Jordan Horton is a New York Posse scholar, junior art major, and entrepreneur. She and her fellow Posse member Haysten Perez started a business together on campus selling hats — Monon hats. They worked hard over the summer to put their money together to start selling Monon hats just in time for the big game.
HerCampus: How did this get started?
Jordan Horton: We both just like hats and were following the trend of dad hats and wanted to do something the school would like and we knew we could make a profit from it. It wasn’t anything super deep, we just liked hats and Monon is such a big event. We’re planning on doing Little Five too and working on stuff for the summer too; Little Five might be T-shirts, though.
HC: What’s the dad hat trend?
JH: It’s a hat with an embroidered image on it with a curved beak and strapback.
HC: Has this endeavor been successful so far?
JH: We have two boxes left; hopefully they’ll sell out by Monon and we’ll make a profit. We already have enough to buy in bulk for Little Five as well as having pocket money, so we can even bring the price down for Little Five.
HC: How was this looking financially to start up?
JH: We [Perez] both worked summer jobs and put in half and half to order 150 hats. We expected it to do well. And with that we could buy more stuff, more supplies.
HC: What do you do to promote them or advertise?
JH: Instagram, friends on the football team, cheerleaders and Greek houses, and you tell your friends to tell their friends. We talked about it over the summer and we only live 30 minutes away from each other back home, so we could meet up. I made the designs and Haysten focused on business part; I focused on artistic aspect.
HC: Do you think this will launch into a larger business?
JH: It’s something we want to do every year and keep it small just between 2 business partners. We want to do it just for DePauw; it’s just collaboration for right now. I’ve considered creating my own hat branding with a profit because I like hats a lot and hoodies; it’s really just embroidering. It’s not only for profit though; it’s the love of aesthetics.
HC: What do you foresee in the future?
JH: We’ll be business partners later down the line, but not for DePauw. I don’t have any details yet, but I’m assuming we’ll be in the same circle. I want to make stuff I want to see, like a good phone background; I like doing Photoshop for iPhone backgrounds. I like doing sweatshirts for myself, not even for the sake of seeing it but just to see it in person. Bring my work to life.
HC: How has this experience made you feel?
JH: It just feels nice to see people making the stuff you make, and we made shirts in high school and people were reinforcing and impacting others in a different way. Money is key to do this; no one gave us the money, it was straight out of our pockets. Selling it basically out the back door or on the low. It’s not the first time people have sold things on campus. Can’t ask the school for funds. (Jordan burps). I thought of it first, especially at school, because people do stuff like this for Greek life and not for design. But T-shirts for the campus at large and people don’t know who I am, but they’re wearing my stuff… it’s so dope. Free advertising.
HC: Where do we find them, and how much do they cost?
JH: DM me on instagram, or Haysten, and we take electronic or physical cash. Venmo, Square Cash, and QuickPay. It’s just one design; one size fits all at $15 a hat. The Little Five shirts probably won’t be the same price as the hats.
If anyone is interested in purchasing any hats (featured in Jordan’s profile picture) or pre-ordering those Little Five T-shirts, here’s your source information:
Jordan Horton IG: hortonn_
Haysten Perez: haystrez
If you don’t want to purchase anything, you should still follow them; they’re great people to know, with dope sh*t to post! ;)