We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stephanie Taylor. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stephanie below.

Hi Stephanie, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

This story begins when I went on a hiking trip with my best friend who lives outside of Fort Worth Texas. She actually works for a hat maker there. She brought my first real 100x cowboy hat on that trip that her boss had made for me and I became obsessed. That hat is so comfortable and I wore it every day. When I came back to Ga from the trip, I started brain storming on how I could bring these hats to Columbus Ga. That is when the idea of a hat bar came into play.
These hat bars were a huge success in other places, so I began to think “why not open one here”. There isn’t anything like this in Columbus and it is a huge trend (thank you Lainey Wilson) that is is becoming bigger and bigger.
After consulting with others that have done this before me, lots of research, and learning what I could from the best of them, I decided to take the plunge and start this small business.

We are not a franchise where someone with a endless budget swipes their card for us. My husband and I self-funded this dream of mine financially and mentally. The time, money, blood, sweat, stress, and tears that have been put into this business all came from us. This little store has been built with hope, prayers, and the unconditional support of family, friends, and complete strangers who have stood in our corner and been our biggest cheerleaders. This journey hasnt been an easy one. It’s been full of ups and downs and sleepless nights. But I’ve always been told the best roads to take aren’t the easy ones. We are proud of the space we have made and the experiences we’ve had the last year and are excited to continue to be a part of the Columbus and surrounding communities.

Stephanie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Stephanie and I am the owner of Tattered Brim Hat Co. We are a custom hat bar located in Columbus Ga.
The best way to describe our store is to think “Paint by numbers” but with a hat. You come into our shop, pick out a hat, decide which accessories you want on your hat, and we put it all together for you at our bar.
WE ARE NOT A NORMAL RETAIL STORE, WE ARE AN EXPERIENCE.
We are the perfect place for date night, a girls day, a bridal party, etc. We host private parties, and events. We welcome walk-ins 4 days a week and appointments 7 days a week.

We have hats of several brands, styles, colors and prices. There is something for everyone!
We are so proud of this small business that we have built from scratch. We treat each of our customers like family and really enjoy meeting and greeting new faces. We pride ourselves with the “you aren’t just a customer” attitude amd do our very best to accommodate and make your experience something to remember and enjoy.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me the most rewarding thing about this business are the smiles of my customers. Listen, I know it sounds cliché or corny but its the truth.
Every person that comes into our store, creates something that belongs only to them. They put alot of thought into this.
For most of them, these hats come with a story of their own.
We have cried with our customer as we lasered angel wings on their hat in remembrance of a friend they lost. We have laughed through tears as we burn the hoof print of their favorite horse who stepped on the brim by accident 2 weeks before they passed away unexpectedly. We have felt excited with a bride to be as we brand her wedding date on her hat. Our stomach muscles have been sore for days from laughing with a customer. You feel empathy for the one who tells you story after story about their life and why they love butterflies. We have mastered burning the cancer ribbon on patches and hats for those that are fighting the fight. We have lasered, branded, and burned meaningful things into these hats all while watching our customers emotions while doing so. We have met some amazing people who have left a mark on us. That is what I absolutely love about this. The customers who come in and build these hats are exactly the people who keep our doors open as well as our hearts.
The smiles they give us as they leave with the hat they made for themselves is always going to be the most rewarding thing about this.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

We have had some very slow months this year. After all the marketing, events, social media, etc. We still have people who come in the store and say “I didn’t know you were here” or “I never would of known if a friend hadn’t told me”
We are extremely thankful for “that friend” for passing the word for us. We are still extremely new to the area and it takes a while for our name to get out there. I am now understanding just how hard it actually is to market for yourself. To find what works for your business.
I am not a huge social media person and yet this is what has to be done to be successful. Its hard for me.
My husband and I dont have back-up funding for our business, We 100% own this and used our own money to start it. So there is no option for failure. I have to hang in there and even on those months where we only made enough to pay rent, I am still showing up. I have to. If I don’t believe in this, stand up for it, hustle for it, and give 100% of myself, no one else will.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.tatteredbrim.com
• Instagram: https://Www.instagram.com/tatteredbrim
• Facebook: Www.tatteredbrim.com/tatteredbrim
• Other: Tiktok handle @tatteredbrim

Image Credits

Marilyn Ray Photography
Cirrus Gold Creative