Company Profile - Luxury Apparel
Peter Millar
The Raleigh label that turned one cashmere sweater into a country-club uniform - and a Richemont maison.
Peter Millar - the crown wordmark
Photographed as brand mark · Raleigh, NC
The Raleigh label that turned one cashmere sweater into a country-club uniform - and a Richemont maison.
Peter Millar - the crown wordmark
Photographed as brand mark · Raleigh, NC
In 2001, three founders in Raleigh, North Carolina - Chris Knott, Greg Oakley and Chet Sikorski - launched an apparel company built around a single product: a cashmere sweater. The name itself was borrowed, lifted from an inscription Knott spotted on a vintage lawn-bowling ball. It was an unglamorous start for what would become one of American golf's most recognizable luxury labels.
The bet was narrow and specific: make one classic garment exceptionally well, then let quality do the marketing. It worked. Peter Millar grew quietly through private clubs and pro shops, the kind of word-of-mouth channels where a well-cut sweater or a soft-collared polo travels from locker room to locker room.
Ownership changed hands as the brand scaled. In 2005, the Sea Island Company and executive Scott Mahoney acquired it, with Mahoney becoming CEO. In 2009, Chicago private-equity firm Winona Capital Management took a majority interest. Then, in September 2012, the founders sold to Richemont, the Swiss group best known for Cartier - a signal that a North Carolina golf-shirt maker had joined the top tier of luxury.
Today the brand designs from Raleigh, sells worldwide, and sits beside G/FORE, the Los Angeles golf-lifestyle label it acquired in 2018. The crown logo that gives its collections their names - Crown, Crown Sport, Crown Crafted - now shows up on fairways, resort terraces and Madison Avenue windows alike.
Figures are approximate and drawn from public and third-party sources; the company does not disclose detailed financials. Wikipedia cites a smaller ~240-employee figure.
Peter Millar designs and sells premium men's and women's apparel: sweaters, polos, outerwear, tailored clothing, resort wear and technical golf gear, plus footwear and accessories through its G/FORE brand. The through-line is a look that reads as classic and understated while the fabric quietly handles performance duties.
Affluent men and women who live a golf-, resort- and country-club-oriented life - people who want to look the same walking off the course as they do at dinner. The brand reaches them through its own stores, e-commerce, and a deep network of pro shops and premium retailers.
Traditional luxury looks good but wilts under sun and sweat; technical activewear performs but looks like gym kit. Peter Millar's answer is clothing with moisture management, quick-dry, odor control and sun protection wrapped in a tailored, non-athletic aesthetic - so customers stop choosing between the two.
Two decades of fabric sourcing, fit and merchandising discipline, run from a Raleigh design studio. The brand's craft is turning performance textiles into garments that don't announce their technology - a harder trick than it looks, and the reason the label commands premium prices.
The luxury lifestyle line of sweaters, polos, outerwear and tailored pieces that grew directly out of the original cashmere sweater.
High-performance golf and activewear: moisture management, quick-dry, odor control and sun protection, built to move from course to town.
A tailored, elevated take on the classic formula - designed to reset the bar for style in modern performance sportswear.
Women's sportswear, tailored clothing and golf attire carried across retail stores and the e-commerce site.
Suits, sport coats and dress furnishings; tailored manufacturing was licensed to Empire Clothing of Canada in 2007.
The LA-born golf-lifestyle label of shoes, gloves, apparel and accessories, acquired in 2018 and run as a sister brand.
A vertically integrated brand selling direct-to-consumer through company stores and petermillar.com, and wholesale through golf pro shops, resorts, specialty retailers and department stores. As a Richemont subsidiary, it also benefits from a parent that owns Cartier and Alfred Dunhill.
Peter Millar sits between traditional menswear houses and pure-play technical golf brands - and sells into both worlds. Its country-club positioning puts it alongside Ralph Lauren's golf lines and premium challengers like Johnnie-O, Greyson and Holderness & Bourne.
The competitive edge is restraint. Where rivals lean on logos or loud performance branding, Peter Millar hides its technology inside a classic silhouette. The fabric works hard; the garment looks quiet.
That positioning is backed by ownership most competitors can't match. Being part of Richemont gives the brand the capital and supply-chain reach of a global luxury group while it keeps a distinctly American, country-club identity.
It also owns its distribution story. Rather than depending on department stores alone, Peter Millar built its own retail footprint and a dense pro-shop wholesale network - the exact places its customers already spend time. Buying G/FORE in 2018 added a younger, more colorful golf voice without diluting the core label.
The result is a brand that can dress a customer for a board meeting, a member-guest tournament and a beach club in the same weekend, all under one crown.
Chris Knott, Greg Oakley and Chet Sikorski launch Peter Millar in Raleigh, NC.
Scott Mahoney becomes CEO as the brand changes hands.
The brand extends into suits and sport coats via Empire Clothing of Canada.
The Chicago PE firm buys control from Sea Island.
Swiss luxury group Richemont buys Peter Millar, adding global backing.
Leadership transitions as the brand outgrows its founders.
Peter Millar buys the LA golf-lifestyle brand, adding footwear and accessories.
Southeast retail expansion continues at Hyde Park Village.
Suzy Biszantz named G/FORE CEO; Crown Sport and Crown Crafted 2025 collections launch.
The name came from an inscription on a vintage lawn-bowling ball found by co-founder Chris Knott.
The entire company launched around a single cashmere sweater in 2001.
That crown gives the collections their names: Crown, Crown Sport, Crown Crafted.
Its parent, Richemont, is far better known for Cartier watches and jewelry than golf shirts.
Peter Millar owns the golf brand co-founded by designer Mossimo Giannulli.
Two decades on, the collections are still designed from a North Carolina studio.
Peter Millar has been a subsidiary of the Swiss luxury group Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA since 2012.
It was founded in 2001 in Raleigh, North Carolina, by Chris Knott, Greg Oakley and Chet Sikorski.
Luxury men's and women's apparel - sweaters, polos, tailored clothing, resort wear and technical golf apparel - plus footwear and accessories through its G/FORE brand.
From an inscription on a vintage lawn-bowling ball discovered by co-founder Chris Knott.
Crown Sport is the high-performance golf and activewear line; Crown Crafted is a more tailored, tour-inspired take on the brand's classic luxury style.
This profile is compiled from public sources including Wikipedia, Richemont press releases, and trade publications. Figures such as revenue and employee counts are approximate third-party estimates and are not officially disclosed by the company. Peter Millar and Crown are trademarks of their respective owner.