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Girl in front of a wall filled with hanging artworks

About Command™ Brand

From Discovery to DIY, a look at how Command™ Brand came to be.

Command™ Products come in different forms such as General Purpose Hooks, Metal and Decorative Hooks, Cord Organisers, Picture and Frame Hangers, Bathroom Products, among others. What makes Command™ stand out?

  • Icon showing tools with a line across to say no tools required
    No tools required

    No drills or tools needed!
    Command™ Strips can be used on a variety of smooth surfaces including solid, hollow and painted walls, tiles, glass and wood.

  • Icon showing a weight to demonstrate that Command™ holds strongly.
    Holds strongly

    Command™ Strips use a clever adhesive that holds strongly for as long as you need, then removes cleanly. Remember to wait one hour for the adhesive to bond and check the hooks weight limit on the pack!

  • Icon showing Command™ Hooks and Strips are easily and cleanly removed
    Removes cleanly

    Command™ Hooks and Strips are easy to remove—damage-free! Simply stretch off to remove cleanly with no holes, marks, or mess. Remember to pull the tab straight down slowly for damage-free removal.

  • Icon showing 3M technology
    3M technology

    Command™ combines a number of trusted 3M technologies to give you high-performance wall hooks and picture hanging strips. Using stretch release 3M technology, our products remove damage-free and have added properties such as Dual-Lock™ for Picture Hanging Strips.


The Command™ Story

  • For decades, people have been searching for ways to improve, add functionality, and hang up their personal touches throughout their homes, offices, and other spaces without causing damage to walls, ceilings, and other flat surfaces. Thanks to a game-changing innovation by a team of brilliant scientists and inventors at 3M, and the strong belief and vision of one tenacious man, Command™ Brand grew from uncertain beginnings to its current presence in the global home organisation and décor industry.

Command 25th year anniversary banner

  • Person applying Command Picture Hanging Strip on the back of a photo frame

    Unique Beginnings: Late 1980s - Early 1990s

    In the late 1980s, Karl Kreckel, a 3M scientist from Germany, started building excitement over a new adhesive tape that was super strong until it was stretched. Knowing there was something there, 3M tapped Jim Bries in 1992 to lead a product development team charged with applying this groundbreaking adhesive to a problem that has troubled homeowners since the dawn of time: how to hang items on walls without nails, screws, tools, or damage.

    To simply call Mr. Bries an innovator doesn’t do him justice. He was a game-changer who saw the unlimited potential for this revolutionary new product that would provide a new way for people to hang things damage-free.

    Jim and his team worked tirelessly, working to adapt the product to work on painted walls and ensure it releases cleanly when stretched. Even though years of breakthroughs were made, and Jim and his team were getting things figured out, 3M shelved the project. Mr. Bries, along with key management advocates in the lab, campaigned hard to keep the project off the chopping block and succeeded in getting the project reinstated.

  • Command hooks in package

    The First Wave: 1996 - 1999

    After making the impossible possible and with the Command™ Brand name in place, Bries and the team were a go for launch. In 1996, 3M debuted the first wave of Command™ products: medium and large utility hooks, a round cord clip, poster strips, and replacement strips.

    It didn’t take long for customers to take notice and get the hang of things. Shortly after the initial release, Command™ Brand launched their second wave: spring clips, picture hangers, and decorating clips.

    By 1999, just three years after its debut, the Command™ product line was in the black to a tune of $10 million. The people had spoken.

  • hanging a frame using Command™  Picture Hanging Strips

    The DIY-volution

    Hearing the demands of their fans for new ways to organise and decorate damage-free loud and clear, Command™ Brand entered the 21st century with innovation in their eyes and ideas on their mind. Knowing and embracing their standing in the new DIY-volution, Command™ launched a line of bathroom-focused products in 2004, picture hanging strips in 2005, metal hooks in 2007, and clear hooks in 2012.

    Feeling they’d done all they could do inside the home, for now, Jim and his team switched their focus to the exterior of the home and introduced a line of outdoor products specifically designed to withstand the best or worst, mother nature has to offer; including rain, snow, and extreme heat.

    Never resting on their laurels, Jim and his team reformulated their indoor strip to keep up with the ever-evolving paint chemistries in 2015.

  • Girl walking away from a wall filled with posters and artworks

    Hung up on Innovation

    While it’s ultimately up to our consumers to help drive our innovation, that doesn’t mean we’re just sitting back waiting. If you were to stop by the Command™ lab today, you’d see thousands of products being tested on hundreds of different surfaces. We’re always innovating, improving, and staying true to the vision set forth by Jim Bries and his team.

    In fact, we currently have more than 200 damage-free hanging solutions on the market, with many more ideas in the works. Our newest line of products includes the Command™ Heavyweight Products that can carry items as heavy as 6.8kg!

    Rest assured, whatever we think of next will help empower you to fearlessly decorate and change your space.


utensils and artwork hung on a kitchen wall using command picture strips and hanging hooks

See Innovation in Action.

Bring innovation back into your home. Browse the Command™ Brand Products, and find new solutions for organising and decorating.