Our Story

Why We Do What We Do
We get asked, "Why did you guys start doing men's accessories?" or "Why do you guys make lapel pins?" or "What made you want to get into this business?" The answer to this question can be simple but the objective and purpose lies a greater meaning. 

The Background Story

Both Matt and Howard has been working in the corporate world in the past, they know that the words "dress to impress" has more meanings than one. They understood that a good suit gets you in the door, but skills, services and attention to details is what closes a deal. With this being their motto in business, it would not be any different when Matt proposed to his wife one day. He wanted his suit and his groomsmen's suits to be perfect. 

Matt being the perfectionist that he is, asked his custom tailor to customize each of his groomsmen a perfectly tailored suit. That was the easy part. He now wanted to make sure all of them had the right accessories to go with it. Both him and Howard spent countless hours in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Toronto, Seoul and Singapore trying to find anything decent for the right price. They came across high end accessories of course at Lanvin, Paul Smith and Club Monaco. All which are inspiring and beautiful by its own right but being a start up guru that Matt is, he wanted to be a little more economical. On the other end of the spectrum was Zara or H&M where the craftsmanship was not to the standard that they were hoping for.

This is when they hit their "Eureka" moment. They wanted to make their own. They understood that not everyone was willing to pay $100 for a tie clip or a lapel pin but they also wanted to offer a better quality than the chain stores. Adding to their own uniqueness they wanted to choose their own colours and change different flower designs that seem dated in the market. 

Matt and Howard had some made for just family and friends because the minimum order on the raw materials was so large that they didn't want it to go to waste. The word has slowly gotten out that they were the "guys that offered the fancy lapels" (at a reasonable price) that they couldn't just have as a hobby or passion any longer. 

Choosing This Business
Both Matt and Howard knew that it was one thing to be creating lapel pins for friends and family and another to make it a full time business. Everyone wants to sell a lot product and make a lot of money and it would be happy and amazing, but this wasn't the case for Matt and Howard. Matt was bouncing from city to city in the past year from his other business and Howard was traveling a lot for his own career that made bringing this business to fruition seemed difficult. However, with these hurdles in front of them, they pushed forward together. Their friendship and brotherhood was what forged this company onwards. They knew that making 10 pins is different from making 1000 pins, they knew that this industry is extremely competitive going in but they still set forth for it. 

Everyone talks about the passion that they have for men's fashion or the men's accessories game. Let's be honest, we all have a passion for it or none of us would be doing what we are doing. Making money was always secondary to us in this business. Aside from maintaining our strong friendship, we wanted to give back to organisations that speak out to us. Each month, we partner with a charity or participate in a fund raiser event to try and give back to those that are in need. Fashion is only a vehicle for us to help others. So as we continue to come up with innovative designs, producing amazing products, and partner with the right organisations we will never lose focus on what we truly want to accomplish. 

 

Click on "Choose Us" for details on how we create our products for you.

 

Your suits never looked better

- Howard Matthews Co. 

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