The History of Command Strips

In the late 1980s, a 3M scientist from Germany named Karl Kreckel began drumming up excitement around a new adhesive tape that was extremely strong until manually stretched. In 1992, a 3M employee named Jim Bries was assigned to lead a product development team tasked with adapting the new adhesive into a damage-free hanging solution. He and his team worked tirelessly on the project, but their progress was halted when 3M discontinued the initiative. Determined to bring their innovation to market, Bries and his team actively campaigned to get management to reinstate the project. Upon successfully convincing the higher-ups to reinstate the initiative, they continued their work. They soon entered the final stages of development and set out to give the product a name, ultimately settling on “Command.” In 1996, 3M debuted the first Command strips and hooks. Following the successful initial release, the company followed up with an expanded line that included spring clips, picture hangers, and decorating clips. By 1999, Command strips had already become massively popular. In the 2000s, 3M introduced several new Command products, including a line of bathroom products, more picture-hanging strips, and metal hooks, then followed up with clear hooks in 2012. In 2015, Command strips were reformulated to keep up with changing paint chemistries. Shortly after, Bries and his team also began innovating Command solutions for the outdoors, and 3M released a line of products for the exterior of the home. Today, Command strips are extremely popular and are used all over the world for damage-free hanging; currently, the product line includes over 200 different solutions for consumers to choose from.