About (Dome Headwear Co): Dome hats main location is in Jacksonville Beach, Flordia. Each hat is manufactured overseas and also each hat is custom made. Dome Headwear Co, Rep Derek Shampine is in charge of the there area building in Nashville, TN.

Q&A:

1. Hello Derek, what is the background story behind Nashville “Dome Headwear?” The owners were both fortunate and opportunistic when it came to establishing a footprint in Nashville.  Jason Myers, a photographer in Nashville, recommended the product to Ward Guenther when he was looking to have some hats made for Whiskey Jam.  His first order was for just 24 hats, but he must’ve liked what he received because he kept ordering and we now have a wonderful partnership with Whiskey Jam.  Through our relationship with Ward, we were introduced to the Calonge family of Richards & Southern Merchandise & Apparel.   Terry, Sheri, Scot & Ryan gave us an opportunity to present our product line to some of their largest customers, including George Strait, Alabama & Luke Bryan.  We have been blessed to be able to design & manufacture hats for these iconic bands, and many more through our collaboration with Richards & Southern.  They’ve become as close as family, and we’re very grateful for their partnership and loyalty.  The demand for our product began to grow beyond band merchandise, which led to me coming on board in September of 2017.  I’ve worked to grow our corporate & lifestyle presence here in Nashville overall and just celebrated my 2-year anniversary with DOME Headwear Co.
2. Where do you see Nashville “Dome Headwear” in the next 5 to 10 years? Bigger, but still offering the same small-business, relationship-focused service that we have built our company on.  We look to open a showroom & design center in Nashville in 2020 that will allow our customers to come in and spend time with our headwear professionals and see all we have to offer. 
3. Has any celebs worn any of your hats? That’s one of the coolest parts of my job.  You put in all this time & effort, and you look up and Luke Combs is wearing your hat on the Today Show and Jimmie Allen is wearing a DOME hat on another TV Show.  Mitchell Tenpenny actually rocked a Jason Myers Photography trucker hat in an advertisement for his NBC Today Show appearance, which we thought was absolutely perfect considering how important Jason was (and continues to be) to our Nashville presence.
4. Do you sell your hats at any popular venues or events? Most of our hats that are at events are being sold by our customers.  We collaborate with merchandise companies to design and manufacture the hats, then the merch company sells them online and at shows.  It’s fun to go to the concerts and buy the hats knowing that we had a hand in putting them on the shelf.  We see pictures on social media all the time of fans posting pictures of hats they just purchased.  It’s really cool to see that.
5. Is there anything coming up with your company for the rest of 2019? Continuing to grind and prepping for a huge year in 2020…we have a few things up our sleeve.  Check back in January. 
6. What is the first item you made for “Dome Headwear?” For me personally here in Nashville I believe it was with Whiskey Jam, and probably a few bars downtown, however we set out to create a project in Nashville that would focus on the passionate & creative people driving the growth in this city.  This was pretty much my first assignment.  We called it the Nashville 100, which you can see at www.Nashville100.com and at @Nashville100 on Instagram.  Our mantra at DOME is that ‘Every Hat Has a Story’, and we set out to tell 100 unique stories of these amazing people.  We designed a hat for each of them, we wrote a biographical article, and Jason Myers brilliantly shot portraits of each person in the collection.  Here’s a link to the ‘wrap reel’ of the project that goes a little deeper in explaining it.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsZEdCOVEFo
7. What advice would you give to an up and coming apparel company? Watch your margins, don’t divulge your sources, hire people that are great where you are weak, and when it’s 2AM and you’re out of money and want to quit, keep going.  There’s always a way to Do Better.
8. What is one of your favorite quotes? My personal is from Mantra and the quote I live by is “Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion, you must set yourself on fire.”— Arnlold H. Glasgow
9. Is there anything else you would like to share? We will have a booth out at the NashtoberFest, put on by our friends at Daddy’s Dogs.  Come on out on October 5^th from 2PM to 9PM and find me at the DOME Booth.  More information can be found at www.TheNashtoberfest.com.

Derek Shampine (Business Development, Nashville): Derek Shampine was born and grew up in upstate New York, and been living in Nashville since 2005. His favorite part of working with Dome is getting to witnessed the people when they receive their hats, and knowing they got a wonderful product for their business or brand. Shampine takes satisfaction in great customer services for his clients.  In Shampine free time, he likes spending time with his wife and daughter. His favorite hat is a trucker style.

Links: 

Website: https://www.domeheadwear.co/nashville100

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DOMEHATS/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/domehats/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/domehats