How I Started My Millinery Business — The Story Behind Heirloom Hats

How I Started My Millinery Business — The Story Behind Heirloom Hats

Starting a millinery business takes time, resources, and a whole lot of patience. It’s not for the faint of heart—you need passion, perseverance, and a deep love for the art of hat making. Not everyone is built for it, but for those of us who are, there’s nothing more rewarding.

My love for fashion started early. I began sewing at the age of eight and never looked back. Even after meeting with a guidance counselor three times throughout high school, my career choice remained firm—I was going to work in fashion.

At 17, I moved into my first apartment straight out of high school. College wasn’t financially feasible at the time, but a few years later, I enrolled in the Fashion Design program at Lasalle College. Unfortunately, I had to leave after the first year due to financial constraints—private school tuition just wasn’t something I could manage.

I pivoted briefly and explored jewelry making. I even took a metalsmithing course at École de Joaillerie de Montréal around age 25. But it didn’t take long to realize my heart was still with textiles. I needed to work with fabric—I missed the tactile nature of it, the movement and flow.

After stepping away from jewelry, I felt completely lost. My dream of working in the fashion industry felt like it was slipping further away. Then, out of nowhere, I had a lightbulb moment: Why hadn’t I considered hat making before? I remembered how much I loved hats and decided to dive in.

A quick online search led me to Lucie Grégoire, the only person I could find at the time offering millinery classes in Montreal. I signed up for her introductory workshop immediately.

After just one of the three sessions, I knew I had found my calling. But becoming a milliner in Canada wasn’t going to be easy. Millinery is a rare and fading trade, and I quickly realized that I’d need far more than three classes—I’d need access to expensive, hard-to-find materials and tools, including hat blocks. Financially, it wasn’t something I could sustain at that moment. Still, I held onto hope. I had finally found my medium.

Not long after, I discovered a trade school called École des Métiers des Faubourgs, which offered a free pattern design program. I enrolled without hesitation. For the first time in years, I felt like I was back on track toward fulfilling my dream of working in the fashion industry.

Throughout the two-year program, I immersed myself in millinery—practicing, experimenting, and researching everything I could. When it came time to choose an internship, I made the pivotal decision to return to Lucie Grégoire. Rather than intern with a clothing company, I chose to deepen my knowledge of hat making. It wasn’t the easy choice, but it was the right one.

That internship confirmed what I already knew: millinery was what I was meant to do. But I still wasn’t ready to start a business.

A few months later, I began teaching hat making to a friend of a friend named Braeden. We quickly became close, bonding over hat talk and shared dreams. Braeden now owns the amazing Paterson Hat Company.

One day, I mentioned how difficult it was to source hat blocks—a crucial tool in the hat making process. That’s when fate stepped in. Braeden discovered an estate sale in Toronto with over 100 hat blocks for sale. It felt like destiny.

Without hesitation, we rented a van and made a whirlwind trip from Montreal to Toronto and back. The man selling the blocks told me his late mother had been a nurse by profession and a milliner in her spare time—just like me, working in pharmacy while pursuing millinery on the side. He shared that a production company had offered five times what we had, but he believed his mother would prefer the blocks go to someone like me. That moment felt like the stars had aligned.

(For the record, our enthusiasm earned us a photo radar speeding ticket two weeks later—proof of how excited we were to get home and start making hats!)

I bought those hat blocks in April 2015, and by September, I officially launched Heirloom Hats. That unexpected estate sale was the catalyst that transformed my passion into a business.

I enrolled in a business plan workshop and began working on my very first collection, The Gray Matter. That’s how Heirloom was born—from a love of craftsmanship, a little serendipity, and a whole lot of hustle.

Are You Dreaming of Becoming a Milliner?

Starting a millinery business isn’t easy, but it’s incredibly rewarding. Whether you’re looking to become a hat maker in Canada or simply want to explore the world of artisanal fashion, I hope my story inspires you to chase your dreams—even if it means taking the long road to get there.