Today we’d like to introduce you to Custom Patch Hats.
Hi Custom Patch Hats, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Custom Patch Hats was started in 2018 by Brian Cox and Scott Alexander when one of Brian’s freelance customers wanted to add hats to their merch. After a little research, Brian decided to order customized patches and adhere them to hats himself. Those first hats were stitched with a borrowed sewing machine in the middle of his living room. When the hats started to fly off the shelf, Brian knew he had something and asked his long-time friend Scott if he wanted to go in with him and give it a go. They shook hands in the back room of the bar Scott managed and they were going full speed ahead in no time.
Today, we have three separate bays off Capital Blvd and a separate design/admin office in downtown Raleigh. We have around 50 employees and just sold our millionth hat. That hat is lightyears away from the first one Brian stitched in his living room. Quality and customer experience are our top priorities and we think it’s what has set us apart from our competition and allowed us to grow so quickly. It’s still a work in progress, every moment is a learning opportunity.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Launching a business is never a smooth road. No one is really doing what we’re doing, and we’ve been learning as we go. From hiring the right people to keeping the right balance between sales and production, COVID, and finding appropriate software, we’re learning how to prepare rather than react.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We make patch hats. So, when a customer reaches out to us, one of our designers will create a visual mockup of a patch hat using their logo and some hats they’ve requested. There’s some back and forth finalizing the finished product, but once it’s nailed down, we purchase hats from existing vendors, order custom patches, and put everything together in our facility in Raleigh. We also offer direct embroidery, apparel, and accessories, but we primarily do patch hats.
What sets us apart is our commitment to quality, to achieve what our customer is dreaming of, and the importance we place on people, both internally and externally.
We’re most proud of our ability to adapt and grow, take challenges head-on, and of course, the hats that leave our facility. We hand stitch nearly every hat, with the exception of a few heats-pressed hats due to the patch design. This application creates a secure and durable product that our customers can rely on. We like to call it the “hat loving human touch” and we all genuinely really like hats, and care about this business and the product we sell.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@custompatchhats.com
- Website: www.custompatchhats.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/custompatchhats
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/custompatchhats
Image Credits:
Scott Alexander
Brian Cox
