If you're a new visitor to my website, welcome! I am known as a milliner now, but before that I was a fashion and jewelry designer and created my 1st CRUSH style hats while living in Atlanta, Georgia. Fast forward.
It's been 20 years since the first CRUSH Cap made an appearance in NYC after a hat party in my Brooklyn studio apartment on a Sunday afternoon in 2003. It was a brunch filled with friends in the fashion industry, their friends, their friends' friends, music, great food and a collection of hand blocked velour and fur felt hats. I only had one size hat block, a cloche style, and used that to create various shaped hats. People patiently waited in line to order and that's when I decided to get into the hat game. I designed the CRUSH Cap soon thereafter because the blocked hats didn't fit my head! Now, in millinery, blocked means pulling and manipulating felted or straw material over a shaped form which is usually wooden. Well, I couldn't afford a new block and needed something casual that could hold all my locs, be worn in a relaxed way, had instant style and was super versatile. Once my Bed-Stuy peeps saw the CRUSH Caps, they wanted them. So I started making them and haven't stopped. I'll share more about my story throughout this 20th Anniversary year.