Sarah: We’re quite close. Growing up, we thought it would be cool to work together.
Steve: We came up with this crazy idea. Two and a half years later, it’s slowly taking off. We both thought it would be better to be our own bosses and do the entrepreneurial thing. We both had our own vision and sensibility about what we wanted to do. As siblings, we get along really well. We thought it would be a really great experience if we could pull it off.
Sarah: When I was in middle school, my mom taught me how to needlepoint. I would make Steve belts. I’d make belts, pillows, or what have you.
Q. When I first heard that you were basing hats around needlepoint, it seemed peculiar because I think of needlepoint as a granny hobby, or very junior high home economics. How did you arrive at needlepoint as fashion statement?
Steve: We noticed that these needlepoint belts were exploding onto the market. We were thinking that this hasn’t shown up on a hat. If there’s needlepoint on a hat, it tends to be an afterthought. A company will stick their logo on a hat, and it’s not a very good hat. We thought it would be a good idea to specialize in making authentic-looking hats.
Sarah: Our whole idea was that we wanted to create something that was unique. Something that has never really been done before. People asked us how we came up with this idea. It was pretty simple. One of us said, “Baseball hat,’’ the other one said, “Needlepoint.’’ And then the idea just came together. At first people may not think of it as a fashion statement, but we think it’s very cool looking.
Q. It sounds like response has been favorable given how many stores are selling them.
Sarah: It’s been fantastic, but the downside is that we’re starting to hear of competitors coming out with similar hats.
Steve: It’s been very stressful because we’re a very small operation, and we’re still growing. We don’t want to name names, but some pretty major apparel companies are basically ripping the product off.
Q. Based on the look of product, it appears the two of you are big preppies.
