Manmohan Singh 'Manny' Kohli
President & CEO
Matt & Nat | Montreal, QC (CANADA)
Ancestry & Birthplace:
Kapurthala, Punjab (India)
Residence:
Montreal, QC (CANADA)
THE VEGAN MAN
He is the epitome of believing in gut feeling. Fuelled with passion and a clear vision of the future, he turned MATT & NAT into a leading global vegan brand.
Cows are considered sacred in our culture and although I have been a vegetarian for over 20 years, I turned to veganism about 13 years ago and created a brand that respected our culture. When the millennium year began, I met my ex-partner who had a small business based on accessories. Seeing potential in his venture and spurred by my interest in fashion, we joined forces and became partners.
I believe that living a vegan, cruelty-free life is a kindhearted and beautiful thing for the world. Over the years, we experimented with different recycled materials such as nylon, cardboard, cork and tires. My experience in importing, sales and finance helped propel our business to greater heights. We had been committed to using bag linings made solely of 100 per cent recycled plastic bottles and we are now proud to say that we recycle over 9 million bottles annually in the manufacturing of our linings.
In 2013, my partner decided to exit the company that he had founded in 1995, but I was persistent, I was hungry to grow. I had the drive to take the business to a different level and my patience and passion for the brand have taken us to where we are today.
Fashion has always my love since childhood
Being the youngest in the family, I was very close to all my siblings. My brother, Harpal, spent most of his time playing Basketball. I proudly tell everyone the fact that he was indeed the only Sikh player in the 1972 Asian Athletics Championships held in Manila, Philippines.
After my elementary years of schooling in a convent school in Jalandhar, I attended MDSD School, Kapurthala. But my interest was never in academics; my chosen path was clearly in business and more so in fashion.
Dad had a cloth shop, Kohli Cloth House, in the main market of Kapurthala. I would often go to his store and request him to give me new fabric that I used to get stitched new clothes. I remember when I joined Randhir College, Kapurthala, in 1981, I would dress up smartly every morning and go to the college on a Chetak scooter gifted by my brother. As college was quite close to my home, I would often come back home between college hours and change my pagg and check on the mirror. Little did I know fashion would change my life altogether.
In 1980, Dad went to attend my cousin’s wedding in Canada and fell head over heels in love with the country. He made up his mind of settling there; hardly had I completed the first year of college when we packed our bags to leave for the Great White North.
When you have a good partner, you have a good life
The first thing I did in Canada was go to a mall with my uncle where I bought a pair of jeans, pointed-heel boots and a fashion magazine. I was in heaven. My parents moved to Canada for a better life; however, I decided not to live there, although Canada became my pathway.
As Harpal had set up an export business in England, I moved in with him to help him. England thrilled me; it had such a rich mix of history and technology. I loved visiting places and driving around all day. Whenever we received any orders, I requested my brother to send me for delivery. So while I roamed around the city of Manchester, he took care of the office. This continued until 1983 when my uncle introduced me to Daisy.
Also born in Jalandhar, she had moved to Canada with her family when she was three. When my parents too liked her, our match was fixed and we got married on 12 March 1984 in England. I finally moved to Canada after the wedding. We opened an electronics store in Montreal. Harpal also joined us and now we all lived in a big joint happy family.
The store was running well; Harpal, after all, was always good with the business. I learnt a lot from him and even though we were very successful, I always looked to do something in fashion. Then in 2000, I met my ex-partner at one of our monthly dinners, when he mentioned that he was looking for someone to join him. Since I had always dreamt of owning a fashion company, I casually mentioned that I wanted to work together and then a few months later I became his 50 per cent partner.
We came up with the idea of changing the name to Matt & Nat, which stood for MATerial and NATure. I invested in the company, moved to a bigger office and together we built an amazing company. I became sole owner of the company in 2013.
Guru gives you to distribute give it to the underprivileged
Sourcing innovative material was something that we were constantly challenging ourselves with. I started prototyping new materials and testing durability. This was one of the most important objectives for me because I wanted people to associate the brand with quality and product longevity. Being known as a vegan, cruelty-free brand with eco-friendly values was at the core of the company and soon Matt & Nat became known and respected as the only vegan brand with a wide range of bags, footware and accessories. Today, the company has grown and is sold in over 800 stores worldwide.
With such success following us, I decided to follow Guru Nanak ji’s principle of performing sewa. We launched a bag style called Hope, in which 100 per cent of the proceeds are given to charity. To date we have raised more than $260,000 with a goal of reaching $2 million by 2025. We often contribute to the areas affected by natural calamities and people across the world who are underprivileged.
For my contribution to business and humanity, I have been honoured many times though my intentions are to work hard with little expectations. I am recipient of the 2019 Sikh Foundation Award, the 2019 Fashion Impact Award by CAFA, 2019 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards for Sustainability and the first ever EY National Special Citation Award.
In all these years, Daisy has become my life and all the support that I’d ever need. We have three sons who are all part of the business. Collectively, we all are always looking to grow Matt & Nat with positivity and purpose. In terms of style and design, I am inspired by modern architecture, which connects the dots to my love for driving around discovering new places like Japan and South Korea.
I believe that everything that God has made has a peculiar design to it. We need to respect and learn from those designs.
Philosophy
What goes around, comes around. So do your best karma.
I love…
Spending time with my family at home in Montreal , Canada. Every night before going to bed, I surf online to see what is trending.
I’d suggest the youth…
To have Patience and Passion towards their beliefs.
Success Mantra
You don’t gamble, you don’t win. If you want, start today… Even if small.
The world doesn’t know that…
A lot of people in India say that Diljit Dosanjh and I are the only stylish Sikhs in the world.
AKA
Manmohan Manny Kohli President CEO Matt and Nat Canada
Gallery
ISBN : 9788193397695