Today's Guest

Rob Kessler is the inventor and co-founder of Million Dollar Collar, a relatively simple solution to an often-overlooked problem that became glaringly obvious when reviewing his wedding photos. Before Million Dollar Collar, Rob built a screen printing and embroidery business from a spare bedroom in his house to over $1,000,000 in revenue before selling the company. Rob shares how he built his business one collar at a time and how he’s expanding into the dress shirt business.

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• Ripley PR
• Next Level Now by Heather Ripley
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Episode Transcript

(Please excuse grammatical errors due to transcription)

Gordon Henry: Hey, hey, this is Gordon Henry at Winagone Main Street and this week we're fortunate to meet Rob Kessler. Welcome to the show, Rob.

Rob Kessler: Hey Gordon, how are you?

Gordon Henry: Great, and great to have you on the show. So quick intro on Rob. Rob is the inventor of the Million Dollar Collar. He comes from a family of entrepreneurs and he got into sales and real estate at a young age when he was in his early twenties, Rob was one of the top real estate salespeople in Wisconsin. From there working out of a spare bedroom in his house, he built a million dollar screen printing business, which he sold. And then one day Rob discovered the Million Dollar Collar. How he discovered the Million Dollar Collar is a great story, which I'll let Rob tell you. Today, the Million Dollar Collar sells all over the world. What should listeners get out of this episode? How do you build a company? You find a problem and you solve it, and that is exactly what Rob has done and can tell you about. So Rob, welcome to the show. Tell us to get us started, how you started in business and how you came to invent the Million Dollar Collar.

Rob Kessler: I was fortunate that my dad was kind of a hard ass, I guess. He taught us actually when we were pretty young, we'd have school lunch that we had to buy. Well, he gave us money on Sunday night and it was $2.50 cents a day or whatever it was, but he gave us a whole week's worth on Sunday night, said, "Here you go. If you want to be an idiot and buy your friend's food on Monday and Tuesday, you're going to starve on Thursday and Friday." So he taught us pretty young about money management and being responsible with it.

But I remember being 10, 11, 12 years old, wherever it was, cutting grass and thinking, I'm going to cut this grass so good that somebody's going to drive by on our near dead end street and stop me and want me to cut their grass. And I don't know why I thought that or why I felt that way, but that's the way I did it. And I just wanted to make sure all those lines were perfect and try to get everybody's attention even though nobody ever said anything other than, hey, I've got the grass. And then I'd see a neighbor and be like, you want me to get your grass? And so I was doing that at a pretty young age. So I was always kind of a, had that itch and looked for opportunities and solved problems.

So yeah, fast-forward, I did sold houses, cars, and diamonds. So the three biggest things that most people buy in their life, and learned how to nurture a relationship and gain people's trust and help them through a buying decision. So I got married. I met a beautiful, amazing woman. We got married in Jamaica and you can see over my shoulder that my shirt that's actually on my wedding day from one of the photos. It was just a sloppy crumbled mess. It was a brand new 1MX, the best-selling dress shirt in America from Express and freshly pressed. I didn't even make it 30 minutes before I could say I do, it was just all crumbled and looked terrible.

So I came home from Jamaica after looking at my wedding photos and said I got to do something about this. So I searched all over the internet to see if there was any solution out there and everything was around the collars, the magnetic collar stays and it was all collar stuff. And I was like, that's not the problem. The problem is down here in the buttons and the holes. And so I took what I knew, which was a collar stay and I made it nine inches long and I shoved it down the front of the shirt, I said, this is what I want. And I showed it to my new bride and she instantly got it. And so for two and a half years I was getting all my friends old, bummy shirts and testing different materials and designs and figuring it all out. And after three years we sold everything we had, we moved to Los Angeles on a whim kind, and on that 10 day drive across country, the patent attorney called and said your patent was approved. And we launched in January of 2016.

Gordon Henry: Awesome. So that's 2016. Wow. January. So that's seven years ago.

Rob Kessler: Yep, seven years of sales, 500,000 units, 130 countries, zero [inaudible 00:05:00] church, which is my favorite thing about it all. I mean I took three years because it's sewn in, so once it's in, it's not coming out. So no matter, you take your shirt off and you throw it in a pile in the corner for three weeks and then you wash it, I wanted to make sure whatever I designed would last for the life of the shirt. And I didn't want to sell a $2 product and ruin your $150 shirt. So I know that math is bad, I don't want to go backwards. So I really took my time to make sure that this product will last a life. And a lot of people look at it and it looks like a simple piece of plastic, but trust me, it is far from a simple piece of plastic.

Gordon Henry: Got it. Interesting. So I want to ask you how the shirts get sold. You said 500,000 units, that sounds like a lot of shirts. Do you sell the collars or the [inaudible 00:05:56] protector in the shirt pre-made? So I buy it at Costco or whatever with the stay already in it. Do I buy the stay? I don't know if that's the right word you want me to use.

Rob Kessler: Yeah, stay.

Gordon Henry: Do I buy it from you and then I insert it? Do I get it on Amazon? How does the selling process work?

Rob Kessler: So what we did was before we launched, we actually did a Kickstarter. This is 2014, Kickstarters are like everywhere. A company just did like 8 million in hoodies. So we're like, oh my God, we're going to blow this thing up. So we were trying to raise $40,000, race sell 2000 shirts, and we did not get funded. But the unequivocal feedback was why are you trying to compete with all the other brands and why can't I upgrade the shirts I already owned? And so I went back to the drawing board, changed the design. So we had gone right to all these brands and said, look, we've got the greatest technology. Nobody's wearing ties, we should put these in your shirt at production. And they're all like, I don't know if it's really a problem. So we said, all right, we're going to go right to consumer.

So really for the last five, six years, it has been direct to consumer where you are buying the stay itself. This is one side, so like I said, it looks like a collar stay. It's super flexible, it's nine inches long. You buy this and you go to your tailor or your dry cleaner and you have it sewn in, and once it's in, it lasts forever. It's the second-easiest alteration that you can do to your clothing other than replacing a button on a dress shirt. It's literally that easy. There's my sewing machine. My mom taught me how to sew, and I've put these in probably a thousand shirts. So if you can sew one inch stitch, that's all it needs to be, because every shirt's made exactly the same. So we did that for five, six years and then we launched our own dress shirt line in October of 2019 and you know how all that goes. So that's where we're at with our own line now.

Gordon Henry: Wow, okay. So I want to unpack that a little bit. So you said something interesting in there. You said you went to the manufacturers and they said, not a problem. If you're selling 500,000 of these stays, and it's a fantastic idea that a lot of consumers like, why don't the manufacturers just hop on this and say, yeah, for a buck or two, but I'm sure if it was a big unit volume, you could probably work out a deal on the price for an extra 50 cents, they'll stick it in the shirt and fix the shirts. Why wouldn't that be a no-brainer?

Rob Kessler: Let me tell you that is my biggest frustration in business is having an... We went to the biggest brand manufacturer in the country or the world, which is PVH, Phillips-Van Heusen who has Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren, they have everybody. And we said, look, we have this great technology, nobody's wearing ties and what they were coming out with at that time, a stretch collar for people who wear ties. You're selling something for 10% of the market. I'm like, I got something for the other 90%.

And so they just are very, very slow to change and that's why we said, look, let's just make our own shirt and we'll prove it. So we were at 400,000 units and we said, we've talked to every brand multiple times, we're really close on a couple deals and it just hasn't come through, so screw it. Let's just make our own shirts and prove that we can build a brand around the technology itself and force these guys to pay attention to us. So one way or another I'm going to get it to where it needs to go. And that's part of being a business owner is you find a challenge and then you got to find a solution. And that's kind of where my focus is always finding solutions.

Gordon Henry: So I mean, I'm a guys wearing a lot of dress shirts in my life. Like many guys today for most of my career I was wearing a shirt and tie to work and then more recently a shirt without a tie. And I agree with you, especially in this tie-less world, we seem to be in in business makes all the sense in the world that you want that top of that shirt looking great and tight and good. So totally makes sense.

But I have to say to you, and I say this probably because I imagine listeners would be thinking this, I'm not a guy who does sewing and stuff like that. And I used to go to the dry cleaner a lot, not as much anymore. It seems like a lot to ask someone to take their shirts to the dry cleaner with these stays and pay to get them inserted and everything like that. Do you have resistance on the sort of friction of getting this done or people are like, yeah, this is totally worth it. It's great.

Rob Kessler: Yeah, a thousand percent. I mean I knew that going in that was going to be an issue. Which is funny because of the other 129 countries you sold in, tailoring and alterations is not a big deal. Like everybody around the world, they go buy a shirt and then they go get it tailored to fit right. That's just the process.

Gordon Henry: Interesting.

Rob Kessler: And so I said, all right, I know that this installation is a pain in the butt. So we've spent probably 50 grand going to dry cleaning trade shows and trying to talk to dry cleaners and say, look, the smallest dry cleaner in America has 200 people a day walking through the front door. Your customer cares enough about the way they look that they're paying you to clean their clothes and press them. This is an easy alteration, it's an easy upsell for you. For the guy that's making 25 cents laundering a shirt for a one time $10 charge, you could make some pretty good money and keep those guys coming back and happy. We're in 650 dry cleaners and tailors now, but it's just not their priority. It's just not been a thing. So that's why we're like, look, okay, we'll do that. We went that route for a couple of years, let's just do our own shirt and call it a day.

People that are hesitant and then do it, that is our biggest champion though because they're like, look, I know this is a pain in the butt, but it is so worth it. We're one of the top 0.1% fashion products on Amazon. Like I said, we sold all these units knowing that that process was a pain. I mean most of the units that we've sold, I mean I have an account with PVH and I buy all their brands and I stock all those shirts and we upgrade them so you can buy a Tommy Hilfiger shirt with it already in, but that's a lot of work for us to do. So that's why we said let's make our own shirt and do it.

Gordon Henry: Is there a difference if I buy a fancier brand of men's shirt, like real fancy men's dress shirt, does that still have the same problem as the cheaper shirts that you described?

Rob Kessler: Yeah, to be honest, the nicer brands, I feel like the fabric is softer and has less structure to it. So I've done $12.50 cents shirts. There's a custom guy in LA, he only works with billionaires and his shirts are $700, and I did his shirts and he loves it. So it doesn't matter the shirt, there's just not enough structure, there's too much weight. You can think about all the weight in the collar, that's what's collapsing the front of the shirt, and it doesn't matter what you do other outside of Million Dollar Collar, there will never be enough structure in here, whether it's starch or the amount of interfacing or the type of interfacing, the interfacing inside of there gives it a little bit of structure when it's brand new. But the more you wash it and the water and it breaks it down, it beats it up. It breaks down. And that shirt that you bought for 150 bucks looks great on the first few times, and then it just gets worse and worse, and then it sits in the back of your closet because it doesn't set the way that it should.

Gordon Henry: I really was curious as I read your story, this whole thing about manufacturers, because it just seems like such a no-brainer. Like if people want this thing. I'm sure if they did some giant deal with you, you could make those things really, really cheap, put them in the shirts, have it, and it would protect the shirt and make it all better. It would seem like somebody would say, this is an advantage for me.

Rob Kessler: That's what we thought. And especially with there's really being nothing differentiating about dress shirts anymore. I mean, non-iron came out in the 1950s. That's been the biggest advancement. There's been stretch in the last few years, but that's not proprietary. UNTUCKit's not proprietary. The sketchy part and the whole shitty part about the whole thing is a Calvin Klein dress shirt that sells for $70 they make for $1.75 cents. $1.75. So if I try to get 17 cents-

Gordon Henry: Yeah.

Rob Kessler: That's 10% of their cost, they're never going to do it. I'd have to do it for... And they think about it like a collar stay, like this additional thing and it's like, dude, this is a total... Our customers are paying 10 to $15 per shirt so there's added value in the product.

We talked to Men's Warehouse who has dress shirts, tailors, and salespeople in 2000 locations. They weren't in. Nordstrom's, like I've got the only product that literally will make you go in. I said to Nordstrom, look, do five shirts for 50 bucks, prioritize anybody that comes in, and tell them that they'll be ready in 20 minutes, and what is that person going to do that's standing in Nordstrom for 25 or 30 minutes? Shop. I've got the only product that makes people go in the front door and stay there and shop. Stop thinking about this like a product and a moneymaking thing. If that guy spends 200 bucks while he is standing there for 20 minutes, that's a lot better than the tailor making his 50 bucks. It's ridiculous. It's the most frustrating thing, having such a differentiator and people that get it, love it, and not being able to get it where we want it to go.

Gordon Henry: Not being a guy in the industry, so if I'm buying a $70 shirt that costs what you say a $1.50, $2.00 to make, is the other $68 going into marketing, because I know the margins on clothing are not that great.

Rob Kessler: Well, margins on clothing typically are amazing. The problem is, so Calvin Klein came out with their brand, Phillips-Van Heusen licenses that name to make dress shirts, and so I buy Calvin Klein shirts for $27, so they're in the middle and then PVH is selling it to Macy's for $20 and they're selling it for 70, so they're getting their three or four X on it. I'm sure from the $1.75 to the $20 they're getting their margin. So it's just like watches. There's so many people in the line that have to get their margin to get it to where it needs to go. That's why these direct to consumer brands, most of those guys that come out with these smaller dress shirt brands, they're selling a hundred dollars shirts. We tried that, and now you're in competing with a hundred dollars shirts. I said, just give me the express shirt, let's make it better. We'll sell it for 40 bucks and we're just going to make less money. But I want to sell a shit-ton of shirts and I want to get to a thousand shirts a day and sell the company. That's my goal.

Gordon Henry: Interesting. Makes sense. Well, wishing you the best of luck. You've obviously learned the industry inside. Now, did you know anything about shirts or men's wear before you got into this business?

Rob Kessler: No. You were talking about your wife and the white. I'm like, I am not a fashion guy. I hope he doesn't ask me for fashion advice. I'm from outside the industry. I had a screen printing business, but I wouldn't consider that a clothing business. And so I've liked clothes. I wanted to have a men's line originally when I had my old business and it ended up becoming a women's line because women just have so many more options. What does a guy have? T-shirt, a dress shirt, sweater, women have dresses and blouses and all these options.

Gordon Henry: I should have asked you that question actually. Does this work for women's clothes at all?

Rob Kessler: Yeah, absolutely. Just 90% of dress shirts are men. So we do sell to women, but we just don't focus our marketing on it because it's such a small margin.

Gordon Henry: Yeah. I wanted to ask you about the patent real quick. So you've got a patent on this thing. Have other inventors tried to "rip you off" and come along with things that are slightly different and they say, I'm Billion Dollar Collar or a Hundred Thousand Dollar Collar or whatever and try to confuse the market and steal your share? Has that been a thing?

Rob Kessler: Not at this point. One of the things I did not know about the patenting process, we're over a hundred grand into our patent, but it will someday hopefully become a revenue source because if the idea is good enough, somebody's going to try to knock it off and try to steal and do exactly that. And then you sue them and then you make a bunch of extra money, and then hopefully the patent pays for itself. But we really haven't had that issue. Everybody, like I said, has been focused on the collar in some way, shape, or form, and so they're sticking to their, well, we just do this collar and they think about, look, this is the simpler solution.

I've seen people take, you remember the eighties thick plastic headbands that girls would wear in their hair, basically that up underneath the collar trying to hold it up. And I'm like, dude, that is... Good luck with that one. So if you're willing to take the effort and put in the extra time instead of a band-aid, like get the actual fix. It's night and day when you wear a shirt with Million Dollar. There's just this weird extra confidence that you get knowing that everything is in place. The compliments that you get like, hey man, I don't know what it is, but you just look put together and it's just, it's game changer.

Gordon Henry: Where do you manufacture the collar stays [inaudible 00:19:56]?

Rob Kessler: The material is a hundred percent made in America, and then I use local die cutters. So I get my role, I get my materials and rolls and then it's die cut into the pieces. So that's all local, too. I like being able to go pound on the door and bang somebody in the head if they're screwing around and not doing things the way that I need them to do. And I can't do that in China or India or something quite as easily. Yeah, Million Dollar Collar is a hundred percent made America.

Gordon Henry: Okay, great. Rob, just tell us now as you look forward, first of all, you excited about the future for the business? You're seven years into this, and what's next for you and the company?

Rob Kessler: Well, yeah, it took three years to patent and seven years of sales. So I'm 10 years in, which means I should be an overnight success any day now. The focus is shifting a little bit more towards goTIELESS, which is our tie-less shirt. It's Million Dollar Collar built in. I like to call it the home of business casual. If you think about business casual in general, nobody really knows what that means. And so my goal is to define business casual as a great looking dress shirt, the right jeans if you're going to wear jeans. I don't wear dress pants, I just don't wear them, but a nice clean, dark pair of jeans or whatever you can wear with belts and accessories. So you'd be able to go head to toe in goTIELESS as an upscale business casual place and that'd be a resource for you to go for everything.

Gordon Henry: Last couple questions, we're going to run out of time. First of all, being an entrepreneur with such a long history, what's the best thing that's happened to you as an entrepreneur?

Rob Kessler: I think it's just rewarding going after it yourself. Like I said, I had my real estate license, which is totally on your own. My screen printing business was totally on my own, and having a life and building it the way that I want. When I met my wife, she was working a corporate job and hating it and just couldn't wait to get home. Now she's a badass stunt woman. She's in Savannah right now working on Fear the Walking Dead. And I get these pictures from set and she does just the super coolest stuff, but if she was still sitting in a corporate office, it would just be a waste and a drain on her talents. And so building all these things, and we had a yacht charter business in Los Angeles while we were there for four years, and we had Pauly Shore and Beyonce and crazy people on our boat, and it's... In building something, we like to build something, come up with a new idea, find a niche. And so that's been rewarding as finding that and then selling that business and going starts up panels.

Gordon Henry: Very good, very good. Well, lots for entrepreneurs who may be listening to the show to learn from you. Great story. Where can people find you and learn more about what you're doing?

Rob Kessler: Everything's in the name milliondollarcollar.com or gotieless.com. We've got the social medias that go with those that we're just kind of revamping and cranking back up. But those are two of the best places. I'm on LinkedIn at Rob Kessler III. I'm the third. So Rob Kessler III, and yeah, that's it. Nice and easy.

Gordon Henry: Okay, great. Well, Rob, I want to thank you for coming on the show. Just great to have you here. Wish you all the best on these adventures.

Rob Kessler: Thank you. Appreciate it.

Gordon Henry: And I want to thank our producer, Tim Alleman and our coordinators Diette Barnett and Daniel Huddleston. And if you enjoyed this podcast, please tell your colleagues, friends, and family to subscribe. Please leave us a five star review. We'd really appreciate it. Helps us in the rankings. Until next time, make it a great week.

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