Our Interview with Blank Label's Danny Wong

The Urban Dater stands for a number of groovy things such as truth, justice and all the tackle box you can shake your fishing pole at. One other thing that we stand for is not looking like a jerk. To that end our good friends at Blank Label have always lent a helping hand to us and our readers by giving up the goods on stupid sick clothing (do people still talk like that?). We've supported what Blank Label's been doing for Men's fashion since they hit the scene and we're super stoked to have Danny Wong answer some deeply important questions for our readers. That said, let's get to the goods.

Danny Wong: Things are great! Just came back from business in Shanghai and am really loving New York snow, which isn't possible out in the Far East. I'm also loving the style that New Yorkers have (not talking down Shanghai style which is also amazing, but fashion from New Yorkers is just very, very awesome)

Danny Wong: I second that resolution, for you to look less of a stalker – kidding! My New Years style resolution is to wear only clothes that fit me well since given my slimmer and admittedly, shorter figure (I'm at about 155lbs and 5'6″) I should only be wearing clothes that fit so I never end up “swimming in my outfits” which would only accent my smaller figure.

Danny Wong: Blank Label is a design-your-own dress shirts site allowing you to fully create your shirt from scratch. Customize the collar, cuff, placket (yeah, I said it, the placket), pockets, shoulder straps and more! Then go and really make it personal with a monogram or your own custom label. That's the sentiment of “Blank Label” – that we're not trying to be some big name brand. We're looking to empower you to become your own designer.

Danny Wong: We sold thousands of shirts to thousands of customers in more cities and countries than I'll ever be able to travel to in my lifetime, grossing several hundred thousand in revenue for our first calendar year! One big thing that we learned from our co-creators was that they absolutely loved that the shirt was individually made for them, both with a bit of added style (most shirts had a touch of flare while only some customers went hog-wild with their creations and others ended up with simply designed shirts made to perfectly fit) and a customized fit.

Danny Wong: My style is probably best described as brave. I'm a big fan of multicolored shirts (almost all my shirts have one color / pattern for the base, another fabric for the lining of the collar and the cuff, and a third fabric for the contrast placket), and when I'm wearing a plain top (usually not a dress shirt), I've got an awesome pair of colored denim on (think maroon, forest green, lime green, dark purple and even neon yellow!).

Danny Wong: This is a ‘cop out' here, but I generally try not to advise too much since my style is a bit “out there” and not many people can relate to what I'd suggest, although tried and true suggestions are DO NOT mix black with brown, DO NOT do a pattern overload (meaning 4 types of plaid) because one, it's bad for your eyes, and two, it's bad for everyone else's eyes.

Danny Wong: Style is pretty important. This is what everyone says, but it's true and needs to be reiterated, which is you can't look like a slob since that's a poor reflection of you, but if you have some semblance of style, and you feel confident in your outfit, that'll reflect inwardly and outwardly, making you the more desirable man. Don't be a douche though. Blank Label shirts make a difference to women because the fact that you co-designed your own shirt impresses a woman since she now knows you have your own independent style and didn't end up picking up that shirt off the popular section of Brooks Brothers, and a shirt you made yourself is also going to fit better than anything you'd find off-the-rack giving you a cleaner and more sophisticated look

Danny Wong: In 2011, under Blank Label Group, Inc., we're launching Thread Tradition as a new project to make the better fitting men's dress shirt for the guys at the office that aren't looking for too crazy styles, but more importantly something that looks classy and fits great. We're probably going to make some more initiatives with our technology (not sure what yet and yeah, that does sound like just some general, lofty statement) to create a better design-your-own experience. Heck, maybe we'll do a big update to our iPad app too! =)

As always, we're happy to feature Blank Label on the Urban Dater. We also wanted to let you, our readers, know that we are  offering not only a $10 discount off your next BL purchase, but also, we are offering $50 give away. To enter the giveaway, simply email [email protected] and include “Blank Label 50” in the subject line.

Thanks!