Collars & Co. Taps Tiki Barber for Outerwear Launch
Collars & Co. is expanding its menswear brand with a new category.
The direct-to-consumer fashion label is introducing outerwear this month, comprised of four styles: two down jackets, a quilted vest and an overcoat. The brand tapped former NFL star Tiki Barber to front the launch campaign.
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“We wanted to find somebody that embodied our brand,” said Collars & Co. founder Justin Baer. “Someone that realized that looking good does really make a difference in how you perform.”
The outerwear introduction is the latest category expansion for Collars & Co., which launched in March 2021 with a polo shirt. The idea behind the brand came from Baer’s experience of finding it uncomfortable to wear a dress shirt under a sweater, so he set out to design a polo with a stiff collar similar to those used in dress shirts as an alternative.
With help from his seven-year-old daughter, Baer took to TikTok to promote the polo shirt. The video went viral, resulting in the product selling out instantly.
“We did a TikTok video of me in my closet basically saying, ‘Guys, don’t you hate wearing dress shirts?’ and the TikTok just went crazy,” he explained. “I remember putting the kids to bed and sitting down at the end of the night. The phone started beeping with orders. It’s because of TikTok this all happened and now we have 250 skus [stock keeping units], outerwear and Tiki Barber.”
Collar & Co.’s success on social media has helped the brand consistently grow since launch. According to the brand, it has been growing 25 percent a month and generates $1.5 million in sales monthly.
The brand’s momentum caught the eye of ABC’s “Shark Tank” reality show, which invited Baer to pitch Collars & Co. to the program’s panel of investors. Baer landed an investment deal with Mark Cuban and Peter Jones for $1 million — $300,000 in equity and a $700,000 line of credit — for a 10 percent stake in the brand.
Since its launch, Collars & Co. has expanded its polo shirt offerings and has added sweaters and belts.
