Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Max Nelson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Max, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

About 5 years ago I noticed a void in the headwear space for customizable, luxury ball caps. Sure you could get blanks from over seas and customize them but what I thought was missing was a more elevated canvas to work with. This was kind of the genesis for HOOD. Providing the customer with a more premium experience to tell their story whether it be geographically or otherwise. We use materials like merino wool, gabardine, cashmere and Japanese twill. So the idea was giving the customer a better finish to their fit and a piece of headwear that is better aligned with the rest of their wardrobe as far as quality goes.

Max, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

HOOD designs and manufactures timeless, customizable luxury headwear. We were purpose built to disrupt traditional headwear and in doing so created a category, luxury headwear. I noticed there was nobody doing customization on premium headwear which I viewed as a problem. I mean you could get a poly blend blank from overseas and mess around with that but there wasn’t an option really for the customer who wanted a more elevated experience as far as fabric story and quality went. I am really proud of our product and craftsmanship and the experience we deliver to our customers but I think I am most proud of their feedback to our hats. Our reviews are pretty exceptional and really make me smile and feel like we are on the right track. You consistently see people responding to the quality, level of customer service and a common line we here is “everyone is asking me where I got it.”

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

In the beginning everyone would tell me, “these hats are dope, you just have to get them on the right celebrity and this thing will pop.” So about 5 months from when we launched, Jay-Z is seen and photographed multiple times wearing a few different caps and nothing happens. I mean Jay-Z is arguably one of the most influential and powerful figures in the world. He’s iconic. And his rocking our caps didn’t really move the needle. And I’m glad I saw this happen early on because it got me to focus more on creating the best product, providing the best experience for customers and less on getting the hats to Drake.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I self-funded the business and two years in we did a friends and family round but to this day we haven’t taken institutional money and as glamorous as the VC thing sounds we kind of pride ourselves on the fact that we’ve been able to figure that part out on our own.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hoodhat.com
• Instagram: @hoodhatusa
• Facebook: HOOD HAT
• Linkedin: HOOD
• Twitter: @HOOD_HAT