Small team, one product, scarce drops.
Five things Cuts did on purpose.
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One hero tee, many cuts
Cuts sold “the only shirt worth wearing” in three hems, three collars and two sleeve lengths, all in one fabric. The founder says that one product did about $10M with four people on the team (5, 6).
Copy this: pick one hero SKU and add fits, not categories, until every ad and email has pushed it.
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Seed stars, don’t pay them
Cuts sent MLB players, country singers and rappers a shirt with their name on it, with no ask and no fee. It also seeds small accounts who are already VIP buyers (2). Jeremy Piven, a fan for years, later fronted an Entourage-style ad (5).
Copy this: gift 20 named pieces to people your buyer follows. Pay only the ones who reorder.
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Story ads beat discount ads
Cuts calls narrative “brand-first” creative its best-performing format; its “Cancel Suits” concept worked before any celebrity was cast (6). In 2021 it also spent on TV, podcasts and TikTok, read through post-purchase surveys (2).
Copy this: run one story ad per concept beside your offer ads, and ask every buyer “how did you hear about us?”
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A drop every Friday
“Friday Projects” launches new product each week in runs of about 500 units. A 5,000 to 10,000 person VIP list sold one bomber out in about a minute, and Borrelli says the program lifts LTV and AOV (2). Monthly it adds four collection drops and restocks twice (5).
Copy this: own one day a week. Small test runs tell you what to reorder before you buy deep.
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VIP tiers and easy returns
Buyers who spend $1,000+ in 90 days get their own emails, a private group and a phone line (2). When Cuts switched returns provider for three months, 30, 60 and 90-day LTV fell about 40%, so it switched back (3).
Copy this: segment by first-90-day spend, and fix exchanges before you buy more traffic.
“If you go straight to payment, you’re not going to have success.”
One fabric in, one loop out.
The one-fabric tree
The growth loop
“People need excitement. They need another reason to buy. You got to give it to them.”
How a Cuts story ad is built.
Two 2026 office-trial spots on Cuts’ YouTube, 56 and 78 seconds, share one structure (9, 10).
- 1Cold open, 0–9sThe boss fires the guy in the first line: “Couldn’t be more fired.” Conflict before any product.
- 2The tape, 5–35sA witness who saw his outfit (his date, a gym regular) testifies: “Let’s go to the tape.”
- 3The flaw, 17–47sEach joke lands on a fabric problem: wrinkles, pit stains, a limp collar, ripped shorts.
- 4The feel test, 33–65sThen the Cuts piece: “Feel that.” The benefit is said once, as dialogue.
- 5Brand line, 41–72s“Winners wear Cuts.” No discount, no code, then one last joke.
From Cuts’ own YouTube channel.
Black Friday, plus a gift angle.
Meta estimated about 4,350 active US ads on the Cuts page (8).
“Not a Conspiracy. Just Up to 60% Off.”
Matches the sitewide sale on cutsclothing.com. See the ad
“Elevated Style. Unmatched Comfort.”
The FW26 “elevated casual” line, sold on fit and fabric. See the ad
“His New Favorite Underwear”
Written for the person buying for him, ahead of the holidays. See the ad
Four more, as the Ad Library shows them
Of the first 49 ads the Ad Library listed on Nov 10, 2026 (started Sep 4 to Nov 4), 45 linked to cutsclothing.com and 11 ran as creator partnership ads. Note the headline pattern: “The Only ___ Worth Wearing”.
The offer, with a wink.
“No, this isn’t a conspiracy theory. Black Friday really did start early.” Tees “built to last 100+ washes”, 30% off sitewide, no code. 2 ads use this creative.
One product, one claim.
The AO Jogger 2.0 “moves like workout pants and looks like dress pants”. Headline “The Only Jogger Worth Wearing”. 59 seconds.
A new cut, same line.
“Pleats without the stiff.” The Foundation-Air Relaxed Pleated Trouser “moves like a sweatpant and reads like tailoring”. Headline “The Only Trouser Worth Wearing”. 38 seconds.
Spoken like a friend.
“If you care about fit, this hoodie is it… I’m telling you now before it’s gone.” 31 seconds.
The buy box, seen live · Nov 10, 2026
Tap a number to see what it does.
- 1One tee, four cuts.Curve-hem, straight-hem, polo or button up, one tap each: the “shop by cut” idea inside the buy box.
- 2Sleeve toggle.Short or long sleeve, same page.
- 3Subscribe on a tee.One-time $38 (marked down from $54) or subscribe at $29.99, “save $8.01”. Our math: 21% off. Above this crop: 4,897 reviews, 4.4 average.
- 4Pay later.4 interest-free payments of $9.50 with Afterpay.
- 5Buy more, save more.Buy 2, 40% off; buy 4, 54%; buy 6, 60%.
What we’d do differently.
- Cuts started on $50,000 saved (4) but bought TV and podcasts by 2021 (2). Under $10M, seeding and Meta come first.
- Stars now DM Cuts because the tee is famous (5). You have to send product first.
- The hero tee was $38, down from $54, in the Black Friday sale (7). We’d discount seasonal colors and hold the hero’s price.
The Cuts playbook at $1M–$10M.
- Pick one hero and add fits, not categories. Count how many ads it needs with the creative volume calculator.
- Send 20 named pieces to people your buyer follows, with no ask. Run it as creator seeding.
- Make one story ad per concept next to your offer ads, and judge the first 3 seconds by hook rate.
- Own one launch day a week with small test runs, announced by email and SMS.
- Tag buyers by first-90-day spend and give the top tier early access. Size the prize with the LTV calculator.
- Fix exchanges before you buy traffic: Cuts saw 30/60/90-day LTV fall about 40% when returns got harder.
- Hold the hero’s price in sales and discount seasonal colors. Check each markdown in the contribution margin calculator.
Where every number comes from.
- “Steven Borrelli: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started CUTS.” Authority Magazine (Medium), Jul 16, 2020. medium.com
- “Feeding the Flywheel and How to Get it Started in the First Place with Steven Borrelli.” Up Next in Commerce, Mission.org, Dec 2021. mission.org
- “CUTS Clothing Masters Sport of Business with Happy Returns Experience.” PayPal Newsroom, Oct 31, 2022. newsroom.paypal-corp.com
- “I founded an athleisure brand and voted for Trump 3 times. Here’s why tariffs could be bad for business.” Business Insider, Apr 20, 2025. businessinsider.com
- “Cuts Clothing: Steven Borrelli on Scaling a Global Fashion Brand.” The Brand Study, Sweep Creative, Oct 5, 2025. sweepcreative.com
- “What Cuts Clothing got right that most DTC brands miss.” The Brand Study newsletter, Apr 28, 2026. thebrandstudy.co
- Cuts Clothing homepage and Black Friday sale, viewed Nov 10, 2026. cutsclothing.com
- Meta Ad Library, active US ads from the Cuts page, viewed Nov 10, 2026. facebook.com/ads/library
- “Date night fit check, Jeremy Piven style. Someone’s getting humbled.” Cuts Clothing on YouTube, Jul 8, 2026, 56 seconds. youtube.com
- “His Gym Fit Started Bad and Got Worse.” Cuts Clothing on YouTube, Jul 8, 2026, 78 seconds. youtube.com
- “Cuts Fall/Winter 2026 | Men’s Fall Outfits & Elevated Essentials.” Cuts Clothing on YouTube, Oct 19, 2026. youtube.com
