The crowd in Folsom Stadium may be looking a little “stache-y” tonight due to two former CU Buffs who are distributing thousands of temporary mustache tattoos for Buff fans to wear.
Arthur Jaffee and Trace Adams, both alumni and former CU Buffs football players, are the men behind StacheTATS, a newborn company that produces temporary mustache tattoos in a variety of designs, from full-on handle bar mustaches to cancer awareness mustaches. They are aiming to have the entire crowd sport a Buff-themed mustache at tonight’s “blackout” game vs. ASU, which will be nationally televised by ESPN.
Jaffee said the idea for StacheTATS came to him one day as he and his buddies were playing with some temporary tattoos.
(Courtesy StacheTATS)
“We were admiring our girly tattoo sleeves that we had put on our arms and there was this baby that was crying and being annoying, and for whatever reason, I thought the child would be less annoying if it was wearing a temporary mustache tattoo,” Jaffee said.
In August, he and his soon-to-be business partner Trace Adams, began discussing what they wanted to do to make a living after graduating from CU, and the idea of the temporary mustache tattoo came back to Jaffee. Within a two-month period and after some research, the two had formed their LLC and went through the process of receiving their patent and trademark for StacheTATS.
“We were able to find some good connections and it certainly helped that both of us played football for CU,” Jaffee said. “We contacted some licensing experts, we figured out our manufacturer, got trademarked, and we even got a provisional patent on the idea. So far, we’re in a good spot.”
According the “Stache-out” Facebook event page, the newborn business is aiming to set a Guinness World Record for most mustaches in one place and be a lock for “SportsCenter Top Ten” at tonight’s “blackout” game.
“We’re doing everything we can so that it’s extremely noticeable that the crowd is wearing CU mustache tattoos and ESPN knows about it,” Jaffee said. “If enough people are wearing them, [ESPN is] going to mention it.”
StacheTATS has handed out over 50,000 individual Buff-themed mustache tattoos in the past two days, and plans to give out 30,000 to 40,000 tattoos at today’s game. Tables with sponges, buckets of water and mirrors will be at Folsom Stadium for attendees to apply their staches.
For Jaffee, the mustache is a trend with significance.
“The Movember group (a non-profit fundraising initiative for men’s health issues) started the ‘grow a mustache in November to raise awareness for prostate cancer’,” Jaffee said. “They’ve turned the mustache into a very iconic image and it has just taken off. It’s something that’s in right now and [Trace and I] have recognized that. We love it, it’s so much fun.”
Contact CU Independent News Editor Nora Keating at Nora.keating@colorado.edu.
