Conner Hats is a hat company unlike any other.
Family owned, hand crafted, earth friendly and socially conscious are just a few ways to describe this unique business that’s found a way to create beautiful hats while leaving a positive impact on the earth. Recently mentioned in a Forbes article, Conner Hats is holding a new standard for how companies should conduct business.
How It All Began
The Conner Hat team started with Bill Conner and his son, Will. Bill started making hats in St. Augustine, Florida, but eventually moved to Australia with his wife and son where they decided to settle in Byron Bay. Bill opened his own shop and Will began working in his father’s factory to hone his hat-making skills. In 2014 the Conner Hats brand was born.
As the business flourished, the two Conners worked together to become experts in authentic, hand-crafted Australian hats. Over time, Will ended up back in the United States where he began importing and distributing the hats.
Hard Work Pays Off
Today, Conner Hats makes just about any type of hat you can imagine. They are beautifully crafted and boast high quality, but this isn’t the only reason Conner Hats stands out among the crowd.
Will made it a point to figure out how their hats could be produced in an environmentally friendly and ethical way. He began tracing back the supply lines, researching how materials were created and extracted and how fair labor could be implemented.
One of the main goals at Conner Hats is to encourage long-term thinking and recognize how future generations will be impacted by the business and its products.
Will made the conscious choice to use suppliers who were paying fair wages and participated in ethical treatment of their employees and to use materials that were sustainably sourced. He spent time traveling all over the world to find these resources and continues to constantly look for ways to make the world a better place.
A prime example of this is Will’s newfound project: starting a permaculture farm. Permaculture can be defined as “the development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient”.
In other words, Will’s farm will be able to steadily produce fruits and vegetables without ruining the land and wasting natural resources.
Whether it’s ethical practices, earth-friendly materials or permaculture farms, one thing is clear: Conner Hats continues to show the world that there’s always a better, more sustainable way to reach your goals.
Check out Conner Hats and follow them on Instagram.
