by Shashank Jejurikar ’13, A&E Editor

When one thinks of an art form, hat-making is definitely not the first thing that comes to mind. Yet, it has become a prominent part of junior Dominic Isadore’s life. In his free time, Dominic customizes snapback hats, always experimenting with new designs and patterns. “I started collecting/buying/trading/selling hats for about a year and a half or so,” explains Dominic. In that time, he has become more and more efficient in his process, even though periods of inactivity hamper his creative instincts. “The longer I go without making them, the longer it takes to make them because of muscle memory loss,” he admits. Despite this muscle memory loss, Dominic still consistently finishes hats within 35 minutes.

Isadore’s inspirations are varied. “Big Sean and Chris Brown are the main reason the snapback craze began,” states Dominic, citing their popular music videos in which they wore vintage and customized snapbacks. ProfessorSnapp, a YouTube user who talks about customization and snapback design, sparked Dominic’s interest. As for the particular designs, Dominic gets his

ideas from his surroundings. “I get my design ideas from . . . the designs I see at fabric stores that catch my eye.”

What separates Dominic from the others, though, is that he mixes his art with business. “I consider myself an entrepreneur,” he professes. “At one point a few months ago I made nearly $700.00 dollars from scratch by buying, restoring, customizing and selling snapbacks on Ebay myself.” He finds much of his business at thrift stores. These stores are willing to pay high prices for vintage hats whose values have drastically increased over the years, especially when they are one-of-a-kind, Dominic Isadore originals.