction with advanced integrated technologies, aiming to address the evolving requirements of professionals and outdoor users who operate in challenging climates. By reaching the production stage, E-BOOTS is transitioning from research and development to the manufacturing phase, where prototypes and concepts are refined into tangible products.

Founded and led by CEO Peter Quansah Jr., E-BOOTS was established to address the observation that conventional winter footwear has seen limited evolution despite significant advances in technology. The company’s approach is to develop footwear that can actively respond to the environmental conditions encountered by workers and outdoor users, providing features and benefits beyond what traditional boots offer. This philosophy underpins the SMART boot project, which seeks to integrate intelligent systems directly into rugged footwear.

The E-BOOTS SMART boot platform is being developed with a suite of features, including active heating, electronic controls, smartphone connectivity, and location-based capabilities. These technologies are intended to give users greater control over their comfort and safety, as well as access to real-time information and connectivity in remote or hazardous environments. The broader vision for E-BOOTS is to enable footwear that not only protects but also empowers users through technology, supporting them as they work or explore in severe weather and terrain.

E-BOOTS is targeting two primary markets with its SMART boot project. The first is professionals working in demanding cold-weather environments, such as those in industrial work, construction, and skilled trades. The second market consists of outdoor users engaged in activities like hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, and backcountry exploration. These groups often face unpredictable weather and difficult terrain, making reliable and adaptive footwear essential. Alberta’s severe winter conditions provide a natural environment for E-BOOTS to evaluate and test its technology, ensuring that the SMART boots are suited to real-world challenges.

According to the company, the SMART boot project is designed to address the specific needs of individuals who require more from their footwear than basic insulation. By integrating heating elements and digital connectivity, the boots aim to offer enhanced performance and functionality. The company’s focus on both industrial and recreational users reflects the broad applicability of its technology-integrated approach.

“Moving into production is an important step for E-BOOTS. We started with the idea that winter footwear could do more than simply insulate the foot. Our goal is to explore what becomes possible when footwear, heating technology and digital connectivity are designed as one system.”

Peter Quansah Jr., CEO, E-BOOTS

The current production stage is focused on advancing the SMART boot project toward formal product testing. E-BOOTS states that it will announce when the project officially moves into its testing phase. During this next phase, product performance, safety, durability, and other technical characteristics will be evaluated through appropriate testing and certification processes. The company emphasizes that these steps are essential to ensure the SMART boots meet the rigorous demands of their intended users. E-BOOTS plans to provide further information as testing progresses and milestones are reached.

This production milestone represents the next stage in E-BOOTS’ ongoing effort to establish a new category of technology-integrated winter footwear. The company views this achievement as a foundation for future product development, with the goal of expanding its offerings and continuing to innovate in the field of smart-wear for demanding environments.

For more information about E-BOOTS and its SMART boot project, visit the E-BOOTS website or contact the company by email at [email protected].

About E-BOOTS

E-BOOTS is a smart-wear company based in Alberta, developing technology-integrated footwear for industrial professionals and outdoor enthusiasts in demanding environments. The company’s product vision combines rugged footwear with intelligent technologies designed to provide active warmth, connectivity, and location-related functionality. E-BOOTS develops products for applications across industrial work, construction, skilled trades, and extreme outdoor activities.

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Nonna Farms was never given the hearing it requested in December 2025. OCM valued the crop at up to $127 million. The company says the agency ignored its own precedent and let the harvest sit until it was worthless.

VERNON, N.Y

On September 22, 2025, inspectors from the New York State Office of Cannabis Management walked a 55-acre outdoor cannabis farm in Oneida County. On September 22, 2026, one year to the day later, OCM’s Deputy Counsel wrote to the farm’s owners that, based on the condition of the cannabis, the agency could not permit it to be sold. In the twelve months between those two dates, OCM never held the hearing the company asked for, never issued a destruction order, never seized the product and never tested it.

The farm belongs to Nonna Farms, LLC, the first social equity registered organization licensed under New York’s medical cannabis program and the first company ever permitted to grow medical cannabis outdoors in the State. Its crop was harvested, moved to an OCM-approved storage facility, quarantined, and weighed twice at the agency’s request. It was never sold. OCM’s own charging document put its value at up to $127,140,000. Today it is worth close to nothing.

Nonna Farms has now filed a renewed request for a hearing before OCM’s Office of Administrative Hearings and is asking the tribunal to find that the agency destroyed its crop without due process and in defiance of a ruling OCM’s own judges issued a year ago.

A Hearing Requested on OCM’s Own Form, Then Lost

OCM charged Nonna Farms on November 26, 2025. Twelve days later, on December 8, the company requested a hearing using the form OCM provides for that purpose. The hearing was never docketed. OCM has since represented to its own tribunal that it was unaware any request had been made. The signed request form was filed as an exhibit this month, by OCM.

How the Charges Came About

Because no medical licensee had grown outdoors before, there was no rulebook. OCM has acknowledged under penalty of perjury that outdoor cultivation was not an option on its application and that the agency changed its own policy to accommodate Nonna Farms. The one requirement it put in writing was security. Nonna Farms installed fencing, 42 cameras, perimeter alarms, flood lighting and round-the-clock staffing the same day.

Between May 21 and June 20, 2025, the company wrote to OCM four times asking for authorization to plant and for a pre-operational inspection. It gave its planting date in advance, copied the Chair of the Cannabis Control Board, and invited unannounced visits. None of the four letters was answered. With seedlings dying, the company planted.

OCM approved the site on July 25, 2025 without mentioning the planting. On August 4 it asked Nonna Farms to measure its flowering canopy and explained how. On August 18 the company reported 36 acres, more than OCM itself later measured, and sent photographs. There was no response. Inspectors arrived five weeks later. On November 12, on a recorded call, OCM’s Director of Compliance told the company the matter was not the start of a disciplinary proceeding. Charges followed fourteen days later: operating without the inspection Nonna Farms had asked for, planting before the approval OCM had delayed, and exceeding a canopy limit based on the acreage the company had volunteered.

The Canopy Cap Was Written for an Indoor Building

The 100,000 square foot limit OCM is enforcing came from the tier Nonna Farms selected on its application for an indoor facility in Castleton. OCM has conceded outdoor cultivation was not on that application. No regulation, decision or order sets a canopy limit for an outdoor medical grow. The only outdoor canopy rules in New York are in the adult-use regulations, which do not contemplate an outdoor medical license, and even those give outdoor farms more canopy than indoor facilities because an outdoor farm harvests once a year. Nonna Farms does not recognize the cap and will ask the tribunal to find it does not apply.

OCM Wrote the Settlement, Then Walked Away From It

On March 3, 2026, OCM proposed a settlement: Nonna Farms would keep its licensed product, sell the disputed remainder and surrender the proceeds to the State. The company accepted in writing within three days and lined up a buyer at $6.8 million. OCM took 133 days to put its first substantive position in writing. The buyer was gone. On the day Nonna Farms warned the buyer would walk, OCM said it would not recommend the company’s pending dispensary locations, the other sales channel its own framework depended on.

On August 26, two days before OCM’s next settlement response was due, inspectors arrived unannounced at the storage facility, ostensibly to weigh the product. They did not weigh it. They issued a Stop Work Order that afternoon. On September 3, OCM declared its interest in settlement “extinguished” and said it would seek appropriate relief. Nearly four weeks later, it has sought none.

OCM’s Own Judges Already Ruled on This

In OCM v. Omnium Health, Inc., decided in July and November 2025, OCM’s Office of Administrative Hearings held that holding perishable cannabis indefinitely is in effect a destruction order, because the product loses value until it is worthless, and that such a restraint is a sanction requiring a hearing before it is imposed, not after. OCM took no exceptions to those decisions. A year later the agency has repeated the conduct against the first social equity licensee in the State. Nonna Farms will ask the tribunal to find that OCM departed from its own precedent without explanation.

Leadership Turnover, Unanswered Letters

OCM has been under a Governor-ordered operational overhaul since 2024. In December 2025, the Governor removed the agency’s acting Executive Director and its Deputy Counsel following the Omnium matter. An acting Executive Director ran the agency from February 2026 until a Senate confirmation in June. Within Nonna Farms’ own file, the Executive Director changed, the General Counsel changed, and the matter passed through three attorneys. Calls were postponed, letters went unanswered, and deadlines OCM set for itself passed. Nonna Farms does not contend that anyone at OCM intended to destroy its crop. It contends that the agency lacked the people, process and leadership to keep its own commitments, and that the cost of every silence fell on the licensee.

The Cost

Nonna Farms’ social equity owners borrowed more than $7 million on OCM’s written assurance that “the compliance unit will work closely with you as you work toward operationalizing in New York State.” The company has had no revenue since the 2025 harvest. The debt is secured by the crop. The lender has moved toward foreclosure.

“We asked OCM for an inspection. We asked for approval. We reported our canopy when they asked for it. We accepted the settlement they wrote,” said a spokesperson for Nonna Farms. “Every time, the answer was either delay or silence, and every time, we paid for it. A year ago OCM’s own judges told the agency that holding a crop until it rots is a destruction order. OCM did it again, to the first social equity licensee in New York. That is a regulator failing at its most basic job. Social equity means nothing if the agency charged with delivering it cannot answer its mail.”

What Happens Next

Nonna Farms has asked the Office of Administrative Hearings to docket all three charges, hold a preliminary conference within ten days and assign an Administrative Law Judge on an expedited basis. It will ask the tribunal to find that the charges are not established, that the indoor canopy tier does not apply to an outdoor medical grow, that OCM’s restraint on the product has no basis in the Cannabis Law or its regulations, that the crop was destroyed without due process, and that OCM abandoned its Omnium precedent without a stated reason.

The company is represented by Patrick J. Hines of Hodgson Russ LLP. It is prepared to proceed on any date the tribunal sets, as it has been since December 8, 2025.

About Nonna Farms, LLC

Nonna Farms, LLC is the first social equity registered organization licensed under New York’s medical cannabis program and operated the first outdoor medical cannabis cultivation permitted in the State, in Vernon, Oneida County.

Media Contact Details
Robert Kato
Email: Send Email
Phone: 917-753-6000

A new wave of property buyers and renters is actively looking for homes already equipped with fallout shelters, bomb shelters, private bunkers and CBRN-protected rooms — and they are willing to pay top dollar for that protection. This creates a new commercial opportunity for developers, builders, landlords and estate agents.

HERTFORD, UK

Global conflicts, missile and drone attacks and growing security concerns are changing what people expect from their homes.

For decades, private fallout shelters and bomb shelters were considered an extremely niche feature associated mainly with governments, military facilities, survivalists and a relatively small number of wealthy private clients.

That market is changing.

A new generation of security-conscious buyers and tenants is looking for properties that already have a fallout shelter, bomb shelter, bunker or professionally protected room.

These buyers and tenants are prepared to pay a premium for properties that provide this level of protection.

It makes sense. Buyers already pay substantial premiums for swimming pools, gyms, cinema rooms, smart-home systems, advanced security and desirable views.

A professionally designed shelter provides something fundamentally more important: protection for the occupants and their families when conditions outside become dangerous.

Homes and possessions can be replaced. Family cannot.

When Evacuation Is No Longer an Option

Leaving an affected area sounds like the obvious response to an approaching crisis, but real emergencies rarely develop according to plan.

Airports close. Flights are cancelled. Roads become gridlocked as thousands of people attempt to leave simultaneously. Infrastructure can be disrupted and attacks can develop with very little warning.

Sometimes evacuation is simply too slow. Sometimes it is impossible.

A protected space immediately available within the home changes that situation.

Castellex has previously examined how Middle East security is changing attitudes towards family preparedness and private fallout shelters, particularly as families consider what they would actually do if they could not evacuate.

A New Commercial Opportunity for Property Developers

For the property industry, this change in priorities creates a clear commercial opportunity.

Properties equipped with professionally designed shelters sell faster, rent faster and command higher prices and rents.

For developers and property owners, that means stronger differentiation, greater demand and higher profit potential.

A luxury development already competes through location, architecture, swimming pools, gyms, concierge services, security systems and technology. A private shelter adds another premium feature — but one with a very different purpose.

Developers can incorporate protected spaces when properties are originally designed, making installation considerably easier and more cost-effective than adding them later.

Structural protection, protected entrances, ventilation routes, emergency electricity, water, sanitation and NBC/CBRN filtration can all be considered during the design stage.

A shelter does not have to be standard in every property either. It can be offered as a premium optional upgrade, generating additional revenue while giving buyers something that competing developments may not provide.

For luxury villas and high-value residential developments, a private shelter can become a major part of the property’s specification.

A New Opportunity for Estate Agents and Landlords

Estate agents should recognise this change in buyer priorities as well.

A property with a professionally equipped fallout shelter or bunker has a clear point of difference in a competitive market.

It is a selling point and should be marketed as one.

Agents should explain the protected space, intended occupancy, NBC/CBRN filtration, backup power and other emergency capabilities rather than simply listing “bunker” among the property’s features.

The same applies to rental properties.

A new wave of renters is looking for homes that provide additional family protection and is willing to pay more for that security. For landlords, a properly equipped protected room or shelter creates differentiation and supports premium rental positioning.

Concrete Walls Alone Are Not Enough

A basement, reinforced room or underground bunker does not automatically become an effective NBC/CBRN shelter simply because it has thick walls and a heavy door.

People inside still need to breathe.

During a nuclear, radiological, biological or chemical emergency, outside air can contain radioactive particles, biological contamination or hazardous chemical substances.

A properly designed shelter therefore requires controlled ventilation and professional NBC/CBRN filtration.

The system filters incoming outside air and creates positive pressure within the protected space, helping prevent potentially contaminated outside air from entering through small gaps and leakage points.

British manufacturer Castellex Ltd specialises in these NBC/CBRN air filtration and Collective Protection systems.

Air550HCC Ultimate for Private Family Shelters

For private bunkers, fallout shelters, bomb shelters and protected residential spaces, the Castellex Air550HCC Ultimate NBC/CBRN air filtration system provides a complete protected ventilation package.

The four-stage system provides up to approximately 145 m³/h of filtered fresh air and incorporates high-efficiency pre-filtration, F7 pre-filtration, H14 HEPA filtration and specialist activated-carbon filtration.

The package also includes blast and overpressure protection, two internal backup batteries and manual emergency power capability.

Backup power is particularly important because a serious emergency can also result in loss of mains electricity.

The Air550HCC Ultimate is manufactured in the United Kingdom and designed for applications including private nuclear bunkers, fallout shelters, bomb shelters and protected rooms.

Protection Designed for Middle Eastern Conditions

The Middle East is a particularly important market for protected residential property.

In addition to security considerations, equipment operating in the region must cope with demanding environmental conditions, including high levels of dust.

The Castellex Air550UH Desert NBC air filtration system incorporates additional high-efficiency pre-filtration specifically intended for harsh and dusty environments.

The system provides up to approximately 145 m³/h of fresh air and combines multi-stage filtration, H14 HEPA filtration, impregnated carbon filtration, blast protection, positive-pressure capability and internal backup power.

This makes it particularly relevant to private shelters, luxury villas, bunkers and protected rooms in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern markets.

From Niche Market to Premium Property Feature

The private shelter market is moving beyond the traditional bunker buyer.

A new wave of buyers and renters is actively looking for properties where family protection has already been built in — and they are willing to pay top dollar for it.

For developers, builders and architects, that means a new product category.

For landlords, it means a premium rental feature.

For estate agents, it means a powerful point of differentiation.

And for buyers and families, it means something far more important: knowing that if an emergency happens and evacuation is no longer possible, there is a protected place immediately available.

The property industry has always adapted to changing buyer priorities. Private fallout shelters and CBRN-protected rooms are becoming part of that change.

The developers and property professionals who recognise this market early have an opportunity to turn what was once an extremely niche requirement into a valuable premium property feature.

About Castellex Ltd

Castellex Ltd is a British manufacturer specialising in NBC/CBRN air filtration and Collective Protection systems for private, commercial, government and specialist applications.

Castellex systems are manufactured in the United Kingdom and supplied internationally for applications ranging from private family fallout shelters and bunkers to larger commercial and civil-protection projects.

Media Contact Details
Mr V. Macys
Castellex Ltd
Email: Send Email
Phone: +447550701400
Website: www.castellex.com