Frenzy rising for oversized Noggin Boss hats
They got a deal on Shark Tank with their big hats in 2019. They didn’t launch until 2020, right before the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But it wasn’t until Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. wore a Noggin Boss in front of the media after an NFL game in late November that it began to really take off.
The next thing Noggin Boss co-founders Gabe Cooper and Sean Starner knew, ESPN host Scott Van Pelt donned his big hat during a telecast. That hat was sent to him two years ago, but Van Pelt had it sitting in a room until Robinson showed the guts to wear one in public.
Now it’s a conversation piece. And everybody wants one.
But the founders, whose company has gone into overdrive at the Grand Canyon campus where the hats are produced, still have to go through licensing to approve logos on the hats as demand really picks up this week for Super Bowl 57 and the WM Phoenix Open in the Valley.
He said the NFL responded that it has Noggin Boss’ application and will be reviewing it after the Super Bowl.
“It’s starting to take on like a higher collectible piece, as well,” said Cooper, 43, who got his undergrad and MBA from GCU. “We didn’t originally see it.
But we had a Noggin recently dipped in bronze by a company. We had one bedazzled with crystals. They’re really elevating the stature of it.”
With the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs getting ready for the
big game, there are requests, even from players, for a hat they can wear.
“We’re getting flooded and our team is doing great at trying to make sure everyone understands that the licensing is coming,” Cooper said. “We’re trying to get it as soon as we get approval. Even the teams, we have agents reaching out from players saying they want to buy this for their whole team. We’re having to say, ‘We can’t for now.’ But it’s really rewarding.”
Cooper said that he and Starner, a former University of Maryland football player, were asked to speak at a Super Bowl 57 event in the Valley this week being held by the National Football Players Association.
“We’re humbled by that,” Cooper said.
“A lot of the stuff that’s happening with players, it’s so great to see the organic nature of the players wanting it and demanding it and trying to get their hands on it.”
Cooper said they try to make sure all the rules are followed when it comes to licensing. They have wholesale accounts they sell to where companies might decorate the hat with their own stuff, such as a high school or a local business. People will take liberties. That’s what happened with the big Noggin Robinson wore that had the W on the front.
“We are excited, though, for future retail opportunities,” Cooper said. “These retail companies are wanting to decorate them in mass distribution, national chains. It will be great to be able to control the decorations put on the hat.
“We have seen people on TV who cut out a T-shirt and logo from their team and put it on the hat.”