Building an Apparel Brand Without Inventory

What happens when a made-to-order brand tries to sell custom shirts online and discovers that guys won't do homework before buying clothes?Kirk Keel, Co-Founder of Stantt, joins In The Money to trace one of the more honest origin stories in menswear: a DTC-first vision that quietly died at checkout, a flea market in Chelsea that accidentally proved the model, and a decade of wholesale growth through Nordstrom, Saks, and Dillard's that nobody originally planned for.Now they've come full circle, and Meta is finally working.We cover:Why made-to-order hasn't gone mainstream (and what it would take)The Chelsea Market moment that changed everythingHow Stantt went from DTC-only to wholesale-first almost by accidentWhy their original pricing model was completely wrong for retail, and how they fixed itThe double hit of de minimis removal and tariffs: how Stantt navigated 20-25% price increasesWhy bootstrapping longer is advice Kirk wishes he'd takenSell-through as the only metric that actually matters in retailThe shipping optimization that quietly drove their biggest margin gainsWhy DTC is finally working after years of struggle: Meta, AI, PDPs, and product photographyExpanding from shirts into suits, tuxedos, and tailored clothingWhat's coming in 2026: new retailers, international tests, and a DTC push with real momentumIf you're building in apparel, menswear, or any inventory-based business thinking about the made-to-order model, this episode is worth your time.