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Collars & Co is trying to create a new category that\u2019s one part casual and one part dressy.<\/p>\n
The two-year-old apparel startup makes a collared polo shirt, along with other items, and targets predominately well-to-do males. It first got its start on TikTok, but an appearance and subsequent deal on Shark Tank led to a huge increase in sales.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw about a 400% increase in the number of visitors,\u201d the night after the episode aired, said Justin Baer, founder and CEO of Collars & Co. \u201cI think I attached about $200,000 to $250,000 in revenue that week.\u201d Baer joined the Modern Retail Podcast and dove into how he\u2019s growing his clothing brand.<\/p>\n
Despite the sales spike, Shark Tank was just one helpful marketing moment. Baer, now, is focused on the long game. That includes investing in digital media as best as possible and even launching new retail concepts. For example, Collars & Co is going to open its first store in Chicago this month.<\/p>\n
One of the big reasons the company is opening a store is because physical retail speaks directly to the customer Collars & Co targets. Our customer tends to be slightly older \u2014 it\u2019s an older gentleman that\u2019s 35 to 65,\u201d said Baer. \u201cAnd not all of them are on Instagram buying clothes online.\u201d<\/p>\n
With that, the Chicago store is a test to see if the model can work. \u201cWe definitely want the store to be profitable. It doesn\u2019t have to be that profitable, because it\u2019s not the main driver,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s going to be a fraction of the revenue that we\u2019re doing DTC.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another big focus for the brand is on finding more customers. While it\u2019s seen huge growth, Baer thinks there\u2019s more digital marketing to be done. \u201cFacebook is still the best, but we try a lot of different things,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying a lot of different angles, newsletters, a lot of different online platforms.\u201d That being said, Baer said he initially got the company off the ground by showing off his first product on TikTok. <\/p>\n
And while other brands test out new types of advertising like TV, Baer is still bullish on digital being a primary driver for his brand. \u201cI think digital is still going to be 95% of our ad budget this year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Here are a few highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity.<\/p>\n
How TikTok differs from other digital platforms<\/strong> The strategy behind the stores<\/strong> Why Collars & Co is not on Amazon<\/strong>
\u201c[TikTok] is a great discovery channel \u2014 unlike Instagram or Facebook, where it\u2019s mostly people interested in following their favorite celebrities\u2026 You go on TikTok to find new things. And you\u2019re okay to watch people you\u2019ve never seen before and hear what they have to say. And so it was an incredible discovery channel for Collars & Co and this dress collared polo concept \u2014 to kind of test it out to see do we have something here? Is this worth spending ad dollars on?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur customer tends to be slightly older \u2014 it\u2019s an older gentleman that\u2019s 35 to 65. And not all of them are on Instagram buying clothes online. I think there\u2019s a good swath of gentlemen out there that want to touch it, feel it, see it, before they buy it \u2014 and even just get introduced to the brand. We did a pop-up shop in Tyson\u2019s Galleria, which is a nice mall in the Washington DC area\u2026 at was kind of a test \u2014 just to see what\u2019s going to happen here. I had no idea. And, it crushed it. It was amazing. It was so fun for guys to walk by and talk to them about the story and put the shirt on\u2026 And it was an awesome experience. And from that, we did see higher average order values. And we saw that those customers did have longer LTVs than a traditional customer does. So somebody we can acquire in-store was more valuable to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had Amazon reach out and say you should sell on our site. And we don\u2019t want to do that \u2014 right now at least. I\u2019ve seen some other brands try and sell some of their slow-moving products through Amazon. To me, we\u2019re trying to create this more elevated affluent brand. And to me, I think unless you\u2019re super established, I just feel like it cheapens it a little bit \u2014 being on Amazon. But I can be swayed. We\u2019ll see how it goes. I know there are a lot of luxury brands on there. But I don\u2019t know \u2014 I don\u2019t think it fits our story right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n