Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Matthew Andrade. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Matthew, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I’d spent a couple of years working in the UK and really enjoyed the attention to detail all the business guys had. It felt like I had come home between the suits, ties, pocket squares, braces (suspenders) and shoes – so many great and fun ways to express one’s individual style were on display. After talking about it for a while my wife got my an iPad and an Apple pencil and told me to either start drawing or stop talking about it, and Gentleman Rogue was born. I didn’t know if we’d be able to sell a lot of merchandise, but figured that the worst that happened was that we could give any unsold inventory to people as gifts later, so we launched in the summer of 2019 and haven’t looked back.

I hadn’t really considered myself an artist but somehow I tapped into my creative side and our first Eiffel tower pocket square was born, followed by our Classic London design, and then the floodgates opened. We branched out into cufflinks as a natural complement to pocket squares, and expanded to ladies scarves during Covid which really helped.

Instagram helped with the discovery of a wide, wonderful and diverse group of people who were also into sartorial excellence, and when I added a cheeky sense of humour to things I can definitely say I’m having a lot of fun with our feed!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’d always gone to work in a suit and tie and enjoyed dressing sharply from a young age. I’d also seen the difference between conducting oneself as a Gentleman during business negotiations and someone acting less than honourably. The idea of a Gentleman Rogue comes from how an individual can act properly, respectfully, and dress well while doing it…while also acknowledging that sometimes the world has wrongs that need to be righted and a Gentleman will need to act in a Rogue way to fix them.

Designing our pocket squares and curating our cufflinks is an expression of a Gentleman taking care in their appearance and knowing that small touches can contribute to fashion and confidence in a big way. We say we bring style at the intersection of elegance and irreverence to our clients, and if we can help them look like Gentlemen while adding a little bit of Rogue then we’re happy.

We’re most proud of how we were able to survive and thrive through Covid. We were just starting to hit our stride in Christmas of 2019 and then our target market went from suits and French cuff shirts to t-shirts and hoodies practically overnight. As those four lads from Liverpool would say we got by with a little help from our friends, and we pivoted to ladies scarves with our designs as there was quite a demand from Lady Rogues to enhance their on-screen presence. Our very own Lady Rogue (aka my wonderful wife, Monica) was instrumental in helping with the design and technical work, we truly couldn’t have succeeded without her.

We also have a charitable component to our business through a partnership with the Vimy Foundation where 20% of the proceeds from our Rogue Defender collection are donated to them so they can continue their incredibly important work of ensuring what the battle of Vimy Ridge meant to the creation of a Canadian identity is never forgotten. We have a similar collaboration with Brown Bagging For Calgary Kids where items showing our combined GR x BB4CK logo on our website will have the same 20% of sales donated to this wonderful group so Junior Rogues never have to go hungry.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

From the start we had the ambition to be a premium brand like Versace or Giorgio Armani, and we knew in order to do this that we had to work with partners that were shared that same vision around quality and an amazing customer experience. We knew Italians were known for their sense of style and excellent quality, so after a brief stint using a “cheap but cheerful” manufacturer we started looking to invest in our product and turned our attention to the Italian fashion market. We found a small family-run textile business in Como, Italy which is in the heart of Italy’s silk district who have been fantastic to work with. What started off as a couple of samples sent in the mail has turned into an amazing partnership where they’re our first call for any of our needs. We do the artwork here and send it to them, following which they work their magic to transform our ideas into beautiful Italian-made silk products, and we’re thrilled to continue to expand with them.

One of the key lessons we learned along the way was to always have an aspiration as to what we wanted to become. When we started we didn’t have a lot of money to invest in massive supply chains or lots of inventory so we had to start off small. As we grew and we saw that we had an emerging base of customers who really liked what we were doing, we made the call to put that aspiration into practice and make a concerted effort to bring the best to our clients so they can look their Gentleman’s or Lady’s best. You truly get what you pay for, and we’ve found our Italian partners to be the best in the world at bringing our art to to the world of fashion.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

The initial capital was pulled together between my wife and I – she was tolerant of my ambition to create something that brought my passion for design and sartorial elegance to life. We started with a small amount, and given my experience as a portfolio manager by day evaluating businesses and their economics I knew that most entrepreneurs either didn’t know how they made money, didn’t know how they lost it, or some combination of the two. I made it a priority to keep detailed spreadsheets for all of our orders so we’d know the costs as accurately as possible, and with each order we fulfilled for our customers we used the profits to gradually build our inventory, bootstrapping things along the way. We’ve had some great success because we had good information, and this allowed us to continue to grow the business in a measured, managed way. Not to say we wouldn’t take on a capital partner in the future, but it would have to be a good fit for us and our vision.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gentlemanrogue.ca
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/gentlemanrogue1
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/gentlemanrogue1
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/1gentlemanrogue