On paper, Daisy May Hat Co. founder Gage Speas isn’t your typical Nashville hat maker.
The former heavy metal band frontman spent most of his life in New Mexico, where he grew up on the rodeo circuit, curating an appreciation for all its trappings and traditions. Ten years ago, he moved to Nashville and found himself searching for homebound gigs between tours. That’s when he landed on his current craft. “I grew up going to rodeos and bull riding and that’s where I always enjoyed hats,” he says. “Shaping your hat before the bull ride or the 4H dance.”
The passion stayed with him and he got a gig apprenticing for a local hatmaker. Three years later he was ready to leave the apprenticeship and venture out on his own. “My daughter was like a year old and I called my fiancée and I was like, ‘I quit my job,’ and she said, ‘Great! You should go start your own hat company now.’”
So, he set up a GoFundMe with a humble goal of $3,000 but raised $5,000 in five days. “I was blown away,” Speas says. “People didn’t get anything for donating. It was like, ‘We’re just investing this in you because we believe in you,’ and that was a really awesome feeling. I felt the weight of that responsibility—like, OK, I have to make this happen.”
Originally Speas would take hat orders from home and deliver his work to his customers himself, but as his hats became more and more in demand, he was able to set up shop behind an antique store in Goodlettsville. After two years of sharing his space, he established his own corporate headquarters in East Nashville in May. His success is attributed entirely to word of mouth, which speaks volumes both about his work ethic and the quality of his hats. Speas makes every hat in his shop, each from either one hundred percent rabbit or one hundred percent beaver felt. And he does it all with a respect for the hats he grew up admiring at the rodeo—and the ones that inspired those so long ago.
“When I got into hat making, I was like, I love this,” he says. “I may get burnt out sometimes, but I [take] a couple days and come back to work ready to go again. I never don’t want to come to work—I always want to be here, because I love making hats. I love putting the hat on the person that it’s designed for and it fits them and they’re like, ‘This is amazing!’ It’s the biggest payoff.”
That payoff is just one part of the process. If someone wants a Daisy May hat, they come in for a consultation and try on a few existing options to give Speas an idea of what they like and what looks best on their head. Speas then takes measurements and makes a template of the customer’s head using a tool called a conformer, which allows him to craft the hat when they leave the store. He shapes the entire thing by hand, crafts the brim, and sews in a signature sweatband. He’s then able to design the aesthetic of the hat using old-school methods—no matter how modern the look.
“I literally make hats like they did in the 1800s,” he notes. “And they last forever.”His passion for his craft is infectious. “I want people to love hats as much as I love hats, and I want to educate them because hats are amazing, timeless things. Speas wants his hats—and his shop—to feel universal. There’s something for everyone. “Community is so important, especially right now when we’re so divided,” he says. “I’ve made hats for [a client] who owns a cattle company out in Colorado, and that’s his work hat. He’s out there driving cattle, branding cattle, butchering cattle and he’s wearing that hat. And on the other end of the spectrum, I’ve made a hat for Billy Gibbons [from ZZ Top] and he wears it onstage.”
Currently Speas is working on a hat commissioned by Post Malone. (Editor’s note: It’s amazing.)Between Speas’ reputation and his passion for his craft, it’s easy to see why Daisy May is becoming one of the most sought-after destinations for high-end hats. Tourists and locals alike make the pilgrimage to East Nashville for their perfectly patterned, custom-fitted hat. And Speas is the first to point out that quality is not cheap. He’s proud to be the alternative to fast fashion—eschewing companies who mark up low-quality hats and push them on unsuspecting shoppers. “That’s why education is so important to me,” Speas says. “I’m a classically trained hat maker. I touch all of these hats myself—I make them by hand. This hat’s going to last you forever.”
(1100 Douglas Ave.; daisymayhats.com)