Next Thursday, October 25th, we are offering you one of the best shopping opportunities of the year. Between 7pm and 9pm join us and Inder Bedi (Matt and Nat founder and Creative Director) for a bit of a party in our new store. We are really excited about this event and have a bunch of great things going on to celebrate you - our customers, as well as this visit from Mr. Bedi - great guy and Matt and Nat founder. Here's what's up:

- First 50 people to get their photo taken at the photobooth receive a free Matt & Nat wallet.
- Raffle for the "Dean" Backpack
- Meet and Greet w/ Inder Bedi
- Music from The Gaff
- Vegan Sushi from Sushiro
- Complimentary refreshments

Matt & Nat Founder and Creative Director, Inder Bedi, took the time to chat with us about the birth of his brainchild, and the values behind this iconic Canadian brand we've proudly carried for years now:

Spareparts: You created a brand that is completely cruelty-free. What was the motivating factor behind this decision?

Inder: MATT & NAT is based on a business plan I wrote in University in 1995. I was doing a major in Marketing with a minor in corporate law. My last semester I had to write a business plan and go to banks for funding. Being a long time vegetarian who appreciated design, I wrote the plan for M&N, got a 77% on the paper, zero funding from banks and decided to forego my plans for law school!

Spareparts: Turning a 77% and no funding into a top brand must have required some serious skills. What skill-set has been most important to your success?

Inder: Perhaps more than skill would be our values: love, authenticity and responsibility. These values are the essence of M&N and define our mission: to make beautiful things that have a positive impact. We are blessed to have Canadian fans that want to support a local company. We have a design team that is uber passionate about design and details. Love goes into everything we do.

Spareparts: You recently launched a Men’s line. Can you tell us about it?

Inder: From a design point of view we are influenced by architecture, clean lines and of course utility. The men’s collection is more of a unisex collection, as we saw the lines between genders being blurred, it made sense to step up the utility focus of our brand to have an offering that appeals to both sexes.

Spareparts: Finally, where does the name Matt & Nat come from?

Inder: MATT & NAT is short for material and nature, our journey in balancing fashion and our environment. The last 17 years have been incredible, we look forward to the next 20!

Check out and RSVP at the event page here.