About Us

trueNorth was born from the idea of being able to make a statement.

In 2018, co-founder Tom jumped at the opportunity to work with his father and moved from Nebraska to Florida to launch a custom woodworking and guitar business. While experimenting with new equipment at their shop, Tom had the idea to create a custom piece to showcase what was possible with the tools, software, and equipment at his fingertips. In early 2019, the first plank was born — a machined piece of real wood connected to a hat. We started from scratch and built it by hand.

Later in 2019, while on a trip to Chicago to celebrate his friend Ryan’s 40^th birthday, Tom gifted Ryan a hat with a couple of custom pieces. Ryan knew right then and there that Tom was onto something, and that this idea needed to be shared.

Before the year was out, Tom and Ryan teamed up to form trueNorth. But in life, most good things do not come easy — they are forged from hard work, adversity, and failure. trueNorth is no different.

Demand quickly outpaced what we could make ourselves. We spent the next three years searching for a maker who could build to our standards. Most couldn’t. We walked away again and again, because we would not put our name on something that fell short of what we believed in. From day one, we committed to a product you would be proud to wear — prioritizing comfort, style, and quality above everything else.

That search, and years of research, testing, and development across multiple industries, led us here: we didn’t want another hat, so we engineered the next generation of headwear. Real-wood planks. High-temperature neodymium magnets. A modular platform you can build once and change whenever you want. We combine computer-aided drafting, precision machining, industrial-grade hat presses, custom screen printing, and specialized magnets to create the most unique and versatile headwear on the market. We set the bar high and did not compromise.

trueNorth is not a hat brand. We are a modular, customizable platform. Built to evolve.

Celebrate what drives, inspires, and motivates you. Honor your journey and do it your way.