Hood Hat Custom Hats Update | Shark Tank Season 15

Max Nelson saw that most hats were generic and didn’t capture anything personal about the people wearing them. To change that, he created Hood Hat, a luxury cap brand that lets customers customize designs to honor their hometowns. Each hat blended high-quality fabrics with personal meaning, giving wearers both style and identity in one piece. But would the sharks tip their caps to this idea? Let’s find out in our Hood Hat update and pitch recap.

If you’re short on time, here’s a quick overview of what happened to Hood Hat after Shark Tank.

Max pitched his hat company on Shark Tank Season 15, seeking $500,000 for 5% equity. After his pitch, he left without a deal.

In terms of a Hood Hat update, the company saw an impressive increase in web traffic just weeks after airing. Hood Hat donates a portion of its sales for charity and has received big-name celebrity endorsements from the likes of Jay Z, SwizzBeats, and Jake Paul, just to name a few.

Shark:	Result:
Mark Cuban	No offer
Kevin O’Leary	No offer
Lori Greiner	No offer
Barbara Corcoran	No offer
Michael Rubin	No offer

Shark Tank Hood Hat Pitch

• Entrepreneur: Max Nelson
• Business: Custom hats
• Ask: $500,000 for 5% equity
• Result: No deal
• Shark: None

According to Max, his company, Hood Hat, customizes and manufactures the world’s finest luxury ball caps. He believes that where people are from actually says a lot about them.

That’s why he based a company around customization that honors your hometown.

To model his designs and a broad range of possibilities, he presented each of the sharks with a custom hat that showed each of their hometowns where they had grown up.

The hats also featured a wide range of luxury fabrics, from corduroy to cashmere to gabardine.

With a $10 million valuation, Lori Greiner suggested that Max must have had some pretty good sales. Indeed, he did, with lifetime sales of $1.9 million since 2018.

In fact, he had started his business out of the trunk of his car. While sales were initially slow, by 2020, he had added some customization features, and sales had skyrocketed to over $300,000.

Additionally, by 2021, sales were up to $508,000 and continued to grow to $693,000 in 2022. Further, in the year of filming, 2023, Max had been on track to do a little over a million in sales.

While sales were phenomenal, he eventually admitted that he wasn’t yet net profitable as a business.

Mark Cuban asked what his hat would cost. Because it was made with Marino Wool, it cost just under $15 to make and then retailed for $90.

At that point, guest shark Michael Rubin, owner of Lids, the largest licensed and branded hat company in the world, spoke up.

He asked how Hood Hat’s concept was different from other luxury hat brands.

Further, Michael suggested that his company could just buy some luxury blanks and put him out of business.

He prodded Max to answer whether Hood Hat could become a $50–$100 million company.

Mark insisted that Max’s ask was too big, given the current numbers. Because of this, he quickly went out.

Kevin O’Leary added that the valuation didn’t make sense. He joked that the ‘old Mr. Wonderful’ would have ripped Max to pieces over it, but thanks to anger management classes, he was resisting.

Kevin eventually went out, following Mark.

Michael returned to his previous point that there wasn’t enough differentiation between what Max was doing and what someone else could do. This, plus disagreeing with Max’s valuation, caused him to go out.

Lori ultimately thought there was too much competition for her to invest. She went out next.

Barbara Corcoran didn’t like that Max had been in this for five years yet hadn’t made any money. She was the last shark to go out.

With all the sharks out, Hood Hat was forced to leave without a deal.

Do you think Max would eventually manage to succeed despite not getting a deal? Keep reading our Hood Hat update to find out.

Shark Tank Hood Hat Update

We have good news to share in our Hood Hat update. Despite not getting a deal on the show, it seems that Max will be just fine without the help of a shark.

Just weeks after their episode aired, Max himself reported in an interview that they saw a 300% month-over-month increase in traffic, orders, and revenue.

He also revealed that after Shark Tank, he continued to raise money from several interested investors.

The website now offers a wide collection of hats priced between $70 and $105, depending on materials. Options include merino wool, cashmere, gabardine, Japanese twill, corduroy, velvet, and denim.

All hats are handmade in New York City and offered in multiple styles like snapbacks, fitted, and dad hats.

Customers can choose pre-made designs based on neighborhoods, cities, music legends, or TV icons, or use the online customizer to create their own.

Based on our research, we also found that the company donates 5% of all sales to the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, supporting efforts to end mass incarceration in California.

Believe it or not, his customized luxury hat line has some celebrity customers. Some very famous mentions include Ben Affleck, Jake Paul, Zach Braff, Ryan Reynolds, and Jay Z, just to name a few.

Max has often shared that his long-term goal is to build a sustainable business with double-digit EBITDA while keeping the quality and story-driven approach that sets Hood Hat apart.

If you want a premium hat that represents your neighborhood, you can purchase it directly from their website.  Follow them on Facebook for their latest designs and drops.

Hood Hat is definitely one of those Shark Tank companies you’d expect to grow exponentially, and they are living up to that expectation.

We’re really excited for Max and can’t wait to report more of his progress in our next Hood Hat update.

In the meantime, you can check out our other company updates from Season 15, Episode 21, by following the links below!

• RoboBurger Update
• K3 Shooting Band Update
• The Hype Company Update

For even more on companies and products, be sure to stop by our Season 15 Products Page before you go!