I’ve never wanted CM® to be everywhere. When I started the brand, the obvious ambition was to sell more belts. More customers, more doors, more countries, more stock. That’s the traditional definition of growth. But over time, I’ve started to think about growth differently.
I’m much more interested in the experience than endless growth. For me, the benchmark isn’t how big CM® can become. It’s how good we can make the experience around it. The product, the drop, the story, the events, the people involved and the feeling of being part of it.
I think it’s easy for brands to become obsessed with scale. More products. More customers. More distribution. More countries. More sales. There’s always another number to chase. But at some point, you have to ask what you’re actually building. If growth starts to take away the things that made the brand special in the first place, then I’m not sure it’s growth worth having.
I’d rather have a smaller number of people who genuinely care about CM® than a much larger audience that doesn’t. I’d rather someone look forward to the next drop than have the ability to buy something from us every week. That’s why the CM® calendar is deliberately different. The belt lineup happens once a year. Reservations open in November, and the belts arrive in March. There is a window, and then it closes. I like that rhythm because it creates anticipation. It gives people something to look forward to. It makes the drop feel like an occasion rather than just another product launch.
The experience matters. When someone interacts with CM®, I want them to feel that there is thought behind it. From the first thing they see, to the way the product is presented, to the stories we tell and the people we bring together. The belt is only one part of that. CM® has always been about the crossover between golf, sport, fashion, art, music and culture. That gives us the opportunity to build something that goes beyond the product itself. WORN PROJECT™ gives old belts another life. OFFCUT™ explores what can be created from surplus materials. BELT TOUR™ brings people together through competition and conversation. PLAY™ gives us a space to explore music, events and culture. These things are important to me because they create experiences around the brand. I don’t want CM® to simply be a business that sells belts. I want it to feel like a world that people can step into.
That means being selective. I don’t think every opportunity is a good opportunity. I don’t think every market needs to be opened immediately. I don’t think every product needs to exist. Sometimes saying no is part of protecting the brand. There is a temptation to remove every limit. To keep expanding because you can. But having boundaries can actually make a brand stronger. The limits create focus. They give the product meaning. They allow you to care about the details.
For me, success isn’t necessarily having the biggest belt brand. It’s having a brand where the experience still feels considered when someone interacts with it years from now. I want people to remember how CM® made them feel, not just what they bought.
I want the drop to feel exciting. I want the events to feel worth being at. I want the products to feel worth keeping. I want the community to feel like a community. That is much more interesting to me than simply chasing a bigger number.
Ofcourse I want CM® to grow. But I want it to grow in a way that makes the brand better, not simply bigger. If we can reach more people without losing what makes CM® special, that’s growth I’m interested in.
If we can create better experiences, stronger products and more meaningful moments, that’s progress. The goal isn’t endless growth. The goal is to keep making CM® better. Because ultimately, I think the best measure of a brand isn’t the size of the business. It’s the experience you leave people with.
