Late on the night of April 26th, I was surprised by a text from a friend letting me know that there was a guy on ABC's “Shark Tank” with a belt "just like yours!" I immediately tuned in to see what he was talking about. I saw a gentleman representing one of our competitors, Mission Belt. Mission Belt is relatively new to the micro-adjustable belt scene and essentially sells the buckle that we originally found in Asia—the one we improved upon. It was interesting to hear the Sharks take on the belt and the technology. They seemed to love it, but just as we have, they realized the challenges of selling it in a department store without a great salesperson there to "sell it" to the consumer. It is impossible to communicate how awesome this belt is by just hanging it on a rack. Overall, the Sharks seemed to think it was a great idea, one that every man could use. I have to say, I agree with them completely.

In the end, the Shark Daymond ended up taking the investment (for a substantial stake) and he will be helping Mission Belts move forward. We are glad that the world has been introduced to a micro-adjustable belt on such a large stage, and we are excited that more people will have an opportunity to experience the technology. It doesn't really bother me that it was a competitor, because even though the technology is the same, it seems that Mission Belt is going after a much different demographic than we are. They are geared more towards the extreme sports enthusiasts, e.g. snowboarders, skaters, BMX bikers. We believe that our target market is more of a white collar, fashion-conscious male, and a gift giver—since you don't have to know the recipient’s size! That is one thing that we do different than any other micro-adjustable belt company on the market, we allow the recipient to size the belt to their exact waist, always giving them the perfect fit.

When we launched Anson Belt & Buckle back in 2010 we knew that there would be others following in our footsteps. After all, it is an amazing product that every man should own. We are flattered that over the past three years there have been multiple micro-adjustable belt companies new to the scene, and we welcome the competition. Why you may ask? Because we are confident that our customer service, lifetime guarantee, and overall customer experience is better than any one of our competitors. That’s what makes an Anson customer a customer for life.