Optimo Hats is a specialty hatmaker focused on custom, premium quality hats.  One of the last of their kind in a disappearing art, they've taken great care with both their product and their customers to become the best hatmaker in the nation.  

Their sophisticated shop, located in downtown Chicago, matches the feel and quality of their product in almost every way...except their hat box.  The owner was disatisifed with his current hat box, which was simple, but bulky, and not perfectly comfortable for holding the brim of the hat.

In this collaborative project, we redisigned the standard hatbox with the priority of creating a "device" to hold the brim prefectly, as well as the objectives to fit their current branding, hold to their standard of quality, and be travel friendly.  Our final designs went as far as a final prototyping, but has not yet gone in to actual production with the correct materials.

The interior of the hatbox has a cushiony "pillow" to hold different sized hats.  The pillow is removable, so the customer can display the hat.  It is sized so that, when place on the pillow, whether on a dresser on inside the box, the hat looks to be hovering, and its very low to the surface.

We designed that hatbox to have one flat side, in order to have an easy way to place the box.  It's shape also distinguishes the box from others on the market.

Shown below is their current hatbox, a standard oval hatbox. 

Earliest Stage of prototyping, in paper.