{"id":16237,"date":"2026-08-06T14:19:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T14:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=16237"},"modified":"2026-08-06T14:19:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T14:19:39","slug":"how-this-hat-brand-goes-viral-leading-to-8-figure-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=16237","title":{"rendered":"How This Hat Brand Goes Viral, Leading to 8-Figure Revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"tw:border-b tw:border-slate-200 tw:pb-4\">\n<h2 class=\"tw:mt-0 tw:mb-1 tw:text-2xl tw:font-heading\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"tw:font-normal tw:font-serif tw:text-base tw:marker:text-slate-400\">\n<li>Zach Dunn and Chason Rabitaille started Mad Hatter, a hat and apparel company, with $15,000 in 2020.<\/li>\n<li>Now the eight-figure business consistently goes viral on TikTok, leaning into funny, culturally relevant products.<\/li>\n<li>Dunn estimates that TikTok Shop comprises 65% of Mad Hatter\u2019s revenue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Zach Dunn never set out to sell hats. He grew up in a one-stoplight town in rural Georgia, in a family of farmers and entrepreneurs who were never afraid to take a leap of faith and try different ventures.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In his early 20s, about a decade ago, he and his father walked into a bank with a business plan and walked out with a $250,000 loan to start a farm.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was my experience with starting from the concept of an idea and then bringing it to reality,\u201d Dunn tells <em>Entrepreneur<\/em> in a new interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They farmed cotton and tobacco and did well for a year or two, until one bad year wiped them out and left Dunn in \u201ca heap of debt\u201d that he still had to repay. \u201cI learned not to grow too fast, to take my time and really think through my decisions,\u201d Dunn says.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Zach Dunn. Credit: Mad Hatter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He had dropped out of college to start the farm. After the farm collapsed, Dunn went back to school as a business major and sold cars on the side. He worked his way up in car sales, eventually becoming a general manager and then a finance manager at a dealership. He and his future cofounder and college roommate, Chason Rabitaille, were both selling cars and studying when they started seeing Facebook ads for hat companies. \u201cWe realized that we could also do that,\u201d Dunn recalls.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The two started <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/themadhatterco.net\/\">Mad Hatter<\/a> in April 2020 in a spare bedroom, with Dunn putting his entire life savings on the line: $15,000. \u201cWe bought 15 different hat colors, 40 patches and an industrial sewing machine, and that\u2019s how we started,\u201d he says. In the beginning, it was just the two of them, with Rabitaille actually sewing and finishing hats in-house, a made-to-order model the company still uses.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"665\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Zach-Dunn-Chason-Rabitaille.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Zach Dunn (left) and Chason Rabitaille (right). Credit: Mad Hatter\" class=\"wp-image-444570\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Zach-Dunn-Chason-Rabitaille.jpg 3000w, https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Zach-Dunn-Chason-Rabitaille.jpg?resize=300,195 300w, https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Zach-Dunn-Chason-Rabitaille.jpg?resize=768,499 768w, https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Zach-Dunn-Chason-Rabitaille.jpg?resize=1024,665 1024w, https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Zach-Dunn-Chason-Rabitaille.jpg?resize=1536,998 1536w, https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Zach-Dunn-Chason-Rabitaille.jpg?resize=2048,1331 2048w, https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Zach-Dunn-Chason-Rabitaille.jpg?resize=346,225 346w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Zach Dunn (left) and Chason Rabitaille (right). Credit: Mad Hatter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-learning-to-go-viral-on-purpose\">Learning to go viral on purpose<\/h2>\n<p>Mad Hatter\u2019s early growth came from Facebook and Instagram ads, especially for vintage-style patch hats. Then Apple\u2019s iOS 14 privacy changes hit, and ads became \u201ca lot less profitable,\u201d Dunn explains. The brand was in \u201ca weird position\u201d as it was still figuring out its identity and how to attract customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dunn responded by shifting away from paid advertising and doubling down on organic content. He bet that if the company could consistently go viral, customers would flood its Shopify site.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They focused first on Instagram, learning through painful trial and error. Over time, Dunn says, \u201cwe learned how to become viral.\u201d The company later realized that attention and cultural conversation were moving to TikTok, so they launched a TikTok page.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-mad-hatter-formula-for-going-viral\">The Mad Hatter formula for going viral<\/h2>\n<p>For Dunn, virality starts with the product, not the algorithm. \u201cIt has to be something people really want or something that people connect with or resonate with,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>From there, his team layers in TikTok-optimized essentials: the right audio and sharp captions. They are constantly experimenting with short-form video. \u201cIt\u2019s a whole puzzle,\u201d he says. \u201cWe can\u2019t just say, \u2018Hey, I want to go viral tonight,\u2019 but over time, we definitely will go viral. It\u2019s just a matter of time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dunn says all of these skills are self-taught. He credits years of posting, making mistakes and adapting to platform changes with Mad Hatter\u2019s virality.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s real turning point came when Dunn stopped chasing what everyone else was doing. Early on, he wanted to look like other outdoorsy brands, but realized that the market was saturated with deer, bass and athletic logos. Dunn decided to take a different approach with humorous \u201cword track\u201d hats \u2014\u00a0simple, culturally-tuned phrases like \u201cMama Tried\u201d or \u201cPut It On My Husband\u2019s Tab.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNobody was doing what we were doing with the funny hats,\u201d Dunn recalls, noting that humorous hats have always existed, but \u201cnobody was on social media pushing them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe went from following trends to setting them,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-tiktok-shop-as-a-growth-engine\">TikTok Shop as a growth engine<\/h2>\n<p>By the time TikTok Shop launched in 2023, Mad Hatter had already built an affiliate network and a habit of repetitive short-form posting. When TikTok rolled out its commerce tools, those efforts \u201camplified everything to another level.\u201d Today, Dunn estimates that TikTok Shop is \u201cprobably 65% of our revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The company leans into affiliates, live selling and ads, embracing almost anything the platform prioritizes in order to stay aligned with its goals. \u201cIf you do a lot of the little things TikTok wants, these little moments create these major moments,\u201d Dunn says. Mad Hatter is up more than 100% year over year on TikTok, and the growth has triggered real operational growing pains, from production to shipping to customer service.<\/p>\n<p>Mad Hatter now operates out of a 10,000-square-foot warehouse where every hat is finished to order within 24 to 72 hours. \u201cWe\u2019re built for TikTok; we\u2019re built for virality,\u201d Dunn says. Unlike brands that go out of stock during a viral moment and wait 90 days for factory restocks, Mad Hatter holds blank stock and decorates in-house, allowing the team to \u201cmake to demand\u201d and fully monetize spikes in attention.<\/p>\n<p>The company has also expanded into clothing, which now represents about half of the business, and Dunn does not see a ceiling on where the brand can go. In five years, he hopes to be in a much larger, more efficient facility, with a community that is \u201c10 times bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-advice-for-other-founders\">Advice for other founders<\/h2>\n<p>Despite rapid growth and projected eight-figure revenue this year, Dunn has no interest in scaling at any cost. He advises other founders to chase profitability, not the biggest revenue number possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProfitability is super important,\u201d he says, adding that chasing top-line vanity metrics can become a trap where \u201cyou\u2019re almost not making money because you want that top line to be so big. Don\u2019t chase that rabbit down the hole.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dunn knows firsthand how easy it is to fall into that trap. When he looked at the books last year, he realized that the company was \u201cbarely breaking even.\u201d In response, Mad Hatter stopped discounting its hats on TikTok, raised discipline around pricing and returned to health this year. Dunn also emphasizes that buying a Mad Hatter hat supports a growing team of roughly 40 to 45 employees across Georgia and Mississippi, many of whom rely on the company for their livelihood.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re a small business; we\u2019re the underdog, and I think our hats represent the underdog in a way,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"tw:border-b tw:border-slate-200 tw:pb-4\">\n<h2 class=\"tw:mt-0 tw:mb-1 tw:text-2xl tw:font-heading\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"tw:font-normal tw:font-serif tw:text-base tw:marker:text-slate-400\">\n<li>Zach Dunn and Chason Rabitaille started Mad Hatter, a hat and apparel company, with $15,000 in 2020.<\/li>\n<li>Now the eight-figure business consistently goes viral on TikTok, leaning into funny, culturally relevant products.<\/li>\n<li>Dunn estimates that TikTok Shop comprises 65% of Mad Hatter\u2019s revenue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Zach Dunn never set out to sell hats. He grew up in a one-stoplight town in rural Georgia, in a family of farmers and entrepreneurs who were never afraid to take a leap of faith and try different ventures.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In his early 20s, about a decade ago, he and his father walked into a bank with a business plan and walked out with a $250,000 loan to start a farm.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was my experience with starting from the concept of an idea and then bringing it to reality,\u201d Dunn tells <em>Entrepreneur<\/em> in a new interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/building-a-business\/mad-hatter-small-hat-business-tiktok-shop\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Zach Dunn and Chason Rabitaille started Mad Hatter, a hat and apparel company, with $15,000 in 2020. Now the eight-figure business consistently goes viral on TikTok, leaning into funny, culturally relevant products. Dunn estimates that TikTok Shop comprises 65% of Mad Hatter\u2019s revenue. Zach Dunn never set out to sell hats. He grew<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-green-brands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}