My love for hats began long before I understood it. Some of my earliest memories are of watching my mom, undeniably the most stylish woman I know, effortlessly transform an outfit with a single accessory. She has always had an innate sense of style, and I owe so much of my own aesthetic to her. By the time I was eight, I was proudly wearing my little boina hats everywhere, feeling a spark of confidence I couldn’t yet name. Hats became my quiet form of self-expression, a thread my mother and I have shared my entire life.
One of the most defining moments in our story came during a summer trip to Spain in 2018. My mom and I found ourselves drawn to the simplest straw hats, mass-produced, imperfect, and embellished with small stones that caught the light. We wore them every day. It wasn’t the quality that mattered; it was the feeling. That trip ignited something in both of us: a shared joy, a ritual, and a seed of inspiration that would continue to grow for years.
As I moved through school and college, my hat collection expanded with me. I hung hats on my walls, hunted for unique pieces, and discovered how each shape and texture could change not only how I looked, but how I felt. During my time living in Los Angeles I stumbled upon hat designs of true craftsmanship, fine wool, and intentional design. This is when my appreciation turned to passion, and my passion into a dream.
In 2025, while shopping for yet another hat together in Texas, the idea that had quietly followed us for decades finally surfaced: Why not build something of our own? Hats had always been our shared language, our creative bond. It felt natural, inevitable, even, that we would turn that love into a brand.
I was born in Texas, where hats are a way of life, and raised in Cabo, shaped by the desert, the Sea of Cortez, and the sun-washed tones that inspire my aesthetic. With roots in both places, our felt hats are crafted in Mexico using locally and ethically sourced wool, while Cabo’s warm climate inspired the addition of genuine Panama hats handwoven in Ecuador. After years in Southern California, I now live in San Francisco, and each place I’ve called home—Baja, Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area—continues to shape the spirit of Mariana Michaels: a blend of coast and desert, warmth and coolness, simplicity and texture.
At its essence, this brand is not just about hats, it’s about confidence, creativity, and connection. Whether you’ve worn hats your whole life or are trying one for the first time, I believe there is a piece that will feel like you. And if you haven’t found it yet, my mom and I would love to help create it. You are the inspiration behind every design.
