Why I created the Satin Lined Sun Hat

In September 2020 I was getting ready to go outside with my daughters. As the girls got ready I put on my sunblock and grabbed my sunhat. I tried putting it on but it would NOT fit.

If you can’t find what you need, make it yourself

I had just put in box braids the day before. Box braids are my preferred protective hairstyle, but they added extra inches to my head, so the hat was super tight. When I took it off all of the straw pieces were snagged and tangled into my hair and ended up pulling some strands out! I ended up going outside without a sun hat that day, but later in the evening, as I was talking to my friend Naomi a fellow Black woman, telling her about what happened with the hat, an idea came to me after she expressed that she had had similar experiences with sun hats.

“What if I made a sun hat with a satin lining so it wouldn’t pull at our hair, and had a larger circumference so it could fit over all types of hairstyles, like braids, locs, wigs, etc?”

She loved the idea! Yet, like most good ideas, it got put on the back burner because other life stuff takes priority.

Fast forward to early 2021, I started sewing my own prototypes, hoping to make the hats in house.

I’m not a seamstress but I know my way around a sewing machine.

After making a few hats, I realized a few things.

1. The hats didn’t have the wide brim, beachy look that I love.
2. The material is very costly and hard to work with.
3. Making hats of this type by hand wouldn’t be sustainable in the long run.

I sought out a manufacturer and gave them the specs, after months and months of working out the design kinks + delays, I finally had a hat I loved!

Now it was time for product testing.

It fit over my braids, wigs, and natural afro, but I needed to take it out to the beach to make sure it would last.

Luckily, I live in Florida. I spent a week at a local beach over the summer with my family and got to wear the hats each day!

This hat has passed the fit test, beach test, and packing test!

I’m happy to bring it to market knowing that it checks all the boxes.

Currently, the satin-lined sun hat is in the crowdfunding & pre-order phase.

To shop or donate you can visit this link, it will take you directly to the hats! https://clevergirlscraft.com/product/satin-lined-sun-hat

I also have a video showing all the features of the hat on Instagram, you can find it here.