A hat is a small promise

Notes from building WWPD — on making a physical thing, one size fitting most, and why merch is the wrong word.

Software people talk about shipping like it’s a metaphor. When you run a hat brand, shipping is a box, and the box has your name on it, and if the stitching is crooked there is no patch release.

Why hats

A hat is the smallest wearable opinion. Nobody needs one. You put it on because it says something you’d rather not say out loud. That makes it less like apparel and more like publishing — which is roughly how I treat WWPD.

One size fits most

My favorite phrase in the industry. It’s honest in a way most marketing isn’t. Not all. Most. Every product decision at WWPD runs through that filter: make the thing that fits most people extremely well instead of the thing that fits everyone badly.

The sample table

The real work of a hat brand happens at the sample table: turning the hat inside out, checking the taping, the sweatband, the curve of the brim. It’s takeoff work — the same noticing I do all day pricing buildings, pointed at a smaller structure with a lower roof.

Quality isn’t a department. It’s just whether you actually look.