Because she’s a mom herself, May Bradshaw knows exactly what moms want and need. That’s convenience and peace of mind – which she has wrapped up in one neat, hat-shaped package.
Summer means lazy days at the pool, taking in nature’s wonder during a hike, and long afternoons at the park. But it also means fumbling in an overstuffed bag for sunscreen and fighting with your child to put their hat back on.
May accepted all of this as part of mom-life while she was working as a consultant, helping companies respond to tenders, but when the Covid pandemic put the brakes on her business, she started giving issues like this more thought.
“I was so bothered by my kids being cooped up inside,” she says, “but going outdoors came with the additional stress of finding appropriate sun protection.” May realised that the sunhats she had always relied on were far from ideal – their itchy, uncomfortable chin straps meant that her boys (now aged 12, 9 and 4) constantly tried to pull them off. Which led to another realisation: “I saw that there was a real gap in the market for comfy, cute hats.”
May admits that she’s never had much of an interest in fashion or fabric (“My sister often tells me my combinations just don’t work”), but she does have a strong entrepreneurial streak, inherited from her father. She also had a valuable contact in the form of a hat factory, which she had worked with some years previously.
As it turned out, the work she’d done back then, which had been necessary to help her learn the business, proved invaluable, as she already knew the business side of things. That left her free to experiment with cuts, styles and fabrics – and with the factory agreeing to run small batches, the venture was pretty low risk.
“It all kind of came together,” May recalls. “I’ve always believed that if you’re an entrepreneur, you should be focusing on what people need. And everyone needs a sunhat.” South Africa’s moms agreed. Once May had set up an account on Takealot, orders came in thick and fast – and May realised she loved the hustle. So much so that, two years later, when her consulting business had recovered from its Covid-inflicted blow, she decided that she was happy to leave corporate life behind.
Turning Moosel Hats into a full-time enterprise wasn’t easy but, says May, “I have a thick skin and I’ll try anything.” ‘Trying anything’ often meant packing “everything but the kitchen sink – including my pot plants!” into her car boot as she traipsed off to yet another market to sell her hats – sometimes, with mixed success. “It always stings when something doesn’t sell, but it’s a valuable lesson, too. The markets where I didn’t do well helped me realise what works and what doesn’t.”
May took that feedback to heart, revising designs and working on the product range so that it incorporates swimwear, too. The most important evolution of the range, however, was obtaining endorsement from the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), providing assurance that her hats and costumes provide protection against the sun and, by extension, against skin cancer.
Having been diagnosed with a basal cell melanoma on her head last year (a legacy of years of running marathons with nothing but a peak for protection), this is something that May feels especially strongly about. “At first I found it a bit embarrassing – here I am, the owner of a brand that’s all about skin cancer protection, with a skin cancer diagnosis myself.
But it made me realise that we need a lot more education about this in South Africa. This is not just a marketing line – it’s something I live by.” And something she makes her children live by, too. Just as they know she won’t start driving until they have their seatbelts on, they understand they can’t go outside until they are fully protected against the sun.
May is hoping that Moosel Hats will spark a similar awareness amongst her customers, who are increasing in number. In fact, the business has exploded by 200 per cent every year, growing to the point where May now hires staff to help her. This upward trajectory is set to continue, with the Outdoor Warehouse recently contacting her with a request to stock her products.
It’s incredibly exciting, says May, but she doesn’t take this as a sign that she’s made it. “Of course I’m hoping that this creates momentum, but I’ll continue ploughing all profits back into the company.
I’ve spent this year concentrating on becoming more strategic – I’ve taken part in mentorships so that I can sharpen the business end of things, and where once I tried to introduce new styles, I now just focus on the bestsellers – just doing what we do well, even better.
If you’d told me five years ago that I’d be selling hats for a living, I’d never have believed you. I had no idea what I was getting into when it all started, but I really love it.”
Details: mooselhats.com, @mooselhats
Get them outside!
May admits that, while she’s all about making life easier for moms, there’s one part of modern motherhood that doesn’t gel with her – using screens as a sitter. “People always ask me how I manage to make my kids go outside, but the truth is I don’t force them – they love it.” That’s because she’s created an outdoor-oriented lifestyle by spending as much time outdoors as possible.
“If it’s 4.30 and everyone is feral, we’ll calm down by taking a nature walk or spreading out a blanket and looking at the clouds. You don’t need a beach house or a big garden – you just need a little space where you can talk about the plants and insects you see. Do it often enough and you’ll create an emotional connection that makes them yearn to get outdoors.”
Long-sleeve unisex kids’ swim onesies in penguin, crocodile and lobster designs (R645 each) with matching bucket hats (R399 each). The onesies are also available in two-piece swim sets. Order through mooselhats.com.
Article by Lisa Witepski. Images – supplied.
