The apparel company Marine Layer is expanding its [Airbnb loft project](https://www.marinelayer.com/pages/airbnb), with plans to open a new apartment and Nashville store that aims to create a unique brand experience that pays homage to the company's beachcomber vibe and e-commerce heritage.
The California-based clothier opened its third [loft above its New Orleans](https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/24201760) store in March for $200 a night. The company also offers lofts for rent in Portland, Ore., (currently being renovated) and [Chicago ($300/night)](https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6644524). The fourth location in Nashville is scheduled to open this summer.
Mike Natenshon, co-founder of Marine Layer, said he and his partner Adam Lynch decided to offer apartments for rent above their stores as a way to sell an experience along with their super-soft T-shirts.
"It was a great way to experience the lifestyle beyond the store," said Natenshon in an interview Thursday on Cheddar.
Natenshon founded Marine Layer in 2009 as a one-man enterprise, with the mission of creating the world's softest T-shirt. He and his friend Lynch started by selling their tees out of the back of a van. Once they outgrew their '69 VW bus, they started an online-only, direct-to-consumer company e-commerce service.
Almost 10 years and two rounds of funding later, Marine Layer has set up 34 brick-and-mortar shops and raised $3.7 million, according to [Crunchbase](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/marinelayer). Natenshon said he and Lynch decided to open physical stores because they wanted to, "be wherever customers want to shop."
Marine Layer's considered approach ー e-commerce, brick-and-mortar, and AirBnB lofts ー is intended to create a unique customer experience.
"We have a human element to our brand that is very hard to replicate," said Natenshon. "Those personal touches are why we are successful in the world of Amazon."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/marine-layer-founders-share-their-secret-to-succeeding-in-the-amazon-era).
Actor and screenwriter Jay Baruchel didn't anticipate that "How to Train Your Dragon" would become a global phenomenon when he agreed to voice the lead role in the 2010 animated film. Now, about a decade later, the trilogy (and its accompanying franchise) is drawing to a close, and Baruchel is bracing himself for the end.
Valentine's Day is typically the single biggest holiday of the year for Baked by Melissa, a popular mini cupcake company ー and this year it's shaping up to be its biggest holiday for e-commerce, too. "We had our biggest day of e-commerce in company history on Monday. Tuesday was the second biggest day," said Melissa Ben-Ishay, co-founder of Baked by Melissa.
Tilt Holdings CEO Alex Coleman is bullish on U.S. cannabis ー and Tilt is positioning itself to have a presence nationwide take full advantage of the shift from medical to recreational legalization as it happens. "There's no question this will be the biggest market ー our internal numbers say probably $100 billion," Coleman told Cheddar on Thursday.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019.
Catching a ride in New York just got more expensive, and passengers aren't the only ones complaining. "It's a problem for the drivers," Aleksey Medvedovskiy, the president of NYC Taxi Group, told Cheddar Wednesday. "It's a problem for the general public."
Do you hate the consumerism of Valentine’s Day? You’re certainly not the first. The lovelorn have been trashing the pseudo-holiday since the 1800s.
It's a big week in cannabis earnings ー Aurora Cannabis reported Monday and Canopy Growth will report Thursday ー but Paul Rosen, CEO of cannabis private equity firm Tidal Royalty, said he's noticing a concerning trend."All the companies are facing gross margin compression because there are excise taxes, there's a massive marketing spend as we go to recreational cannabis, and there's also increased packaging costs. So I think you're going to see a trend line here, which is revenue and capacity going up, but gross margin is going down," Rosen told Cheddar Wednesday.
Opiant Pharmaceuticals, the developer of opioid antidote NARCAN, is in the process of developing a version of its lifesaving drug for cannabanoid overdoses, the company's CEO told Cheddar in an interview on Wednesday.
The internet is awash in restaurant reviews. Just ask anyone who's ever been paralyzed by the feeling of indecision when searching for a new place to eat. The Infatuation was created to apply some method to the madness. The restaurant review and recommendation service, founded by a pair of music executives a decade ago, uses "situational" recommendations with the belief that not all restaurant experiences are the same.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday Feb. 13, 2019.
