From Overlevered to Profitable: How &Collar Turned Debt into Discipline

In this episode of In The Money, we sit down with Ben Perkins, Founder of &Collar, the fast-growing direct-to-consumer menswear brand known for reinventing the classic white dress shirt.Ben shares how &Collar went from being overlevered and on the brink, with $10M in revenue and $2M in debt, to becoming a profitable, eight-figure business growing double digits year-over-year. He talks candidly about:- The painful lessons of taking expensive MCA debt and refinancing through an SBA-backed bank loan- How he drove accountability by assigning every employee a personal P&L- The discipline of cutting Meta spend by 35% and still growing revenue- Unlocking new growth through wholesale and Amazon while holding the DTC line- Building a “rule of 40” business, growth plus profit, instead of chasing unicorn outcomes- The art of focusing on your “white shirt” equivalent and scaling the product that truly drives profitBen’s story is a masterclass in turning around a consumer brand, from financial literacy to capital discipline to smart channel expansion. If you run a $5–25M consumer brand and are looking to build something durable and profitable, this one’s for you.