A lifetime in menswear, from a small town in North Carolina to the heart of American style

In this episode: the story behind two of the most iconic brands in American menswear, straight from the founder and merchant building them, plus Chris Knott's take on sales, culture, and what it really takes to grow a brand that lasts.

If you have ever pulled a Peter Millar polo off a hanger or noticed the surfer logo on a johnnie-O quarter zip, you have already met Chris Knott's work. Two of the most recognized brands in American menswear, both shaped by the same Raleigh based merchant who learned the business on the floor of a small town men's store at 14 years old.

In this episode of Best of Raleigh, host Gretchen Coley sits down with Chris Knott, founder of Peter Millar and Chief Merchandising Officer at johnnie-O, for a conversation about brand building, scaling, sales, family, and why he believes the best businesses are still built on relationships.

From Fuquay-Varina to a Career in Menswear

Chris grew up in Fuquay-Varina, the son of a farmer and the grandson of a tobacco warehouse owner. Back then, kids worked. Tobacco, soybeans, summer jobs in the heat. Chris liked air conditioning.

At 14, he landed a job at Ashworth Clothing, a third generation men's store run by his close friend Steve Ashworth's family. The store had 10,000 pairs of shoes in stock and pulled customers in from across the region. Farmers came in at the end of harvest to buy suits for Sunday. One Saturday, Chris sold 14 suits.

Steve put him on commission early. That changed everything. Chris learned the lesson that has shaped every move since: when you help people get what they want, you end up getting what you want.

New York, Burberry, and a Side Hustle in the Van

After East Carolina University and a stint working for retailers Brody's and Kaufman's, Chris moved to New York City. He slept on a couch and started as a trainee at Hart Schaffner Marx, then climbed his way into a sales rep job at Burberry, covering the Southeast.

Plaid was hot. The territory was growing. Life as a clothing rep, the kind he had idolized watching reps come through Ashworth in their nice cars, was finally his. But Chris noticed something. Burberry was getting bigger globally, and the company started caring less about his four million dollar wholesale business and more about its own retail stores.

He could see the writing on the wall. So as a 1099 employee, he started a side hustle. Cashmere sweaters. He sourced fabric, found a factory after one fell through during civil unrest, and started selling out of his van to the same accounts he was calling on for Burberry.

He sold 4,800 sweaters that first run.

The Birth of Peter Millar

There was no business plan. There was a handshake deal on the back deck of Chris's house in McGregor Downs. Two partners up in Bristol, Tennessee, who had a warehouse, a finance brain, and a procurement skill set, agreed to take a piece of the company in exchange for running operations. Chris would handle sales and merchandising.

That handshake became Peter Millar. The brand grew quietly at first, then explosively, until 2012 when Chris and his partners sold the company to Richemont, the global luxury group. Chris stayed on for two and a half more years before stepping away in 2015.

Joining johnnie-O and Scaling from 10 to 200 Million

When his non-compete ran out in 2017, Chris joined johnnie-O as Chief Merchandising Officer. The company was around 10 million in revenue and had a loyal following thanks to founder John O'Donnell's surfer dude aesthetic and West Coast roots.

Today, johnnie-O is approaching 200 million in annual revenue. It sells through more than 1,700 golf accounts, 500 specialty stores, NCAA bookstores, and now Major League Baseball, with the NHL on the way.

Ask Chris what drove the growth and he points to the team. A great CFO. A creative founder. A marketing leader from Callaway who understands influencer culture. A merchant team that builds product on time and at the right quality. And a company-wide commitment to what Chris calls cross-pollination, building a brand wide enough that a dentist who does not play golf can still want the performance polo.

Why Cross-Pollination Wins

Cross-pollination is the johnnie-O thesis. Sell where your customer lives, not just where your category lives.

Golf shops, yes. But also college bookstores, where a UNC fan who does not play golf finds the brand. Specialty stores, where a guy comes in for a sport coat and walks out with a johnnie-O quarter zip. Trunk shows in small towns, where a dentist buys a performance shirt because he can wash it instead of dry clean it. Catalog placements, social media, athlete partnerships with Matthew Stafford, Jake Knapp, and JT Poston.

The result is a brand customers run into in five different parts of their life. That is what builds loyalty.

The Store, The Logo, and The Experience

Walk into the johnnie-O store at North Hills and you feel it immediately. The space is bright, relaxed, and intentionally unprecious. Nothing is behind glass. Stock is everywhere. Friends pull things off the rack and pile them on the counter. You feel like you walked into a beach house in Southern California, not a luxury showroom.

That is by design. Chris and the team believe that when people are comfortable, they shop. When they shop with friends, they buy more. When they feel like they belong in the brand, they come back.

The logo placement tells the same story. The surfer sits on the back of the polo, not the chest. Chris calls it logo fatigue. You see it on the brands that put their logo too big, too often, in the wrong place. johnnie-O keeps it back there so the wearer is not staring at it in the mirror, but everyone behind them on the golf course knows exactly what they are wearing.

Building Culture at The Grove

The Raleigh johnnie-O team works out of The Grove, a 15,000 square foot space developed by Raleigh's Jack Dunn inside what used to be an old Martin Marietta building. Floor-to-ceiling windows. Real plants, not fake ones. A golf simulator on the ground floor for client visits and team mornings. A pickleball court in the building next door.

But the culture is not about the amenities. It is about how the team works. When boxes come in, everyone unpacks them. When trash needs to go out, anyone might take it. Young team members get pulled into store installs and trunk shows so they can see how the brand actually shows up in the world. Chris calls it Christmas every day.

If you want to know what culture looks like at a fast growing brand, look for the CEO carrying boxes.

Sales Is Still a Relationship Business

Ask Chris what he would tell someone trying to get better at selling and he comes back to the same line he learned at 14.

Help people get what they want and you end up getting what you want.

Nobody, he says, actually needs another polo. You can find what you are selling almost anywhere. So the only real differentiator is trust. Show up. Follow up. Make it right when something goes wrong. Build a reputation that no one in the business can challenge. And remember that the tide is not always coming in. It has to go out sometimes too. The people you treat well in the down years are the people who carry you through the good ones.

On Building Something That Lasts

Chris has seen the apparel industry from every angle. Family farm. Specialty store floor. New York wholesale. Global luxury at Burberry. Founder-led startup at Peter Millar. Private equity backed scale at johnnie-O. His advice for anyone trying to build a brand today comes down to this.

Know what you are good at. Hire the people who fill in the rest. Get great product. Show up consistently. Do not fall asleep at the wheel. And do not let anyone sneak up on you.

The brands that last are not the ones with the loudest launches. They are the ones with the steadiest execution.

Family, Fashion, and What Comes Next

The Knott family runs on clothing. Chris's wife Amy, also a former clothing rep, founded the jewelry line Knotty Bling with her sister Dawn, which is sold through specialty stores including Monkees. Their daughter just got promoted to lead buyer at Monkees, which has nearly 80 stores across the country.

Chris is an avid golfer, a boater, and a long time real estate dabbler, with about ten or eleven properties he manages himself, mostly in Wilmington where he plans to eventually land. He spends his early mornings on real estate, his days on johnnie-O, and his off hours on a boat with his family and dogs.

And he is not slowing down. johnnie-O is still scaling. The Raleigh team is still growing. The Grove is still filling up. And Chris is still the guy walking up to strangers at a golf tournament to ask them how they like the hoodie they are wearing.

Rapid Fire with Chris Knott

• Favorite golf course: Cypress Point in Monterey for the bucket list round, Eagle Point for the daily happy place
• Go-to piece of clothing: A lightweight vest, his new sport coat replacement
• Fashion trend that needs to go: White belts
• One item every guy should have in his closet: A soft knit sport coat
• Favorite way to spend a day off: On the boat with his family and dogs

Why It Matters

Chris Knott has done what almost no one in the apparel industry has done. He built one of the most recognized brands in American menswear from a side hustle in his van, sold it to a global luxury house, and then helped scale a second brand from 10 million to nearly 200 million. All from Raleigh. All while raising a family. All while still treating his job like the 14 year old kid on the floor at Ashworth Clothing.

If you want to understand what it actually takes to build a brand that lasts, start by walking into the johnnie-O store at North Hills. Pull something off the rack. Talk to the team. You will feel the philosophy before anyone says a word.

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