If you were to tell Chelsea Edmonds that you “don’t look good in hats,” she would simply say: “Challenge accepted.” As the owner and lead designer of Sadie James Hat Co. in downtown Franklin, Chelsea believes that there is a hat for everyone. Her combination storefront and workshop are an artisanal mecca, an outlet of creativity for both herself and the clients who walk through her doors.

 

Offering personal luxury hat making experiences, Chelsea says the customers she serves are not just making a purchase, they are creating something special. During a consultation, Chelsea takes each client’s unique physical attributes into consideration when determining the best hat style for them. Then comes the really fun part.

 

“Every hat tells a story,” says Chelsea. “We talk about any special memories or meanings they want to incorporate into their hat and we find ways to express those through accessories or other design elements.” Chelsea hand shapes every hat, and she believes that -just like life- imperfections are an essential part of each design. Repair stitching and distressing are an important part of Chelsea’s trademark style, which she calls “western luxury.” In eight to ten weeks, clients will receive a fully custom handmade hat that is one of a kind. “The hat is new, but it feels like it’s always been a part of you,” Chelsea says. Kind of like a tattoo. 

Chelsea founded her bespoke hat brand after leaving the corporate world in 2019. Feeling lost during COVID, she returned to something she loved doing with her grandmother as a child: making hats. She wore one of her creations out to dinner one night and says, “at least seven people stopped me and asked where I got my hat. Someone even offered to buy it off my head!” It was almost like a wink from above, she told me, a sure sign of the new path she needed to take. “This company brought me back to myself. And I want to be a part of all my clients’ stories.”

 

After sauntering her debut collection, The Lost Girl, down the runway during Paris Fashion Week in February, Chelsea will reveal her new collection, Run with the Rebels, during New York Fashion Week later this month. “This new collection is about being an outlaw and trying to find your path. The last hat contains a vault, which symbolizes how after much searching, you end up finding what was already yours to begin with. You just had to unlock it.”