Meet Daniel Robles of Bixby Knolls Area

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Robles.

Hi Daniel, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’m the product of 2 Chicano parents. I was born and raised in Orange County, California. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and dreamed of owning my own business someday. From 2018 to 2023 I co-founded my first hat company and took it from the corner of a small garage in Garden Grove, to a full-blown hat shop/studio just a few minutes away from the art district in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, my business partner and I had two different visions for the future of our company and decided to go our separate ways, but as they say, “when one chapter ends, a new one begins”.
That new chapter began a couple of months later when one of my old customers, Al, the owner of Meat & Vino Market in Long Beach, reached out to me and asked me if I could make him a hat. I told him that I was no longer in the business, but he kept trying to convince me to get back into making hats.
After a few more calls from Al and other people telling me that I shouldn’t stop doing what I love to do I was really motivated and decided to start up another hat company with him as my partner, and that’s what led to us creating The Brim Connection.
Getting back into making hats was easy since I already had all the experience from years of making hats and running the administrative part of my previous company.
With that being said, after making my first few hats at The Brim Connection shop, just like that, my love for making hats was renewed. It’s also a great thing working with my wife in the shop as she does all of the art and branding on our hats. It’s a beautiful thing. Aside from making the hats, one of my favorite things about our shop is meeting and interacting with our customers. Well, they come in as customers and leave as family. After working on their hats and making our creations come to life, nothing beats seeing the glow on our customer’s faces when they finally get to see their custom hats in person. Our shop is not your average hat shop. People describe it in many different ways but it’s definitely much more than just a store. There’s always good music playing. It’s a VIP experience and a great place to network, all in one. You can have a drink with us if that’s your thing or smoke a cigar while we discuss hats and have a few laughs in between. THAT is what The Brim Connection is all about.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’ve had many difficulties along the way. When I started making hats there weren’t many videos online showing how the process goes like there are now. It was hard to even find videos of people making hats but when I did find them I would watch them over and over to see exactly what they did. Truth be told, I ruined a lot of hats just trying to figure out what I was doing. But, like most things, practice makes progress and learning from mistakes is key. One thing to always keep in mind with anything in life is that obstacles are just that. It’s really how you deal with them and just know that there will always be plenty more ahead.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I make hats. I specialize in one of a kind handmade hats. We are known for quite a variety of styles and high quality customs. We make anything from short brims to wide brims and western styles, both classy and distressed. Aside from our beautiful creations, we also do custom branding or what some people refer to as hat tattoos. All our branding art is done by none other than my wife, Fiorella (Fio). What I am most proud of is the many relationships that I’ve built with the people that walk through my door each day. I’ve been told, what sets me apart from others is the level of care and respect that I give each one of my customers. I truly believe in the saying, “treat others how you want to be treated”.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
To be honest, I’ve never really had a specific mentor, unless maybe I just never labeled them as that. Networking wise, what I can say is that I’ve had a lot of conversations about many different things in life and I do my best to receive and utilize whatever valuable lessons or advice that I’ve been given. You can get some really valuable knowledge from random conversations if you surround yourself with the right people and/or ask the right questions.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brim_connection
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebrimconnection
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@brim.connection

Image Credits
The Brim Connection