It started with boredom. The kind that gives you just enough of a push to do something slightly reckless — like quitting your job, driving cross-country, or buying a laser to burn cowhide.
At 19, boredom gave me my first solo road trip. It gave me late-night drives, spontaneous detours, and a relocation that led me to meet my wife. Two years later, boredom gave us our first kid.
And sometime after that, it gave us something we never saw coming:
Custom leather hat patches.
Okay, maybe boredom can’t take all the credit. Sprinkle in a little ADHD and impulse control issues, and you’ve got the recipe for a workshop, a laser, and a very questionable first attempt at hat-making.
❄️ November 2023: The First Hat
It was cold.
The patch was oversized.
The burn marks? Let’s call them… expressive.
And it didn’t even stick to the hat.
That first hat was a mess. But it sparked something — and we couldn’t let it go.
We spent the next three months buried in materials:
- Finding the best leather and adhesives
- Testing hat blanks from every corner of the country
- Getting the right engraver dialed in
Then we spent three more months perfecting the craft:
- Patch sizing
- Color combos
- Engraving depths and design patterns
- And staying ahead of hat style trends
🔥 From a Laser in a Garage to a Name in the Hat World
Since then, Hat Foundry has become more than a brand — it’s a ripple in the hat-making industry.
We didn’t just chase trends.
We set them.
We’ve:
- Released countless free digital files to help other makers succeed
- Built a mockup tool now used by over 500 hat shops — the most-used in the business
- Dropped a digital catalog that saves time and builds better orders
- Invented a laser alignment tool to help makers nail that perfect patch placement
All of this… from a garage and a bad first patch.
🧢 Spring 2024: Orders Open. The Journey Gets Real.
After rounds of prototypes, flops, and breakthroughs, we opened the doors. By late spring of 2024, Hat Foundry officially began taking orders.
Since then:
- We’ve helped nearly 500 businesses bring their brand to life
- Our hats are stocked in shops across the U.S. — from Pennsylvania to Wyoming
- We’ve made a few lifelong friends… and maybe ticked off a couple folks along the way
No matter how you slice it, we’re grateful. Because this isn’t just about hats. It’s about starting something from nothing and building something with staying power — one patch at a time.
Built From Boredom. Run on Passion. Fueled by Community.
Hat Foundry isn’t just a business. It’s a story — and it’s still being written.
Thanks for being part of it.
