Ask a room full of custom clothiers where they learned to run a business, and most will give you the same answer: they figured it out as they went. You can learn to measure, fit and choose cloth from a mentor or a CTDA class. The business side is much harder to find. Pricing, payment terms, order minimums, how to qualify a client, when to say no: most clothiers pick those up over dinner at a trade show, or learn them the expensive way.
That is why we are such big fans of Kenny and Danny King. The identical twins behind King Brothers Clothiers in Minnesota have taken 15 years of hard-won lessons and turned them into the best custom clothier coaching we have seen: the Appointment Only podcast, the Clothier Coaching courses, and the Luxury Clothier Collective mastermind. If you are just getting started, we think their material is a must. If you have been at it for decades, you will still find plenty worth taking.
Who are Kenny and Danny King?
Kenny and Danny founded King Brothers Clothiers in 2011, and they did not start with suits. Their first product was the ShelbyKnot, a line of neckties made with former WCCO-TV anchor Don Shelby, who also gave the company its name. Shelby introduced the brothers to his own clothier, Kingford Bavender, who became their mentor and taught them the custom trade.
For the first couple of years, custom clothing was a side job. Kenny was a TV news anchor and Danny was a youth pastor, and they drove to clients’ homes and offices to measure and fit. Neither of them had ever taken a business class.
Today, King Brothers is the only certified Master Bespoke Clothier in Minnesota, and every suit they make is cut from its own paper pattern. In spring 2026, after about ten years in Northeast Minneapolis, they moved into a larger appointment-only studio at 50th & France in Edina. They made the tuxedo Hafthor Bjornsson wore to a Game of Thrones premiere, and the one Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell wore for his Coach of the Year award. Both brothers also serve on the board of the Custom Tailors and Designers Association (CTDA) as marketing co-chairs.
Why custom clothiers need business coaching
The CTDA has brought tailors and clothiers together since 1880, and even its classes page says the skills needed to run a custom clothing business are “not readily available through traditional sources.” There is no degree for this. Many shops are family businesses handed down for generations, and a newcomer usually has nobody to ask.
Kenny and Danny lived that. On their podcast they describe an industry where owners have long kept their methods to themselves. In their early years they gave free consultations, had no order minimums, took half the payment up front, and said yes to almost everything. For years the business stayed stuck in the six figures.
Then they changed how they ran it. They raised their standards, collected full payment when the order was placed, and focused on clients who buy full wardrobes. They say revenue tripled and profit quadrupled in 2021, their first year over $1 million in sales. Soon after, they were ready to give up about a third of their revenue to stop working Saturdays and turn away low-dollar orders. The business grew anyway.
When other clothiers kept asking how they did it, they started teaching. As they said on the show about their mastermind, “we’ve created the thing we wish we would have had.”
The Appointment Only podcast
Appointment Only launched in September 2025 and now has more than 40 episodes, with a new one every Monday. The brothers describe it as the only podcast about running a custom clothing business, as opposed to style tips or wedding content.
What makes it worth your time is how specific it is. They share real numbers, real mistakes, the wording of their client emails, and the policies they use in their own shop. Most episodes run 30 to 60 minutes, which fits nicely into a drive to your next fitting.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube, and sign up for their free weekly newsletter, The King’s Herald.
Where to start
- The #1 Thing That Took Us From Unprofitable Grind to High-End Growth: their story, and the change in thinking that turned the business around.
- How We Almost Went Out of Business and The Moves That Fixed Everything: why they switched to full payment up front in 2020.
- Why We Don’t Do Consultations: how to qualify clients before they ever walk in.
- How We Stopped Building Our Business Around Weddings: moving from groom volume to clients who buy full wardrobes.
- The Definition of Luxury: the standards that separate a luxury business from one that simply sells custom.
- Time Is Money with Amanda Brinkman: the host of Small Business Revolution on building a great small business without growing just for the sake of it.
Clothier Coaching courses
Clothier Coaching is the brothers’ education business for custom clothiers, launched in 2024. The courses are self-paced video lessons, and Kenny and Danny keep the prices low on purpose so the decision is easy. You can see them all in the Clothier Coaching store.
- The Clothier Kingdom. Training on order minimums, weddings, virtual fittings, upselling and marketing, plus email templates you can copy, including the “what to expect” email they send before every fitting. It is the easiest first step, and it comes with a discount on their other courses.
- Million Dollar Manual. The playbook from their own climb from six figures to over $1 million a year. Six lessons cover mindset, market, mills and manufacturing, margin, management and marketing, and marketing comes last on purpose. They recommend it as the place to start for anyone building a custom clothing business.
- Six Figure Upsells. How to read different types of clients and recommend more in every fitting without being pushy.
- Mastering the Wedding Suit Game. For shops that sell to grooms and wedding parties, from group fittings to moving budget grooms up to premium suits.
The Luxury Clothier Collective
The Luxury Clothier Collective (LCC) is their mastermind for clothiers who want to lead the high end of their market. It takes one clothier per market, so members can speak openly. Members get weekly group calls with both brothers, a group chat for questions as they come up, sessions with guest experts, and an annual in-person retreat, the first of which they hosted in summer 2026. Enrollment opens only a few times a year, so join the waitlist if it is closed.
Six lessons you can use this week
You will get far more from the podcast and courses themselves, but here is a taste of what Kenny and Danny teach.
- Better clients beat more clients. “More is not better. Better is better.” Focus on the appointments that move the needle, and get clear about who you are not for.
- Drop the free consultation. Send a short “what to expect” email before the first meeting: how the fitting works, the price range, and when payment is due. The right clients appreciate it, and the wrong ones sort themselves out.
- Collect payment in full when the order is placed. In March 2020 they had about 30 half-paid suits sitting on the rack. They switched to payment in full that year and never went back.
- Set an order minimum. A minimum protects your time. A higher one for rush orders and weekend appointments saves those slots for clients who value them.
- Take your wallet out of your client’s pocket. Don’t decide what a client can afford. Show the full range and let them choose. Balancing their budget is not your job.
- Fix the fundamentals before you spend on marketing. At a CTDA panel in New York, the brothers laid out four pillars: know your market, keep a healthy margin, manage well, and only then market. They also argued that custom clothiers should mark up 2.5 times cost or more, because low-volume custom work carries the risk of remakes.
A must for new clothiers, and still useful for veterans
If you are just getting started, their material can save you years. The Million Dollar Manual and the early podcast episodes cover what most of this industry learned by trial and error: how to price, how to get paid, how to set minimums, and how to run a fitting. Good habits are also far easier to build from day one than to unlearn later.
If you have been in the trade for years, the newer episodes and the Luxury Clothier Collective go deeper: moving upmarket, letting go of wedding volume, selling more at final fittings, holding your prices through a slow season, and stepping back from weekend work. Kenny and Danny are still in their own shop every week, so the advice reflects what is working right now.
Why we recommend them
At MTMPRO we build software for custom clothiers, so we talk with shops of every size. The ones that grow tend to have clear prices, clear policies and a process they trust. That is exactly what Kenny and Danny teach, and they teach it with a generosity this industry has not always had. Start with a few episodes of Appointment Only, then visit clothiercoaching.com.
Frequently asked questions
Who are Kenny and Danny King?
Identical twin brothers who founded King Brothers Clothiers in 2011. Their shop in Edina is the only certified Master Bespoke Clothier in Minnesota. They serve on the CTDA board, host the Appointment Only podcast, and run Clothier Coaching, an education business for custom clothiers.
What is Clothier Coaching?
Clothier Coaching is the Kings’ training for custom clothiers: self-paced courses (The Clothier Kingdom, Million Dollar Manual, Six Figure Upsells and Mastering the Wedding Suit Game) and the Luxury Clothier Collective mastermind. You can find it at clothiercoaching.com.
Is Clothier Coaching good for new clothiers?
Yes. The brothers recommend the Million Dollar Manual as the place to start for anyone building a custom clothing business, and the Clothier Kingdom is a low-cost first step.
Where can I listen to the Appointment Only podcast?
On Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. New episodes come out on Mondays.
What is a Master Bespoke Clothier?
It is a certification from Bespoken U.S.A. for clothiers who make true bespoke garments, each one cut from a pattern drafted for that client. Clothiers are evaluated, including measuring tests, before they are certified. King Brothers Clothiers is the only certified Master Bespoke Clothier in Minnesota.
Who is the Luxury Clothier Collective for?
Custom clothiers who want to lead the high end of their market and are ready to raise their standards to get there. It is small on purpose, with one member per market, and enrollment opens in limited windows.