A Quick Look in the Rear View Mirror

A rather low quality picture got my imagination going. Beanies haphazardly dropped on the floor in a variety of wornness and mismatching colors.

The reason it got me thinking was the history it represents.

Only red, but with several shades of saturation

The red beanie tucked away in the bottom center, represents the beginnings. It is the third Southlander ever knit, some time in 2016, when we launched our first product. Back then, we called it “The Rounded.” You can read more of our genesis story here.

The black and gray ones represent our first leap from purely red beanies. We are Red Hat Factory, and stayed purely red for about two years, just in order to cement our identity working towards “the best red explorer cap ever knit.” Also at this point we made sure to point out that the gray and black ones are also red, only with lower saturation and various amounts of light.

Whatever, we’re not purely red anymore

Chronologically, the Limited Editions were the ones that broke us into a color range. Since they’re only hidden away on Facebook/Instagram, and 100% of our sales are on our website, some of them are actually still available, years after. I’ll get them up on the website eventually…

EDIT: There are no more of these Limited Editions left.

Sigh. There’s so much else I want to do as well.

After that we opened up to the idea of more colors, something we will definitely continue as we’re moving forward. Already I can slip a little secret. We’re soon launching our first orange beanie, aimed at American hunters who are required to wear orange on the job.

The gold and olive beanies became the first colors to stay, and have stayed the only ones for a long time. The olive will soon have to be changed, since the yarn goes out of production, and we are definitely looking at more colors to add to the spectrum. Marine blue for example has been requested many times.

NOTE: The color selection has since changed, and it will keep changing occasionally.

Let us know in the comments, what color’s you’d like to see.

Some time in 2019, we experimented with dyeing beanies, and I am currently looking into ancient Japanese dying techniques, to bring you a few self-dye kits some time in 2021. It will be fricking awesome.

EDIT: One of many plans that has been sidelined in our 2021 focus.

That, by the way is how the two yellow beanies on the picture came to be.

Whatever, we’re not purely a beanie company anymore

NOTE: All of these products were sidelined in 2021 in order to focus properly on being a beanie company.

The hand knit wool socks have gotten far too little love, and it is on the 2021 prio list to get some more colors and some better product photos that properly represent the socky heritage that runs so deep in a Norwegian heart.

The socks are pivotal in the way that they brought us out of being only a beanie company, and paved the way for our flagship product (meaning, the only product that could be used as a flag for a ship): The All Man’s Right.

How the packaging has grown

From beginning with beanies in a bag, with a little card signed by the knitter, we are back to square one. Beanies in a bag, card signed by knitter, plus a few stickers. (We are giving you a discount to compensate though.)

NOTE: We got some even better packaging in the pipeline, but this one is gone.

The reason was because the only box that really suited us went out of production, and I’ve scoured the internet for similar ones — but the few I’ve found can’t be shipped to Norway.

Anyway.

This lead me to look in other places, and began the most exciting project I’m currently working on — custom tailored boxes just of our products. It will definitely up your experience getting a Red Hat Factory product.

And thinking of that, I remember I have to get back to work. So many ideas needs to be put in action.