After his brand new, freshly pressed Express 1MX dress shirt let him down on his wedding day, Rob came home from Jamacia with a passionate drive to ensure no other man had to suffer from #placketitis. A curable condition that effects all dress shirts that are worn without a tie.  Million Dollar Collar® is the world's first placket stay.  It's similar to a collar stay, but 9" long and goes into the buttons & holes part of a collared shirt.  A simple alteration permanently adds support to prevent the collar from collapsing the placket, which is the true focal part of casually worn dress shirt.

He's now made it easier to look amazing, as he recently released a dress shirt with his patented technology built-in, called goTIELESS®, where he aims to define Business Casual with the first shirt designed to be worn without a tie.

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Watch this Million Dollar Collar 0:52 explainer video

Rob Kessler - Long Version 517 Words

Rob Kessler is the inventor and co-founder of Million Dollar Collar, a relatively simple solution to an often overlooked problem which became glaringly obvious after viewing his wedding photos.  He experienced extreme frustration from tugging at his brand new, freshly pressed shirt all day long but still left his shirt looking sloppy on the biggest day of his life.

3 years of R&D and patenting of the product lead the passionate tie hater down an interesting journey.  Nearly 100 shirts were ruined with all of the different materials tested.  Just as he thought he had a winner, he would be slapped with a dose of reality.  Kessler got his hands on every dress shirt he could in the quest to design a universal sized stay to fix what his company dubs "Placketitis" an affliction that no one is immune to no matter if the shirt is $20 or $200.  Placketitis is the sinking, wrinkling, and folding of the placket of a casually worn dress shirt.

Prior to 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.  NEWD Clothing Company, NEWD stands for Nothing Else Will Do, was never intended to be a screen printing company.  As the name suggests, it actually started out as a clothing company, but after being overcharged by several other screen printers in town, Rob decided to buy the necessary equipment and teach himself how to print.  Word soon spread about the high quality and great pricing and the printing business took over the clothing business.  NEWD eventually upgraded its space from 750SF in Rob's basement to a 6,000 SF facility before being sold to focus 100% of his efforts on Million Dollar Collar.

Real Estate has always been a passion for Rob.  So at the age of just 23, he got his license and began selling.  By the age of 26, he had risen to top the 5% of salespeople in the largest real estate firm in Wisconsin, First Weber Group.  He still engages in Real Estate transactions today, but now on a personal level and as a consultant to friends and family looking to invest.

Rob looks at the world through a different set of lenses than most people do which lead to his success in every sales job and with both of his own businesses.  Delivering more than expected has always proven to be worth the effort.  Finding hidden efficiencies has helped Rob stay ahead of the competition and grow multiple businesses at a time.

As the Inventor of Million Dollar Collar, Rob has been forced to look at a very antiquated industry and has had to be quite creative to get his vision across to his clients, and it seems to be working.  Over 400,000 units have been shipped to date to nearly 26,000 clients in 125 countries.

Rob's sales experience in a number of high dollar industries including Diamonds, Real Estate and Automotive Sales has provided a unique blend of backgrounds to transition him into the fashion world.  Lastly, Rob recently received his 50-TON Master Captains License rating as a Yacht Captain which helps him and his wife with their growing Charter Business, Bella Boating, based in Los Angeles, CA.

Rob Kessler - Medium Version 311 Words

Rob Kessler is the inventor and co-founder of Million Dollar Collar, a relatively simple solution to an often overlooked problem which became glaringly obvious after viewing his wedding photos.  3 years of R&D and ruining nearly 100 shirts is what it took to patent and perfect the universal design of Million Dollar Collar.  Kessler got his hands on every dress shirt he could in the quest to fix what his company dubs "Placketitis" an affliction that no one is immune to no matter if a shirt is $20 or $200.  Placketitis is the sinking, wrinkling, and folding of the placket of a casually worn dress shirt.

Prior to 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.  Although NEWD Clothing Company, NEWD stands for Nothing Else Will Do, was never intended to be a screen printing company, word soon spread about the high quality, great pricing and never miss a deadline guarantee.

Rob's sales experience in a number of high dollar industries including Diamonds, Real Estate and Automotive Sales provided a unique blend of backgrounds to transition him into the fashion world. Real Estate was always a passion for Rob even from a young age.  At just 23, he got his real estate license and began selling.  By the age of 26, he had risen to top the 5% of salespeople in the largest real estate firm in Wisconsin, First Weber Group. 

Rob looks at the world through a different set of lenses than most people do which lead to his success in every sales job and with both of his own businesses.  Delivering more than expected has always proven to be worth the effort.  Finding hidden efficiencies has helped Rob stay ahead of the competition and grow multiple businesses at a time.  

Rob Kessler - Short Version 153 Words

Rob Kessler is the inventor and co-founder of Million Dollar Collar, a relatively simple solution to fix what his company dubs "Placketitis" The sinking, wrinkling, and folding of the placket of a casually worn dress shirt.

Prior to 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.  Although the company was never intended to be a screen printing company, word soon spread about the high quality, great pricing and never miss a deadline guarantee.

Rob's sales experience in a number of high dollar industries including Diamonds, Real Estate and Automotive Sales provided a unique blend of backgrounds to transition him into the fashion world.  His ability to look at the world through a different set of lenses than most people lead to his success in every sales job and with both of his own businesses. 

Summed up in one sentence

Rob Kessler is the inventor of Million Dollar Collar, a simple solution to fix the unsightly collapse of the collar of a casually worn shirt.

- Rob is a no-tie advocate. He doesn't own a tie and hasn't worn one in over a decade.

- Rob is passionate about business and strategy. He has grown multiple successful businesses and consults with others on their journey.

- Rob has unique insight into a number of industries from past sales jobs and interests.

- Rob believes in serving the customer well beyond the expectations of any client.

- Rob comes from a family of successful entrepreneurs and looks to all of them for advice and resources.

- Rob has experience in fashion, residential and commercial real estate, diamonds, yachting and automobiles.

- Why did you come up with Million Dollar Collar?

 - What challenges did you face getting the patent?

 - How expensive is it is to get a patent, and how long does it take?

 - Why do you hate ties so much?

 - How did you grow NEWD Clothing Company into a screen-printing business?

- What advice do you have for anyone starting a business?

 - What is your advice on partners?

- Do you have any mentors?