Whim Things 1 Year Anniversary!
This past June 2nd marked the 1 year anniversary of Whim Things, the embellished statement hats company I co-own and operate with Jen Lee. We can't believe that we've already marked off a year being in business and are so humbled and appreciative of all of the support from loved ones and our customers.
Early May of last year, I had wanted to make a present for my mom; I saw these cute embellished sun hats with sayings on them but they were upwards of $500. I was thinking, 'I love you mom, but I can't afford to get this $500 hat for you', so I purchased a sun hat and black rick rack trim and created a hat for her. I used the rick rack trim to write out 'Smile!', although the script wasn't the best, she really loved it and I thought this would be a great idea for my girlfriends and I to wear during our weekend getaway in Palm Springs. So I reached out to my girlfriends to see if they would want a personalized hat (Jen being one of the girlfriends), and later got together with Jen after buying hats and sequin trim, and she hand wrote each hat saying and we affixed the sequin trim to the hats. We all wore our hats during a pool party and after posting an image of us in our hats, we got an overwhelmingly positive response to the hat designs, and people were inquiring where they could purchase them.
I approached Jen with the prospect of possibly creating a business where we could customize sun hats, so while enjoying a Cajun crawfish dinner, we decided that we would go ahead and move forward with creating Whim Things. We started selling on instagram, then transitioned to an online storefront interface. We have gotten to do a wide range of hats from vacation sayings to bridal and bachelorette related hats. We've also explored selling other customized items such as zip pouch bags, wool fedora hats and berets; as well as accessories like choker necklaces and headbands. Our bread and butter has always been our personalized hats and we create each one by hand!
To celebrate our 1 Year Anniversary, we have teamed up with zeroUV to host a summer party! To attend or for more event details, visit our eventbrite page here. The first 100 early bird RSVPs will receive a custom handwritten tote bag with their IG handle or name, a free pair of zeroUV eyewear and summer goodies. We are also excited to have so many great sponsors on board which you can read more about and discover below.
Photos via each brand's respective website or social media platforms.