There are few brands as exciting right now as Hat N Spicy. Vibrant, extravagant, and just the perfect amount of eccentricity, the avant garde hat label is making waves across festivals, fashion weeks, and beyond — worn by the likes of Eliza Rose, Anderson .Paak, and Self Esteem. Creating everything by hand with upcycled materials, designer and founder Chloe promotes small-scale production, intricate craftsmanship, and a circular fashion industry. With offerings ranging from customised, bespoke hats to weekend rentals, her pieces are not simply for those on stage, but accessible to a wide range of concert-goers as well.
In a climate where festival seasons can often see a plethora of fast fashion purchases, with attendees buying cheap, trendy items they’ll discard once the summer is over, Chloe is changing the landscape. Focusing on quality and individuality, she builds pieces to last — in both the hearts and wardrobes of their wearers. It is no wonder therefore that she was asked to speak about building an independent festival fashion brand at Lost Village Festival’s Institute of Curious Minds, a curated programme of talks during the weekend lineup.
We caught up with Chloe about developing the exciting, experimental Hat N Spicy, speaking at Lost Village, the evolution of festival fashion, and her dream clients.
For more information on Hat N Spicy, click here.
Read the interview…
How was the talk at Lost Village? What were your favourite moments from the weekend?
Ah I was so nervous beforehand, but then I think adrenaline kicked in and it was over in a flash. It was such an amazing opportunity – I’ve always been a massive festival head, so to have the chance to attend one on behalf of work was a dream! Being on the panel with Ryan from Elsie & Fred, a brand I’ve followed for years, was pretty surreal, but definitely affirming and gave me a lil confidence boost going forward. Our talk was right before Grace Sands’ Party Lines talk – and I bloody love her, so to feel like we warmed up the stage for her was very cool. This was my first Lost Village – so we spent a lot of time exploring and genuinely getting lost. The production level was insane, you felt properly immersed in the festival, there was so much to see and discover. I kept it fairly low-key on Friday night because the talk was 12pm Saturday so I stayed on my best behaviour to avoid any hangxiety. Then the whole of the Saturday day into night was so much fun. I’d done a proper stint this summer with Glasto then 4 fezzies back to back during August, so to finish on the high of having that talk, then the relief and elation of completing it (and not messing it up!) made that final Saturday night of the festival season so much sweeter. Honey Dijon’s set was a highlight, with the crowd all having it, lots of smokey bubbles in the air and lasers, banging tunes and gorgeous sunshine beaming through the trees. It was also a bit of a moment when Four Tet dropped his Taylor Swift Love Story remix as I’d been banging on about it literally just before and there it was just blaring out as we turned the corner to the main stage. But, probably as cringe as it is to say, the highlight was the friends we made… there ended up a lovely little gang of us all back for a tipi party, chatting and giggling away.
When did you start Hat N Spicy and what was the process like of getting the business up and running? How has it gotten to where it is now?
I have to use this opportunity to say a big thank you to the queer community. They’ve been so supportive of the brand from the get go & I owe so much to that support for the progression the brands made so far. The roots of it really started from being in the club with many of the LGBTQIA+ crowds loving the hats, wearing them, buying them, dancing in them, tagging them and helping to elevate the profile of HAT N SPICY – I am so grateful for that, and for every person who has supported, but just an extra big thank you to them. But, technically I guess you could say it officially started when I made the Instagram page, which was the day of Halloween 2021. It was never really a planned venture – it’s been a natural progression that is the result of a lot of non-stop hard work, putting myself out there, sweating profusely in big hats at every party and festival there is, lots of networking and business cards, leading to some incredibly lucky opportunities, endless sewing, a lot of tears, sleepless nights and saying yes to absolutely everything!
I also have the best friendship group who have been my biggest hype PR team from the get go, adorning huge fluffy hats for all occasions and chewing anyone’s ears off about the brand that’ll listen. I definitely have Depop to thank for the first leg up – within the first week of starting my shop, they got in touch to say they were going to feature my hats on their Instagram for their Halloween post and asked for the @ to tag – which at this point didn’t exist, so quickly got a page up and running in time for that first tag! It got me a steady following from the jump – they were very supportive and shared my photos a lot, which lead to some amazing stylists getting in touch to loan for shoots, which helped to grow the page. I’d say it really took off once I started to make the more outrageous styles for drag queens. Ginny Lemon was the first queen who got in touch via my Depop, which nearly caused me to crash my car when the message came through (I’m a massive fan of theirs) and then from there I was fortunate enough to make hats for so many of the UK queens – especially working numerous times with Bimini, who is such an amazing creative and really pushed me to make some pieces that were out of my comfort zone, using different materials and trying out different shapes and styles. I would say probably the most iconic was with Eliza Rose for the BOTA video, she reached out to loan one for her video, and at the time I had about 10 that were sitting in my house, so just sent all the hats over for it, which were all peppered through the video… we had no idea at the time just how much that song would blow up, and so fortunately for me too – the hats sort of blew up alongside her – it was a very, very good summer! And with lots of thanks to her and her stylist Rhiannon Isobel, I’m lucky enough that my hats are still getting worn on some amazing stages… Glasto this year was a real moment.
What is the design process like for your custom products? How do you work with a client to create a unique piece?
The first few hats I ever made were birthday presents for my friends – they were designed with their personality and individual styles in mind, which is why each hat was so different from the next. I still always try to keep that at the forefront when creating a custom piece – I think that your hat should be an extension of you and represent your own unique style. I’d say 95% of my customers get in contact via Instagram, so I may have a little stalk of them to catch their vibe and get an idea of what I think they might like, then we’ll exchange lots of voice notes and chat away; see what occasion it’s for, if it’s to match a certain outfit, how big they wanna go, the fabric they want to go for etc. I recently moved into a studio space – so going forward, I’d like to offer the chance for clients to come by for appointments so they can try different shapes and feel the fabrics IRL. I get bored quite easily, and enjoy a challenge – so my favourite pieces to make are styles I’ve not made before, that involve a little problem solving – with these ones, there’s always a lot of trial and error, but it’s good to keep the brain ticking. To create something uniquely their own, I offer the options of hand dyed fabrics, custom lettering, patchwork furs, embroidered logos – whatever it is they want! If they can think it up, I’m willing to do my very best to bring it to life.
You are such a wonderful example of how sustainability and experimental, fun design can co-exist — which is something that’s seen a huge progression in the past several years. How do you balance the two and does this come easily? What are the challenges of creating small scale, up-cycled pieces?
If I’m totally honest, the reason that the hats were up-cycled in the first place was due to the fact I had zero experience in traditional millinery. I used an old hat from the charity shop and covered it with leftover fabric found in my house – as I had no idea how to create a base of my own. From my previous job in costume, I’m in some Facebook groups where makers give away fabric offcuts & scraps for free – which is where the fabric for the first lot of hats I made for friends came from. As the orders started to roll in and people would ask for specific colours – it became a lot harder to keep it so the entire product was made from reused materials. I am definitely now guilty of buying fabrics from the roll – however I am constantly still collecting offcuts, and buying second hand throws, pillows, coats etc to cut up for material too. I never throw anything away and have tons of bags of lil fluffy scraps, which I’ve used in the past to create one-off patchwork pieces – and intend to one day make a lot more of these when I have the time! The internal structure is still a hat bought from the charity shop, eBay, Vinted etc – so the core value of Hat N Spicy remains. This means that no two hats are ever exactly the same shape or size – which is why I’ve still not yet worked out a way to manufacture on a larger scale, there is no pattern that I can replicate and send off to a factory, nor would I want too, unless it was somewhere that was fairly paid and ethical (which I’m nowhere near to being able to afford right now) – so for now, it is still the case that each hat is a one off piece that is handmade to order. The main problem with this being how time consuming it is to make just one; and that it’s still only me making each hat. I’m ADHD’d to my eyeballs so every day is a real struggle to get myself going and keep focussed. This makes juggling all the other sides of the business really difficult to manage – it’s impossible to reply to emails, create content, come up with new designs, source materials, get back to DMs, etc – at the same time as having a thousand tabs open in my head and being distracted by anything that moves – whilst also sewing the hats at the same time! So, reaching that next level of growth is proving a difficult step to make. But I don’t want to sacrifice the quality, or succumb to any fast fashion tropes. It’s a tricky one!
You also offer customers to rent your hats via rental platforms, right? How has the process been?
I met Jade, one of the co-founders of LOANHOOD in February this year – we were both speaking on a panel talk about sustainability, and I instantly really got on with her. I think the app was still in quite early stages then, but the platform felt very fresh and seemed like it would appeal to a younger, more creative audience than some other rental apps I’d seen. They do spotlight features on emerging designers and really support smaller brands – it isn’t really about renting big names, which I think is so important to have that space for little known talent. Since being a part of their community, they’ve put HAT N SPICY in some really amazing spaces, so it’s definitely been a great way to get some free PR! Both the girls work really hard and it seems that they’re only going to keep getting bigger – I’m so happy for them! I think rental is a great and sustainable way for small brands to reach a wider audience – and it allows people the opportunity to try before they buy. My hats aren’t the cheapest product out there, and with the current state of the cost of living crisis – it gives everyone with all pocket sizes the opportunity to wear my pieces. I think it also steers people away from using fast fashion – rather than buying something cheaply made for that one night look, that you know you won’t wear again, it gives you the option to wear a quality piece, for the same price. It also ensures that the garment is getting a longer life span that will get worn time and time and time again.
Fashion, art, music, and culture are intrinsically linked, and your brand is a perfect example. Your pieces are both fashion and art, and worn across all types of stages, at all types of events, and by all types of people. How do you manage to reach so many facets while having such a strong brand identity?
I think that the brand identity remains so strong as it comes from a genuine love of all that it is. I love fluffy things. Big tacky, outrageous, camp, silly, shiny, things. I love fancy dress, and costume parties, anything with a theme that requires a glue gun – I’m there with big sparkly bells on. It’s all very genuine and I want to always keep it that way and not try to make it something it’s not. It isn’t super high fashion, nor trying to be an art piece, they’re just big, fun, fab hats – which with the right styling, give editorial, but it’s not trying too hard to be in that world, you know? In terms of the culture that it coincides with – I really do just love a party. I’ve always gone clubbing, pubbing, raving, whatever – and love to socialise and meet new people, so when you do this anyway, but with a big fluffy hat on – it becomes a conversation starter and everyone wants to chat – it brings the best, like-minded people into your life through it. Many types of people, from different backgrounds, but all with the common interest of having a good time. Some of my closest friends and some of the best people I’ve ever met, I’ve met through HAT N SPICY. The people that love it are always such confident, eccentric, talented, wonderful people, and if they’re not so confident to begin with, wearing a hat kind of gives them this inner fierceness which is amazing to see. So, I think through a shared love for the scene, it’s naturally trickled through to such a variety of fabulous people from all walks of life. Having this business has just given me the excuse to do what I’ve always loved to do, but with and added bonus that I might meet someone who wants to buy a hat. My friends have joked saying that I’m always doing guerrilla marketing with boots on the ground – but really, it’s just a great excuse to go for a dance. But really, social media is probably the most vital tool I’ve used for reaching out to the widest audience — the hats are perfect for eye-catching content so naturally have just done really well on Instagram. I don’t have the biggest following, but the following I do have are so active, they’re constantly tagging and sharing, which has allowed me to connect with so many different people. I’m not even sure if this has any relevance to this question, but, a long time before HAT N SPICY existed we had a big bag of hats that I’d collected for years (am guilty of a very bad hoarding problem when it comes to clothes) and whenever we would have a party back at ours, the bag of hats would come out – and instantly everyone just gets a little more silly and loose – I love so much how clothes can do that, especially a hat! They really do add some sparkle to dull situations and make everyone lose their inhibitions a little – they’re a very powerful tool for fun.
To you, how has festival attire evolved since you’ve started Hat N Spicy?
I think for such an un-serious occasion, people now take festival fashion very seriously! When you’re dressed good you, you feel good – and a festival is when you want to feel really, really good! I think even just in the time that I’ve been making the hats, festival fashion has elevated massively, people just wanna be extra AF. I started off just making lil fluffy hats, but now they’re bloody HUGE – they just keep getting bigger; some are sequin and sparkly, some have got lights inside and flash, some even move and bounce around. Everything now is just more, more, more! Maybe lockdown has a part to play in this – we were all deprived from partying for so long, that when it came back in to our lives, it felt right to turn up proper and make an effort for it – we cherish it, have fun with it and want to express ourselves – because we now know how it feels to have that taken away and spend a whole year on the sofa wearing the same jogging bottoms. I’d say we also have lockdown to thank for the boom in small independent businesses – we were all skint, with a lot of time on our hands to get creative – so apps like Depop & Etsy made it accessible for anyone to have a go at playing shop and make some money for themselves. In the past we only had off-the-rail high street fashion to play with, but now there are so many incredible creatives putting out their work, we’re spoilt for choice with all of the unique outfits on offer. Again, social media of course definitely has a huge play in this too. 10 years ago, you wouldn’t put half as much thought into your festival looks – maybe down to their not being as many options, but also possibly knowing that the aftermath would just be an album from your Nikon Coolpix of you covered in mud, gurned in a bucket hat, shared only with your Facebook friends… now you know that there is going to be so. much. content. for all to see – and people want to look good for it!
Do you have a piece you’ve made that you’re most proud of?
They’re all my babies and I’m proud of them all equally!! But I would say structurally, either the silver embellished pirate hat made for Bimini, or the big green horn hat, which was designed by Matthew David Andrews. Both of these were made from scratch and involved a LOT of scrapping and starting over – so after days and nights of stress, finally making it to the end result with them looking better than I could imagine, just felt a super relieving and I’m very proud of myself for not just giving up on the projects. But, the one I’m probably most proud to wear out and about are the bouncing fluffy bunny ears, because they’re lots of fun to bop around the dance floor in and get everyone chatting.
Do you have a dream client?
THE SPICE GIRLS!!! They embody all that is HAT N SPICY!! They so perfectly use fashion to channel their individuality. Camp, colourful, OTT spicy queens. It would be so much fun to create each of them their own custom piece. I’ve already got Geri’s union jack one ready to go. I’d also roll over and die if I ever got an email for a pull for Lady Gaga.
Is there anything you’re most looking forward to in the future?
I’m really hoping to work on a little collection and start to organise my own shoots, It would be a dream to get myself to a place where I have a little team who can produce orders, that I pay fairly – while I can put my time into creating something new, whilst also keeping on top of the admin side of the job – or even better hire someone that could do emails for me! I can’t wait to get the website sorted too. It’s still the exact same as the day I set it up, with very little I.T. knowledge and it’s crying out for a revamp – so look forward to that one day being slick and user friendly. But ultimately, I’m really just looking forward to the night that I can go home, clock off, cuddle my boyfriend and cats and just zone out completely for one evening – but not sure that’s anywhere close on the horizon just yet.
Scroll for images of Chloe at Lost Village Festival…
