#Movember 16: Interview with Arbitrage Clothing’s Alan Chan

by Mike Browne on November 16, 2009

in activity, gratitude

This thing on my face is starting to itch and feels quite dirty. It took every ounce of my resolve not to hack the thing off my face this morning while shaving. I did have a job interview too, but, as they were forewarned about my creepy school teacher look, I could not use that as a valid excuse. Here we have today’s yuckiness:

I am getting a few hilarious entries for the Official Movember Cuff Links Contest though. Thanks guys!

Thanks to Arbitrage Clothing in New York one lucky person will be sporting a pair of official Movember Cuff Links designed by Movember founder, Adam Garone (on twitter), and Arbitrage Clothing founder and designer, Alan Chan (on twitter).

Speaking of Alan Chan, He graciously answered some questions via email about his company, the cuff links and Movember:

Mike Browne: Can you please give me some background on your company, Arbitrage? How did you get started?

Alan Chan: I started Arbitrage with my college friend Manoj Dadlani. We couldn’t find clothes that fit us the right way so, after graduating from Cornell, we moved to New York City to pursue our dream of launching our own clothing line for modern men. We created the perfect fitting dress shirt and we created the Arbitrage brand to embody the lifestyle of our customers. Our first collection was picked up immediately by Fred Segal in Los Angeles and the brand grew quickly from there.

MB: Did you have a background in design before you started the company?

AC: I’ve always been fascinated with fashion and clothing design, but I did not have a professional background in design. I grew up going to the mall to scavenge for unique pieces of clothing. At the time, I went to a prep school and the whole urban hip-hop culture was just starting. That’s where a lot of the Arbitrage aesthetic comes from – the urban prep look.

MB: What inspired the Movember cufflinks and your participation in Movember?

AC: We’ve been a part of Movember since the charity first came to North America two years ago. One of our retailers in Toronto, Gotstyle, was helping to promote the charity event to its customers. I knew instantly that Movember was going to be a lot of fun so I called up Adam Garone, the founder of Movember. We met for drinks, I told him about my vision for Arbitrage, and the rest is history.

The moustache cuff links were inspired because a lot of “Mo Bros” and Arbitrage clients work at major corporations and wear French cuff shirts. By wearing our cuff links, they can take part in Movember and help raise some money for prostate cancer research.

MB: What is your favorite style of mo?

AC: Definitely the handlebars. It’s my favorite because there is artistry and precision in shaving and grooming the perfect handlebars.

MB: Do you have a mo’ role model? Someone from history who sported a mo’ who you look up to?

AC: I look up to Borat. Anyone who can pull off a moustache and a fluorescent green mankini swimsuit is in a class of his own. His moustache just screams “sexytime”!