From left: Chris Lambert, CFO; Scott Weldon, CEO; and Bob Callahan, COO. Courtesy Photo.
After a bad business deal a year ago, Scott Weldon, Bob Callahan and Chris Lambert decided to shutter their 20-year old business embroidering clothing for corporations and transform the Tilton-based company into a subscription hat club.
Launched in July, Nogginwear offers baseball caps designed with both in-house art and the creations of acclaimed artists. “We’ve been wanting to do something along these lines for years now,” says Weldon, CEO of the company. Callahan and Lambert serve as COO and CFO, respectively. “We were sick of dealing with companies and have been wanting to do business-to-consumer forever, so we decided to just go for it,” Weldon says.
Planning for Nogginwear began in January 2015 and a year-and-a-half later, the trio began selling hats. Subscribers pay $25 a month or sign up for three-month ($69), six-month and bi-monthly subscriptions ($129). Each month, subscribers receive a box with a personalized thank you card, Smarties and, of course, a hat based on the season.
"Old Glory," one of Nogginwear's designs. Courtesy Photo.
Art is designed in-house at the Tilton facility and at an office in Bow and processed at a fulfillment center in Massachusetts. Due to Nogginwear’s summer launch, designs for its first few hats included a pineapple, the American flag and a clam bake. “We trick them out to a degree but not too much,” says Weldon, as people are more likely to wear a hat with a subtler design.
Despite spending no money on marketing, Nogginwear took off quickly, selling out of its first design two weeks after launching. “And when they’re gone, they’re gone,” says Weldon. Nogginwear now makes between 1,000 and 2,000 hats depending on demand, which is based on both paid-in-advance subscriptions and one-time buyers. The company grew from 100 subscribers for its first hat in June to just under 1,000 subscribers by mid-August. Weldon attributes that to subscribers tagging the company on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter with pictures of their hats.
A recently launched artist series has taken off just as quickly, starting with a samurai hat drawn by cartoonist and comic artist Stan Sakai, whom the Nogginwear crew met at Boston Comicon this past summer. Almost 80 percent of Sakai’s hats were pre-ordered prior to release.
Comic artist Stan Sakai wearing a Nogginwear cap featuring one of his drawings. Courtesy Photo.
Weldon says the artist series is booked through next July, including current and future releases created by Simpsons co-creator Bill Morrison, and Phineas & Ferb artist Eddie Pittman. Artist hats cost a bit more at $35 a pop.
Nogginwear is also partnering with Margaritas Management Group in Portsmouth to produce a Day of the Dead themed design for its October hat. The company is seeking to partner with national companies and celebrities, as well as expand into children’s and women’s hat apparel.
For more information, visit nogginwear.com.
Current Issue - May 2024