Tokyo Smoke is an innovative Toronto brand that recently celebrated its one-year anniversary in appropriately on 4/20. The unique lifestyle brand combines cannabis, men's fashion and high-quality coffee and boasts a stylish Toronto coffee bar and general store with a charming event space attached. With plans to host a series of pop-up shops in Venice Beach, it's clear Tokyo Smoke's design-led approach to cannabis lifestyle branding is resonating with consumers.
Located in between two warehouses just a few blocks southeast of Toronto's Trinity Bellwoods Park, the coffee bar and general store, called Tokyo Smoke Found, bills itself as a "modern lifestyle collective," while the outpost's menu includes custom roast coffee, artisanal sandwiches, cold-pressed juices and baked goods. Founded by ex-Googler Alan Gertner, the brand currently sells a curated selection of design-led collectables and branded Tokyo Smoke apparel. The apparel is also available at upscale Toronto menswear boutiques GotStyle.
Currently, the brand has four proprietary strains (Go, Relax, Relief and Balance) that will be available in legal recreational markets in the US in 2016.
In addition to serving as an example of the creative hybrid retail concepts emerging in Toronto, Tokyo Smoke serves as a premiere example of the increasingly sophisticated reputation of cannabis that goes against outdated stereotypes associated with the typical recreational user.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Hybrid Cannabis Lifestyle
- Combining cannabis with fashion and coffee in a unique lifestyle brand presents an opportunity for disrupting the traditional cannabis market.
- Design-led Approach to Cannabis
- Tokyo Smoke's emphasis on design-led collectibles and branded apparel creates a new avenue for emphasizing design in the cannabis industry.
- Sophisticated Reputation of Cannabis
- The emergence of brands such as Tokyo Smoke challenges outdated stereotypes and presents an opportunity for a refined and sophisticated image of the cannabis industry.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Cannabis and Fashion
- The cannabis industry can collaborate with fashion in creating innovative, design-led products and apparel that cater to a new market.
- Cannabis and Coffee
- Combining cannabis with coffee presents an opportunity for creating a new market for cannabis-infused and coffee-based products.
- Cannabis Retail
- Hybrid retail concepts, such as Tokyo Smoke, offer a unique opportunity for creating a new cannabis retail market that focuses on lifestyle, design, and curated collectibles.
