Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Pennington.
Hi Sam, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always been the kind of dude that liked wearing hats. I suppose that started with the Indiana Jones movies. I loved those as kid! As I got older and honed in on my musical preferences, I saw that hats are a large component in music also. In my case, rock n roll. So many iconic musicians and singers have a cool hat as part of their persona, and I really liked that. So all along the way I always had some kind of hat I wore, but never could find anything I truly loved.
Now, fast forward to a few years ago, I’m in a hat shop in Nashville. The place is great. Full of hats. And I’m like “alright I’m definitely going to find one here that I love. But I did not. A couple weeks later I called that same shop and was seeing about getting a custom hat made. Once she told me they start at 1200 bucks, I wasn’t prepared to go forward with that. And she literally told me, “Dude, you could probably do it”.
Months went by. I did some research( watching YouTube videos), got together a few things to get started, and started trying it. There were so many bad hats at the beginning! It took a long time and lots of trial and error, but I worked at the craft. I gave hats to friends and family and whoever would take them. Once I knew that they were up to the industry standard, I created a brand and a business and started taking orders.
There is so much I can get into. But the point is this. All I wanted to do was to make myself a custom hat that I loved. And Ive done that. But the even better part is that I have made so many custom hats for musicians and singers. Even musicians that I am a huge fan of! Call success whatever you want, but opening up social media and seeing someone on a stage somewhere with a hat on that I made, is pretty rad.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not a smooth road! I mean I decided to get into something that’s not really a thing where I live(Florida). As far as I know I may be the only dude in my state doing this. So I couldn’t just find some hatmaker nearby and go work under them to learn the trade. So watching some videos, reading old books, and just doing it is how I learned. So that was tough.
Another obstacle was finding people to buy this stuff. That was a big one! They are expensive man. Not that many people appreciate hats enough to spend that kind of money on them. Right off the bat, you cut out a huge percentage of potential buyers. So I had to figure who would buy them. Fortunately, musicians are some of those people. I knew that I wanted my hats to have something to do music. And where does music live? Nashville. So figuring out how to get my name out there in that city was tough. Especially being as I live in Florida.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I mean, I’d like to be known as the cool dude that makes hats for musicians. I don’t know if that’s true yet. haha
But I’m proud of some of the things that I have accomplished. I love music and am a musician myself. So when I see my hats on stages like The Ryman and in music videos and on album covers, it’s pretty fulfilling.
Customer service is a big thing for me. People are spending lots of money so they deserve to get exactly what they want. So I talk to customers all the way through the process. If you reach out to Slimson Hat Co, you only ever talk to me. I’m the dude that makes the hats so I’m the dude you talk to. I want people to have a better experience than going on a website, clicking some boxes, then getting a hat in the mail.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Oh that’s tough one. Umm… Well I was an alcoholic and drug addict for years and years. Been sober now for almost six years. I did nothing with my life for a long time. I’ve lost a lot and have been at the bottom with nothing. Thankfully, God is gracious and doesn’t judge us for what we used to be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.slimsonhatco.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slimsonhatco/
