| THE LITTLE HAT
COMPANY GETS THEIR HATS IN THE DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS
GIFT BAG
 |
 |
| The
Little Hat Company owner Jen Houghton |
The
Cog Hat (above) was featured on NBC’s
Today Show. It was in gift bags given to
Daytime Emmy Awards nominees in NYC. |
We want to honor a small hat company
for their tenacity and drive to stay in the forefront
of fashion. South Berwick, Maine hatter Jen Houghton,
whose company is called The Little Hat Company,
has been making news for getting her Cog Hat
in the Daytime Emmy Awards gift bag (and on the
Today Show).
The reason this was so bittersweet
is that Houghton’s store was nearly forced
out of business earlier this year because of
a federal lead testing law for children’s
hats.
The Little Hat Company made 160 "Cog" hats
(short for incognito). The reason the hats were
called “cog” is because their purpose
is to allow celebrities to hide under their hat.
The gift bags were featured on
Thursday's "Today" show on NBC, and
one of the items hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and
Hoda Kotb picked out was the Cog hat.
”The Little Hat Company’s
dream is to become a national hat brand for children
and adults. There's no better way to achieve
that than by having celebrities use her product.
We produce every hat in South Berwick, Maine
and are proud to offer our hats at a price that
everyone can afford,” said Houghton.
Houghton was going to make children's
hats for the gift bags, but made adult hats instead
because of a federal law requiring lead testing
of all children's products. After an outcry from
small business owners like Houghton, who said
they couldn't afford the expensive testing costs,
the Consumer Product Safety Commission delayed
enforcing the law by a year.
The company’s original saying
was “Put A Lid on Your Kid” because
they only made hats for babies up to age three.
Demand grew quickly for older sizes and adults
started wearing their big kid sizes, said Houghton.
They also made fleece hats for the
commissioning of The USSNH submarine in Portsmouth
NH. “The commander saw the lids for kids
and asked us to make adult ones for his grown children.”
Then they were hit with the CPSIA. “We
were unable to afford the third party lead -phthalate
testing for our children’s hats. It would
cost $2000 to $3000 for each batch of hats – no
economy of scale for a small start up. I am going
to Capitol Hill June 2nd and 3rd to speak on behalf
of small retailers and manufacturers.”
To contact The Little Hat Company:
Email: friendlyperson@thelittlehatcompany.com
10
Portland Street South Berwick, Maine 03908
Phone:
(207) 384 - 0080 |