There is literally nothing we can do as a company that will not draw some level of criticism. Absolutely nothing.
So here’s what we do: every single major decision comes from Chris. Period. It’s his company, and it has been his vision and guidance that has gotten it through the past nine years. A lot of people have helped, but at the end of the day it has always been Chris driving the bus.
I love CLYW. I loved it before I started working for CLYW, and I love it still. And I can attribute that 100% to Chris’ ideas and vision and guidance.
So what it boils down to is that I just trust Chris. I trust him to do what is best for CLYW, I trust him to always put the team and the fans first, and I trust him to do the right thing.
When Chris and I first started talking about all of this we both knew immediately what the backlash would be. But we also understood that CLYW has grown to the point where we either have to move forward to scale back. Scaling back means thinning out the team and making cuts in other areas and none of that sounded good to us. Moving forward meant the new challenge of scaling the business up while keeping the company intentionally small, and trying to figure out what that looks like in another 2 years and then 5 years and then 10 years. How do we bring in new players even though we’re not a “beginner brand”? How do we continue to be a responsible company while pushing beyond the very real limitations of North American manufacturing?
We’re still figuring it out. Each day brings a new challenge, and a new conversation. But at the end of each day I simply trust Chris, wholly and completely, to do the right thing. He’s one of the kindest, most honest and conscientious people I’ve ever known, and I trust his judgement.
So for our fans, it just comes down to this: you trusted Chris’ judgement, and he gave you a brand and products you fell in love with. So keep trusting him.