Justin Baer earned a degree in Marketing & RE Finance from New York University in 2004. A born entrepreneur, Baer founded six digital companies prior to Collars & Co.
Working as a professional in New York City, Baer found he needed to “dress the part,” but admits he really hated wearing dress shirts under his sweaters and jackets. There were expensive, uncomfortable, hot, and required frequent dry cleaning. And if he had a casual event planned after work, he would have to bring a second shirt to change into.
Since most of the time Baer kept his sweater or jacket on over his dress shirts, he realized that it was basically the collar itself that gave the shirt their professional look. In that case, why not have a more casual, comfortable and sporty shirt with a professional looking collar?
Baer worked up some prototypes and selected a manufacturer in Pakistan. No sure if the product would be successful, he ordered an initial batch of 500 shirts. In March of 2021 Baer posted a video recorded by his 7-year-old daughter on Tik Tok, which went viral. Danny Parisi, of Glossy reported in a 9/20/21 article that the video was viewed more than 800,000 times and the 500 shirts were sold out in two days! Within four months, Bear was ordering 6,000 shirts at a time, and looking toward consistent orders of 10,000 shirts to keep up with the demand.
Collars & Co shirts are made from a lightweight, moisture-wicking stretch material. Collars are available in four different styles: English-spread, Semi-spread, Button-down, and Cutaway. They are available in numerous color and pattern combinations.
By early 2022, Collars & Co. had almost 32,000 followers on Tik Tok. After generating $40,000 in the first month after the initial video release, the company’s sales had increased 40 percent per month. (“Four Tips for Building a Following on Tik Tok,” Article by Hannah Hall on Inc., 2/9/22)
On January 6, 2022, Golf Digest writer Gabrielle Herzig, said these shirts would make going from the office to the course easier than ever. In June of 2022, Sir Nick Faldo, six-time Major golf champion became the first Global Brand Ambassador for Collars & Co.
