Upgrade Your Crowns
Hats are one of the most versatile accessories in your wardrobe, adding personality, sun protection, and style to any outfit. Whether you’re shopping for Kentucky Derby hats, church hats for Easter Sunday, wedding guest headwear, or everyday caps, Black Owned hat brands offer exceptional craftsmanship and unique designs you won’t find anywhere else, no matter what your personal style is.
From luxury milliners handcrafting custom fedoras in New York City to Black-owned hat makers specializing in Western cowboy hats and contemporary streetwear beanies, these Black hat designers are redefining headwear with cultural heritage, artistic vision, and attention to detail. Spring is the perfect time to refresh your hat collection. The weather is warming up and social calendars are filling with outdoor events, garden parties, and celebrations where statement hats give you the opportunity to shine.
This guide features 16 of the best Black-owned hat brands for men and women, including luxury felt hats, handmade straw hats, custom millinery pieces, HBCU streetwear, and everything in between.
Ready to elevate your style with a statement hat? Here are the best Black-owned hat makers and brands to shop now.
Luxury Black-Owned Milliners & Custom Hat Makers
Frances Grey is one of the best Black owned Hat Brands in the luxury market today. This luxury millinery brand is handcrafted in New York, specializing in custom hats to fit your personal style, and fit preferences. This brand merges culture, heritage, and creativity into one vision. Inspired by her grandmother, and her Jamaican Heritage, founder Debbie Lorenzo, has created a great brand that deserves a premier spot in your closet. If you’re looking for the perfect wedding hat, or heading to arts festivals and concerts, you will stand out with the great craftsmanship of Frances Grey.
Dani Evans is a former model turned milliner, who founded Monrowe NYC, inspired by the legacy of her grandfather, a self taught saxophone player. These are unisex, ready to wear hats that blend nuances from the 1940’s and 50’s jazz era with contemporary elements. These are vintage style hats, wide brim hats, and more unique silhouettes that you won’t find from other hat makers. Each piece is crafted with intention and in limited qualities to ensure each of is special and of the highest standards. These hats are the perfect statement for parties, date nights and your formal events.
Founded in 2019, Herbin Co. is born from a passion for craftsmanship and a desire to bring a personal touch to luxury. Their custom hat process allows their clients to incorporate personal mantras and sentimentality into their designs. This creates a product that resonates personally,and is made of the highest quality materials. Their pieces make great heirloom and staple items in your wardrobe. They also have ready to wear hat designs that feature the same intentionality as the custom offerings.
Charlotte, North Carolina is an underrated location, and it is home to one of the best new hat makers in the country. Lavish Blanc Hats is an atelier dedicated to the fine craft of hatmaking by Trent Bellago. This store offers ready to wear hats that each have their own story. You can also get a custom handmade creation when you visit the shop. It’s hard to describe the hats, because these designs stand out with thoughtful placement of the elements and they really create a statement. Check them out and get everything from cowboy hats to classic fedoras.
Avana McKoy founded her hat brand, House of Brims, with the goal of keeping the tradition of wearing hats alive, while bringing a new modern design approach. Inspired by her grandmothers, she wants a new generation to incorporate more headwear into their wardrobes and expand their own personal styles. This brand isn’t just for women either, men can feel free to express themselves with Fedoras and Western style hats too. The website showcases their hats in both use occasions, such as summer styles, and material styles like straw or wool. If you need help figuring out your own style, and ways to style them, they also have helpful tips on their blog to get you started. These make great gifts for the stylish people in your life, or the perfect accessory for you yourself.
Black-Owned Hat Brands for Special Occasions & Formal Wear
Flamekeeper’s Hat Club is a Harlem, NY based hat shop that is looking to pass the torch of good taste from one generation to the next. Their hats offer stateliness and elegance for the wearer. Flamekeeper’s offerings go from the classic newsboy, boater straw hats, wide rim felt hats and fedoras. For men and women, the shop will make sure you have a great looking high quality hat that is a stylish conversation piece. Additionally, they have some good accessories for the hat wearer like traveling cases and brushes to protect and keep your hats looking great.
Hatrimony is owned by the husband and wife duo of Jordan Sullen and Ariel Anderson-Sullen. For Jordan, hats were an important part of life growing up in New Orleans, and his wife would embrace that. This brand embodies the concept of partnership, and is a reflection of the values the couple holds dear. These hats are bold and stand out, like one would expect with the legacy of the Crescent Coty embedded in the brand’s DNA. Get one of their fedoras, straw hats, or even snap back caps, to bring some of that flavor to your closet today.
Fruition Hat Company is a luxury hat company where style meets quality craftsmanship. These hats are built to last and be a long time staple of your wardrobe. They have options for those who want something more conservative and classic, to the person who wants an accessory to reflect their big personality. When you purchase a hat from Fruition Hat Company, people will notice and they can be great conversation starters. Stand out, not blend in with a hat from Fruition Hat Company.
Southern Gents is more than just a hat company, although hats have been a core part of their business. While their suits, coats, and shoes get a lot of notice, their selection of hats bring them all together wonderfully. They have a large variety of wide and short brimmed fedoras to get started with, and feature straw, felt and wool construction. It makes this fashion line a one stop shop for both fashion and accessories for your formal occasions. From business meetings to church, Southern Gents is a brand to build your wardrobe around.
Many of the hats we have highlighted take some serious swings at doing something different, but that isn’t for everyone or every occasion. Simple and standard isn’t bad, sometimes it is just right. Jnellz Brimroar is one of the few brands that has a larger selection of single color, standard fedoras for men and women. This allows you to have a standard, every day option, or also one that allows you to do your own personal customization at home. That doesn’t mean Jnellz Brimroar doesn’t have their own variations, they have limited edition designs with more flair to them too. The collection features Western style hats, denim options, suede, felt, and straw summer hats, providing plenty of choice for their customers as well as custom construction.
Unique & Statement Hat Designs
I wouldn’t say that fedoras are boring, especially when you look at the Black owned Brands Highlighted in this guide. But if you are one who may feel that way, or you want something really different for your personal collection, Dapper Renaissance is here in a huge way. This brand of hats doesn’t have just felt brims, but they feature wood as a main component. These wooden brim fedoras aren’t just a single color either, they feature intricate and delicate designwork, making each hat an art piece by itself.
The founders of Anchiel started their brand with the goal of setting a new standard of accessories for style lovers. They want everyone to know what it is like to own a statement piece. The design aesthetic is minimalist at its core. However each of their hat designs belie their simplicity with thoughtful attention to detail. They offer hats for both men and women and they take inspiration from different areas of classic style.
Straw and Wool is a Phoenix, Arizona based black owned brand of hats and hat accessories. The founders of the brand each brought their own background of selling men’s accessories to the brand. Checking their products you can see a Southwestern influence in some of their designs, though they have options that are named and influenced by important places all over the country. The Southwestern vibe also means they make good choices for summer hats where the sun is out everywhere. Visit their website or physical locations for hats, sizing, and instructions on care.
.
Compton Headwear in Kentucky is a brand selling hats that you won’t find elsewhere. These hats would definitely be considered “Unc” hats, but trust me your uncle, or even a stylish nephew is going to enjoy these. They have featured designs of mixed materials and colors in newsboy and duckbill styles. These are classic looks that fit in on your casual occasions, date nights, cookouts, and more. You can also get apple hats, beanies, and simple bucket hats in an array of colors. Compton Headwear offers a nice change of pace for hat lovers and fashion forward men alike.
Streetwear & Casual Hat Brands
Kin Apparel is one of the trendsetters when it comes to the knit hat (and hoodie) game. This is the first brand I saw making satin lined hats on a large scale. It may be a little warm during the day, but the evenings can get a bit chilly and its a great time to whip out a satin lined beanie to stay a little bit warmer while protecting your hair. This Shark Tank featured brand has grown to also include water resistant bucket hats for when you’re caught up in less than stellar weather, dad hats, a children’s collection, and last summer a limited drop of Cowboy hats.
No Man Hat Co is the creation of Raymond Metzger and Philip McNair, two friends and fraternity brothers who both experienced college in the DC region at Howard University and George Washington University. No Man Hat Company is about community and the idea that No Man is an Island. YPeople will want to talk to you when you rock one of their classic fedoras. The brand provides a classy product with a reasonable price point allowing all to have access to quality headwear.
While Spring fashion is focused a lot on the more upscale hats for big events, sometimes you just need a hat for your errands, or more casual outings. Dungeon Forward is a black owned brand with a more streetwear style. The hats from this brand also highlight HBCU’s with dozens of styles to rep your alma-mater or the school your kids attend. They have also dropped collaborations with big properties like Spongebob Squarepants, showcasing their versatility. The Tactical Beanie is one of my favorite styles because it elevates the standard beanie to something more stylish, without crossing into corny territory. When the air is cool in the morning or evening, it will bring style to keeping your head warm. Head to their website today and grab something from their collection.
Hair Care & Protective Hat Brands
It wouldn’t be fair to categorize Grace Eleyae as strictly a hat brand. It is a hair care brand. Grace Eleyae products are lined with either silk or satin to protect hair from damage. While they do indeed have beanies and baseball hats, that is where the selection only begins. Get head wraps for both drying hair and for stylish purposes, turbans, scrunchies and even head bands. They are expertly designed for natural and curly hair. Safe to say, there is a lot of choice, so you can definitely find something to fit your particular style.
Your children and especially babies need to keep their heads warm as well. This Mother owned brand solves a distinct problem, keeping your baby’s head warm while protecting their fragile hair. These satin lined hats, beanies, head wraps, and bucket caps are all stylish and will keep your baby safe and healthy without drying out their precious hair follicles. These are great gift ideas for new parents, baby showers, and would make a great donation to shelters and places for new moms.
