25 Enrico Busto - From Marketing Executive to Handmade Hats

In this episode of Shoot Wisely, I sit down with Enrico Busto of Busto & Sun in Topanga, California workshop to talk about the journey from stability to craftsmanship, and what it really means to build a life around passion and purpose.

Born in Italy and raised by a mother who worked as a seamstress, Enrico grew up surrounded by creativity and handmade work. Before becoming a hat maker, he spent years working in marketing, living a comfortable life while feeling the pull toward something more meaningful.

Everything changed when his wife asked him a simple question:
“If you could do one thing, what would it be?”

His answer was simple:
“Make hats.”

From there, Enrico took the leap—leaving behind the corporate world to create something with his own two hands. We talk about the emotional support it takes to pursue a dream, the importance of community, and how moving to Topanga helped shape both his work and his life.

This conversation explores the beauty of handmade craftsmanship, the courage required to leave comfort behind, and why Enrico believes every hat should be custom—because every person carries their own story.

A conversation about risk, identity, creativity, and finding home.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

There's a different kind of pride that comes from making something with your own two hands. Not building someone else's vision, not climbing a ladder that was already there, but stepping into the unknown and creating something entirely your own. Today's guest, Enrico Busto of Busto and Sun into Penga, knows that feeling well. Before becoming a hat maker, Enrico worked in the world of marketing, a world built around selling ideas. But eventually the pool toward craftsmanship, creativity, and tangible work became impossible to ignore. In this conversation, we talk about the rewarding risk of walking away from stability to pursue something more meaningful. And we talk about how creativity and love can lead you towards something bigger than a career, toward community, purpose, and a sense of home. This is a story about trusting yourself enough to begin again. Enrico, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for coming all the way to Topenga. Yeah. Um, and since you just said it, um for anybody that doesn't know Topenga, how would you explain Topenga to people?

SPEAKER_04 1:02

Topenga is a bubble that is in between the 1970s and uh and the future. Uh I love the energy of Topenga. You know, Topenga was popular in the 60s and 70s because all the EPs move here, and at the same time, all the rock and roll band, you know, Jim Moore is on the doors, uh, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, everybody in that space was here. So there's this like magic energy of artists, hippies, and music. And I think it's something that it will become more popular again in 10 years from now.

SPEAKER_03 1:37

Where are you from?

SPEAKER_04 1:38

Uh, Italy, Venice.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

How long did when did you first come to the States?

SPEAKER_04 1:43

I moved, I mean, I traveled so many times, I was always obsessed with the United States and you know, for the freedom and the design. And so I moved here in 2015. Yeah. Okay. And how did you end up in Topenga? Topenga, like Topenga call you. So I was living in Venice Beach with my girlfriend at the time. We were looking for a space, uh, for a new a new place, for the new chapter together. And uh I said, you know, I remember that little sp place in Topenga Canyon. Uh I one time I was driving the PCH and I saw the sign Topenga Canyon, and in my mind I was thinking kind of like the Grand Canyon or something, you know, it was 2001. And so I drove up and I was like, wow, this is not Los Angeles, it looks like so different, and I love to be in the wild. You know, I grew up in a small town outside Venice, so that is like a small village kind of like feeling. And for being in Los Angeles, it's kind of unique. And she said, Oh, I used to party all the time in Topenga, let's go and check it out. And so we spent every weekend here. We were going to it at the Canyon Bistro every Saturday, and we were going to all the event at the community house, the square dance, just to feel the vibe, and if we like, you know, this way of living. And we were both obsessed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

What about Topanga makes you feel like you're really far away from Los Angeles?

SPEAKER_04 3:06

I mean, you walk out and there are like beautiful hikes, and you see greens, you don't see that many houses around, and people are more chill, you know. There is no like no big traffic besides when there's road work or fire or landslides, which is pretty common, unfortunately, right now. Uh, but you know, it's pretty quiet paced. And I think for being like in a metropolis where you know, when I moved here, I was envisioning like the 405, like being stuck in traffic for four hours. And I think here there's like nature, and the nature is so powerful, you know, like the ice, the red rock, and the ocean so close, is uh such a like um you know, nature kind of like ground you, and so I think uh it's very powerful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:49

What were you doing before you were making hats?

SPEAKER_04 3:51

I was I had a different life. I was a marketing executive in Italy. I was working for like uh the biggest media company, and then for like soccer teams. So I was the head of marketing and communication and sales, and it was a very stressful environment, and I was never really obsessed uh with soccer, and I was looking to do something different, but it was very hard for me to find my way. And I always wanted to have a passion strong enough to make me leave my job. Certain point I started building skateboards, and um yeah, I came here in in 2001, I stayed here for three months, and then you know, I was living in Venice Beach, so I was like cruising back and forth with like a longboard. When I went back to Italy, there were no longboards in Italy. Uh, I started like designing the shapes and cutting and uh like doing a little designing and find the binding and the tracker and the wheels and assemble, and I was testing on top of the highways. Uh, every Saturday I would go with my friend and go down to yeah, no, Venice is like flat, so there is no there is no eels. And so we were finding every opportunity to find a little a little pendants to just go and test the and the canals weren't enough, yeah. No, it's like actually it's forbidden to go with the wheels in the in Venice. Oh really? Yeah, yeah. Oh wow. So you can't have bicycle or skateboard or you know, nothing.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_04 5:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 5:23

And uh, and so that's at a certain point I said, should I just do skateboards? But it was like 2001, and it was not, you know, I don't know. I I didn't see an opportunity.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

At that point, but you seem to sorry to interrupt you, but at that point you seem to already been good with your hands. What what is your background with with building or something?

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Well, my my mom was a simstress, so I learned to stitch when I was like five years old. Okay, there's that's that's the thing. Yeah, and I, you know, I tailor my shirts and my pants and everything. And I always love to do something with my hand. That's why at that moment, you know, you work in marketing and you don't really see like an object after your work, you know? Yeah, yeah. And so I think that one was the thing I was craving for. I was looking for something tangible that I could touch and feel and use in some way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

So your mom was a seamstress. Did you did you where was the workshop with that your mom worked at?

SPEAKER_04 6:15

Oh, I have uh at the house, yeah. She was working for like a company there and she was making clothes. So she made all my clothes since I was a newborn. So I I grew up spoiled with like cashmere sweater and you know, velour pants, even though you know we were not a wealthy family, but yeah, you know, she was getting all the scraps from the fabric from the factory, yeah, and just made me this like insane custom clothing. And then when I grew up and I understood that custom clothing were expensive, I appreciate even more my mom. Did she come from a line of seamstress or was she no, but you know, it's it was an era where you have to learn to do everything, you know, and so they they knew how to do everything, and she also practiced a lot and learned a lot and you know for 20 years.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

I'm assuming you're obsessed with hats, but where did where did your love for hats start?

SPEAKER_04 7:01

Uh I was organizing the beach volleyball championship in Italy, and um we you know we were so many people around, and um, and so to be recognized between like hundreds of people, I had always a different hat every summer. And so that was pretty much my my statement piece. Yeah, and so everybody knew where I was, and which was like also dangerous because you know everybody knew where you are all the time. Yeah, but I love the hat because the hat is like I think is the most powerful accessory. You know, you can have like a white t-shirt and you put a hat and you feel dressed up and you feel ready for you know your battle or your day or whatever you're you're going to do. Yeah, so I think uh I I see the power in the hat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

Yeah. What does the hat say about a person that maybe the clothes don't?

SPEAKER_04 7:50

I mean, I don't know. I don't like to define people by their clothes or their accessory. Uh I think the most important part is how make you feel. You know, if I make a hat, if I wear a hat and I feel better and I stand a little taller and make me feel better, yeah. That's amazing. That's you won. You know, like if I wear a pair of boots that make me feel the same way, yeah, perfect. You know, yeah, like just use what you have to feel better yourself. Doesn't matter what the other people think about you, you know. Yeah, it's uh it's for you. And when you show up in a certain way, people will react and will treat you in a different way, you know. Yeah, so like you know, the your confidence and your you know can be improved by how you wear and what you wear.

SPEAKER_03 8:38

Yeah. Were you influenced by American culture growing up?

SPEAKER_04 8:42

Of course. I mean, as you see around there, I have all the spaghetti western. So, you know, Western was a big part of my of my childhood. Um I was obsessed also with Bud Spencer and Terenceale. I don't know if you hear they are popular, but they're like two Italian-American actors, uh-huh, and uh they were kind of like living in the wild west.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 9:04

And so those were like our heroes at the time.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:07

Uh so those two, you know, the spaghetti western movies and Bud Spencer and Terenceale were my my two biggest like inspiration. And then, you know, growing up, uh, when a little older, the A-Team, uh or uh um the Duke of Azar, yeah, the Chips. My dad was a police officer, so I was obsessed with the chips. Oh, so your dad was a police officer? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So he was riding a motorcycle, so like seeing like those motorcycles in the highways of Los Angeles. It was like, wow.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

Yeah. When did you uh because you I know you you have that beautiful triumph, when did your um motorcycles come into your life?

SPEAKER_04 9:48

Uh I mean, I always rode, you know, motorcycle since I was in Italy. And uh like to go to Jesolo, the beach town outside Venice, is the best way in the summer, so you cut all the lines and and you can park like ocean front. So it was like a very useful tool. Yeah. Uh then I moved to Milan, I got a Harley Davidson, which is not the perfect bike for the town, but uh I loved it and I was always obsessed with you know Harley Davison. Yeah, um, I had several bikes through my life, but now this I'm in a vintage lover phase, so I have a 1972 Triumph Tiger with the shift on the right, yeah. Just to make it a little, you know, more meditating. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

I feel like now um handmade things, classic things, classic motorcycles, classic cars, uh anything handmade is um I don't want to say it's having a resurgence, but uh people are very drawn to it. What what do you think about what do you think things that are handmade or things that have withstand the test of time say? I would say there are like two factors.

SPEAKER_04 10:54

One is design. I think after 1980 we became bored and we started designing everything to be cheap and to be fast and to break faster. Before 1980, everything was meant to last forever. You know, your pair of boots were meant to last for a lifetime, your hat was meant to last for a lifetime, your car was meant to last for a lifetime, and now everything is like poorly made or planned to break. And I think you know that one goes into the also the soul of the object, you know. Like when you drive an old car, you feel it. You know, the sensation you have are like you feel the road. With a modern car, you don't feel anything. But if some electric chip is off, your car is trash.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_04 11:45

So I feel like attention to detail and quality and uh built to last. That I think is the biggest difference between, you know. I think I see the two era pre-1980 and after 1980.

SPEAKER_03 11:57

Yeah. Um you just told me.

SPEAKER_04 12:01

And I was born 1978, just to make sure.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

Yeah, I was born in 75, so yeah, built to last for sure. Um so uh I photographed your uh your Cadillac, which you you told me that you sold that um you're not that very happy about. But uh what did what did the Cadillac say about you?

SPEAKER_04 12:20

I mean the Cadillac is quiet, is huge, is massive, but it's quiet. Yeah, and I love to approach life in that way, you know, step by step, you know, do your do your thing. Better like three-step forward slow than ten step fast and fall under the bridge. Yeah, you know, so yeah, it's I think uh also I love the style and the the comfort of that car. You know, you have these three couches in front of you that you can like really lay, and when you drive the canyon is like a boat, you know? Yeah, and I love that, I love that feeling, you know, the feeling when you and I mean 1976 had like power steering, power wheels, uh power roof, you know, like at the time it was like out of the world. And so, and even now, like driving that car is like a very easy, reliable car to drive. Yeah, so I really love that, you know.

SPEAKER_03 13:19

You you specifically told me the story about uh what that car meant to you though. You said in Italy you had uh you used to see the same car drive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:28

Can you tell me that story? I was uh I was a little kid, 10 years old, and there is this beach town called Yesolo, and every summer I would spend all the summer there, and there were this German couple uh driving down every summer with a white Cadillac El Dorado. And as a little kid, I never seen anything big like that. My mom uh had uh like a Fiat Cinquecento, which was like a quarter of that car. So for me, seeing that Cadillac was like majestic, it was insane. Yeah, and you know, I put it in my bucket list.

SPEAKER_03 13:59

I love those stories of nostalgia, something where you know something touches you as a child, and then when you're older and you have your own money to spend that you earned and you can decide what you want to buy, and it doesn't need to make sense to anybody, but then you're able to accomplish something like that because it's there's that child inside of you still that isn't like, oh no, I'm just gonna get a Model 3 Tesla because that's you know, whatever. It's like, no, I'm gonna get the boat. Yeah. A car that you can't park anywhere.

SPEAKER_04 14:30

Yeah, exactly. But you know, I think life is just a matter of like enjoying every single day. You know, it's we live like in a stressful world and there is like so much we cannot control. But the little thing we can control, you know, we should like we should just do it. You know, just like the smile you receive when you drive a classic car on the road, you receive so many smiles and hi from people, and that fits your soul, you know. So I think it's very simple.

SPEAKER_03 14:57

Yeah. And all of those other people that have the same or similar story when they see you, they tell you, oh, you know, I remember it's all about the story. It's a conversation starter. Exactly. So um when did hats become part of your life?

SPEAKER_04 15:11

Uh I mean, I was organizing the beach volleyball championship, and that's I would start wearing hats. But then, you know, I had this very stressful job uh uh for the soccer teams, and I was collecting vintage hats. But my head is very big, so they were not fitting. You know, the hats in the 70s and 80s were like smaller than that. Yeah. And so I learned, you know, I was disassembling them, stretch them, put them back together. And after I restored a few hundreds, I said, okay, I I can start making a new one.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

But you were you were doing that simply because you couldn't find one that fit your head. Yeah, yeah. Because my head is like seven and five eighths, it's an extra large.

SPEAKER_04 15:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:49

I'm seven and three eighths, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:51

You're like perfect. Yeah. Uh yeah, mine was big. So yeah, that the vintage hat didn't fit. That was my the spark.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

Yeah. And when you have because I do have a big head. And if when you have a big head, it's it's tough for those type of hats because then all of a sudden it's like you have this building on top of your head if it's not made correctly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:08

I mean, what I learned with the time is also to create like the perfect balance between the crown and your face and your shoulder and your eye. So, like, you know, it's a matter of like creating the right proportion. You know, there are a lot of people say, oh, no hats work for me. Yeah. No, it's because they are the wrong proportion for you, for your face shape. And like, for example, your jaw is pretty defined, but it's like the from your ear to your chin is pretty small. So you want to have like a lower crown and a wider or a flat top, so it's gonna match your jaw. Right, right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_03 16:41

So it's just a matter of creating that proportion, yeah, and paying attention. Yeah. So when did you decide that you are going to make a business out of this, a career out of it?

SPEAKER_04 16:50

So I was I was doing completely other stuff and I was consulting and marketing, and I was so stressed because I said, okay, I moved to the US to change my life, and I'm still doing the same thing I was doing in Italy that I didn't want to do.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:06

And so one day I was hiking here in Topenga with my wife, and I I was kind of like telling her this frustration, no?

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:13

And uh she asked me one simple question. She said, Tomorrow morning you wake up. What do you want to do? And I said, I just want to make hats. And she said, just do it. And so I quit everything and focused into making hats. And took me like a couple of years of 24-7 to to start, you know, to start and get going. And I became obsessed. It was I finally found my obsession.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

That's amazing. What's your wife's name? Crystal. Crystal. Shout out to Crystal because sometimes we really need uh somebody to just A, believe in us and give us the room to mess up.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

You know? Yeah. To just try something and mess up. You know, it's like, okay, she didn't say, okay, but if this doesn't work, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

You know, that that's uh that's her superpower. You know, her vision was insane because I always do uh I do the Boston Consulting Group metrics, you know, strength and weakness. You know, I try to analyze every decision and be able not to follow that for one time. Yeah, it was just uh like uh you know a release. And I said, okay, I I can do this, and I have the support. You know, sometimes you know, when I if I was in Italy, I would never have done it. Because in Italy you have the fear of people how they judge you, and you know, you're a marketing executive, now you're doing you're doing make you know you're become an artisan, it's not you. But here I had the chance to do it, you know, and have the trust and the faith and like unconditional.

SPEAKER_03 18:52

That would be that's interesting because I think that people would think the opposite that in Italy you have the the freedom to to do that, and people would judge you.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

And here would be the opposite, like people would judge you for we have a very tight society, you know, so everybody knows every everybody, and is you know, the kind of like also interaction that you have daily are constant. You know, so the first time you know, I I kept my hat-making uh progress very like quiet and almost secret, but the few people that were coming here and they were seeing what I was doing said, you're you're crazy, what's happening? You know, this is doesn't make sense. And I said, didn't make sense to me to be a marketing executive of something I didn't like and be very stressed. That didn't make sense to me. Yeah, that's one star making sense. Yeah, and now they come and they see the shop and the good energy is oh, you know, you're lucky. It was not lucky, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

Yeah, I that's the thing, is it's not so much believing, but it's just like who really matters in your world? And for you, it was you and and your wife Crystal. So it's like as long as she was like, okay, then it didn't matter what anybody else said. That's why you know when you have such a strong connection with somebody. What what other than money, what was your biggest fear when you said, I'm gonna start making hats?

SPEAKER_04 20:12

Uh I think the first thing is you wanna be liked, but then you realize that you do what you like. Yeah, and people kind of have to adapt to that, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:25

Uh if you are cautious of you know your point of view, uh you you'll never be liked by anybody. So you need to pick your you know, yourself. Yeah. And when you do it for yourself, the right people will come to you. Exactly. You know, so I don't want everybody, I want just people that align with you know my principle and my energy, and you know, yeah. They want to be with me.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

Yeah, exactly. So we're sitting in your beautiful shop right now, and one of the things I just went to uh Art Walk 2026 in in um in in downtown, yeah, the arts district. And um, you know, my brother was an artist in New York, and um, you know, I used to live in New York and we used to have open open studios in Red Hook. And walking around yesterday, it really reminded me how much I love walking into people's spaces and walking into their world. And I love when people have studios that is just their world. Like as soon as you walk in, you're like, okay, you know, you have the display area where they display their work, but then you have the whether it's a workbench or a desk or the workshop. I'm just always so fascinated by that. People that are able to create their own world and and live in it, you know, and then invite certain people into it. So, how did this space come about for you?

SPEAKER_04 21:43

I mean, for me, it was you know, I used to make hats in my dining room, so it was my house. And so I said, if I have a shop, I want the shop to feel like my house. Yeah, so I have this big couch, vintage couch, and I have my workshop, the area where I work. I love to make everything, you know, in front of Of everybody, you know, it's uh it I think it's a great connection, you know, it's a way I can show like exactly in that moment, you know, what I make and what I can make, and we can decide together what to do. And I think it's a sp create a special connection to see the place where you make it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

But in particular, in particular, this space, did Topenga come first? Did the you because you live in Topenga? Yeah. Did living in Topenga come first or did the shop come first?

SPEAKER_04 22:27

I mean f uh living in Topanga was the first. Oh wow. Yeah, so so we moved to Topenga 2016, and uh and this one was actually the first shop I walked in in Topanga when I came. And so I think it was meant to be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:42

And you said it was a crystal shop?

SPEAKER_04 22:44

Yeah, it was a crystal, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it was a beautiful shop, great energy, and and I had a little tiny spot to display my hats. And uh, I think everything started from there, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:55

Yeah, that's beautiful. Um, so you said that you you're you're pretty much self-taught, but was did you ever take an apprenticeship or where where did you no?

SPEAKER_04 23:04

I had you know, I I had so many mentors and people that helped me, you know, to do it. I travel all over the United States, Japan, and Italy. Oh wow, and uh yeah, and especially in Italy, you know, there are like the big maestro Giorgio that helped me so much and give me so many insights, yeah and you know, we're now we are collaborating and creating projects together.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 23:27

Yeah, so it's uh that was a big, big help, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:30

So uh tell me about the collaboration.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

Uh we are developing like a new like uh felt. So it's uh it's like still a secret project. Okay. But I'm gonna I'm gonna go down there in uh in a couple of months just to do some tests. We did some tests like last month. And so we are yeah, we're developing like a new a new kind of felt. Oh nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:55

When what was the moment where you realized that that not only did you wanted to do this, but that you were gonna do it? That you you you made a hat and you're like, okay, I know what I'm doing now.

SPEAKER_04 24:06

Uh I think I don't know. I I think I decided from day one that this is what I wanted to do. And uh you find approval from people that you know like you and start ordering from you and support you, yeah, and that was a boost of confidence for sure. Um so we need like I think we need two kind of like um supports, one internal, one external. Yeah, but the one internal is uh just a decision. You have to decide that this is this is what you want to do.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

Um so what what is the process of of making a custom hat?

SPEAKER_04 24:48

So like first we go through the fitting. So we take your measurement, we have uh this late 1800 machine that got the shape of your hat, so the fit is gonna be perfect, and then based on your face shape, we suggest you know the body, the crown that works you know good for you, balance with your shoulder, your eye, the colors, and all the customization possible, yeah. Uh even including like even the liner and uh and the sweatband inside, and um, and then take a couple of weeks to make it. So we need to block the felt to get the raw material, stim it, so it will enlarge the fiber, block it around the wood block, iron it so it's gonna remember that shape. And then we're gonna trim the brim, stitch the sweatband inside, stitch it by hand, and then start all the decorations and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 25:35

Yeah, yeah. And what what are the different fabrics that you use?

SPEAKER_04 25:39

We use mostly like beaver felt, which is the highest grade, and then we use also uh straw, yeah. Uh-huh. For like summer or very humid places.

SPEAKER_03 25:47

And uh it's the conformator. Yeah. So why is that still the best tool to use to measure people's heads? I mean, it was made in like it's over 100.

SPEAKER_04 26:01

I'll show you, I'll show you, and you can understand the difference just seeing that. Right. Uh it was meant to do a great job and was meant to last. Yeah. And we still use it every day. I think we have a four right now. Uh but if you see the the new version is a piece of plastic. Right. And is it doesn't have the same you know, feeling and it's not durable, and it's meant to, you know, it's not meant to last another 100 years. Right. That's why I love to use those tools.

SPEAKER_03 26:28

Yeah. What do you think the biggest misconception of making hats is? What is something that you constantly have to like explain to people?

SPEAKER_04 26:37

Uh I mean that everybody can wear a hat, and it's just creating the right balance that makes you look good or not.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

Yeah. Um, and I wanted to talk about um, you know, everybody's stressed out about AI, but the one thing for you is that you never have to worry about that because you're making it with your hands, so no AI is ever gonna take your job. I don't think so.

SPEAKER_04 27:02

I also I I don't think it's like as fun as designing together.

SPEAKER_03 27:06

Yeah. Um, so I wanted to talk about the the marketing side because you come from a marketing background, and I was telling you how I really enjoy how you present yourself on social media. Um, how how do you find that whole process of promoting and also, you know, obviously you have to make the good hats, but you have to make a presence for yourself.

SPEAKER_04 27:32

So when I started, I decided not to do any marketing. So I didn't do a website, I didn't do my logo, I didn't do anything. Why? Uh when I started. Why? Because I I wanna make hats.

SPEAKER_03 27:46

I didn't want to be a marketing guy. Was that part of because you also said when you were making hats you didn't really tell anybody yet? Was that part of it? Yeah, also that one, yeah. But also for me was like, I wanna I wanna perfection my craft, and I don't wanna sell something I don't have.

SPEAKER_04 28:04

Uh-huh. So I wanna perfection my craft. That was, you know, that was my big and I I don't like to promote myself. And I was good when I was working for some other company, and I was very aggressive, and but when it comes to you, I don't know. I find I'm shy to promote myself. So I kind of like I don't like it. Yeah, you know, there are people that you know fits into that and like it, and I'm not. And so I it's something I really don't enjoy. So it's uh it's a big compromise in this area of you know social media. As I was telling you earlier, you know, I'm not super pro, I'm not super against social media, AI, you know, all the new technology, I think they offer us like insane opportunities uh of connection, of learning, of seeing something different. And at the same time, they take such a big chunk of our time. Yeah, and so my big debate is always how I want to live my day, you know, uh those two hours, what can I do in those two hours? I would prefer to have a chat with you and have a coffee with you and have a conversation, or do I scroll for 30 minutes to see what's happening? Yeah, and it's kind of like I try to avoid that as much as possible. Yeah, but you need to, in some way, you need to be present, and um and so I try to to treat uh my social media presence as I do my real life. You know, I don't wanna create something that is not real, I don't wanna uh spend too much time on thinking of my online presence when I'm here today and I can meet real people and I can have real conversations. So yeah, and so that's why also my feed is not super polished. I shoot everything with you know my camera. I have a very rare photo shoot, sometimes you know, uh, or some friends like you that come and film, and so we have a little bit more polished and professional videos. Uh, but most of the time I like the more human touch of the the social media side.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

But as you you you come from marketing, so you know the importance of marketing yourself. How do you balance the two?

SPEAKER_04 30:19

Yeah, that's why you know it's a compromise that I try to find. And in some moments I'm better, and in some moments I'm worse. Yeah, there are some moments that I don't post for a long time, and some moments that I post three times a day.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:31

Um, I know that now I should do it more. And uh, but you know, the the thing is I don't see uh I don't see the value in spending all your life on social media and like digging too much, as I don't see you know the value on just not being on social media. So it's like a it's a constant battle, it's a day-by-day battle, it's not something I figure out yet. What is your uh favorite part of the process in making hats? Uh I think it's when I deliver the hat because I want to see people reaction and how they feel different. I think that one is the the that one is what fits me, you know, when I see someone walking out and feeling different. Yeah, that's that's the energy I'm I'm looking for.

SPEAKER_03 31:17

What's your least favorite where it's like okay, I just gotta get past it. This is this is the work part.

SPEAKER_04 31:22

Um I mean, I don't have like a part I don't like, you know. I I like to make the sweatband to stitch them. I love to stitch by hand. It's kind of like a meditation like part for me. Yeah, and I like to shape the hats, I like to the decoration, the embroidery. Yeah, I I like it all. I don't like the administrative side of the business. Yeah, nobody does. Yeah, yeah. What would you call your style? I don't know. I think um that's interesting. Uh I have my liking and my style, but what I try to do is like I wanna be the bridge. I don't wanna you to buy my style. I want me to be able to give you what you are looking for. So I wanna I wanna be the designer bridge, the facilitator.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

Right.

SPEAKER_04 32:11

Maybe sometimes you don't know exactly what you're looking for, and my job is to make you feel comfortable and drive you to your direction, not to mine. You know, I don't want you to show my brand. You know, that's why I don't have logos outside the brand. There is, you know, it's it's you.

SPEAKER_03 32:30

But if you if somebody were explaining your type of work to somebody, how would they explain it? Beautiful hat. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 32:42

Yeah, we blend a little bit of like some Italian tradition shapes, but that's it doesn't come in any hat. But we blend some of that, like a lighter weight hat, uh lighter weight fedora, like my grandpa used to wear, um with some more like more modern California, a little western.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

Yeah. Um and then in this day and age where everything is faster and and and um you know quicker, what is the importance of being able to work with your hands and make something slowly the right way? I mean, good things that take time, you know.

SPEAKER_04 33:18

So if you want something fast, you order on Amazon and you get it delivered after four hours. But you don't know how it's made, you don't know where it's made, you don't know how long it's gonna last. That's the I think I find the pleasure to wait. You know, if you order a nice car and you have to wait six months, you're excited. Yeah, if you have it in your hands right away, I think part of that pleasure is waiting for the pleasure.

SPEAKER_03 33:45

Yeah. Yeah, I feel the same way about uh shooting film.

SPEAKER_04 33:48

Yeah. Where does the name come from? So uh Busto is my last name. And so I told you I didn't want to do anything marketing related. Yeah, so I hired this friend of mine, he's like an amazing designer, Jack. He is from Italy, but he was living in I think in New York at the time. And I I love his style, I love his point of view. And I said, Jack, this is what I'm doing. I don't want to think about it, like figure out something. And he came out with Busto and Sun, because the sun is the reason why we come to California, yeah. And also as an immigrant, I like the idea that it can feel like a misspelling. It's like, oh, it's kind of like brother wrong, you know. Yeah, and uh and the lion is the symbol of Venice, Italy, which is where I come from. Beautiful, and it's all I you know, I used to have like longer hair, so it was a little resembling also myself, yeah. And also the lion is like a fascinating animal, you know, is the king of the forest, it's powerful, but it's like elegant and calm at the same time. Yeah, you know, he showed power with this, you know, being calm. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 34:53

If there is somebody young or old that is listening or watching this and they want to get into hat making, what would you what advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_04 35:02

I mean, how I started like look the whole hats, disassemble and put them together a million times. And you'll see and you'll learn so many stuff that now you can't see in most of the hats you can buy. And that was the biggest lesson I learned, you know, seeing when the things were well made and made to last make you understand how you want to make it and how to make it, and also learn from your mistakes, you know. I think I don't believe in the shortcuts, uh because when you don't do the mistake yourself, you'll never learn. Yeah, if someone tells you how to do something without like a critical point of view, you just become like a machine. So you do whatever you have been told. Yeah, but if you learn and try and try to find the solutions, I think that's also the fantastic part of you know doing something with your hand. That when you find the solutions, oh that's cool. And now how can I make it better or how can I make it different? And so you go deeper into that, you know. It's not you're applying a rule, you're like creating your own rule, you know. And everybody has their own, you know. I like a specific way to do one thing, and someone can like other stuff, so that's why I like to try everything.

SPEAKER_03 36:15

Yeah, where do you pull your inspiration from?

SPEAKER_04 36:18

I mean 99.9999% from people, you know. I love to talk to people to learn about them and make the hat about them. So that's that's uh one of um one of our signature designs is this one here is the shark bite. Uh-huh. So when I was um I was here in 2001, one day I was at the beach, and this guy walked out of the water with a surfboard and with the design of a shark bite.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Uh huh.

SPEAKER_04 36:47

So I went there and I said, Oh, such a cool design. And he said, It's not a design. He pulled up his pants and the shark bite was like the continuation between his leg and the board. Oh wow. And he told me the scar is my protection. So I I surf always with this board because you know, it protects me. And I was not making hats of, you know, I didn't even start my career at the time. But then, you know, 10 years after when I was thinking about you know the biggest moment, the emotional moment of my life where I could like bring some emotion out. And I remembered that moment. And that became one of my signature designs because it was tied to such an emotional conversation. And a lot of people like it. It's a little rock and roll, a little aggressive, but also the meaning that this car is our protection, yeah, I think it's very powerful. And you know, at the end of the day, we are who we are thanks to our scar, to our, you know, to our you know, life. And it's not always roses, but sometimes our scars. And if you show them with pride, you can you know grow into that.

SPEAKER_03 37:54

Yeah. What do you think he meant by it was his protection? Because it reminds him that he can get what what exactly do you think he meant?

SPEAKER_04 38:00

I think he meant that you know, that one was kind of like it will create the shield, you know, being bit one time. It's like, okay, this is my shield. I know I went through, I you know, I overcome that situation, yeah, and I don't fear it anymore. You know, so that's uh that's something we need to remember. It's like dropping your bike the first time.

SPEAKER_03 38:21

You're like, oh, it didn't come, I didn't die, it didn't come apart. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 38:25

Oh, the little scratch at the beginning, the first time, the little scratch becomes like, you know, like not forgivable. And then after you know a few years, it's you know, it's like your helmet, you drop your helmet, you know, it's like yeah, part of the game.

SPEAKER_03 38:38

So you've made I don't know how many hats. How how do you stay inspired to make each hat each day?

SPEAKER_04 38:49

I think you know, most of our work is like custom. So every person is different, yeah. And every moment of their life is different. So sometimes the same person comes to design uh a hat in different moments of their life in different stages. Sometimes it's a celebration of a moment, sometimes it's overcoming like a tough moment, and so they're always different, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:12

Yeah. And I I I like to ask my guests this a lot. Um, do you take time to appreciate the fact that you came here from another country and now you're sitting in this shop that is 100% you? And you're able to, you did change your career and you are making hats, and you are part of a community now, um, so far away from where you're actually from. Do you do you often take time to appreciate that?

SPEAKER_04 39:43

Uh I'll take it right now. Thank you for the question. No, I don't. I I feel this is my home and I live like I always lived here and I belonged here. And you know, I already knew how to do it. You know, I I feel blessed about that. You know, I I don't have a I don't have a but I love you know there are a lot of people that recognize that. And uh that is also another way to feed your creativity and your stamina and you know overcome your fears and your your doubts and keep going.

SPEAKER_03 40:15

Yeah. Have you had the conversation with your mom about like, oh, you know, I used to see you stitch and now I'm making it with my hands.

SPEAKER_04 40:20

Yeah, I mean I made a hat for her like after two or three years, I think. Yeah, it took me a while. I wanted to make it perfect. Yeah, uh, yeah, but I mean that that was like a big part of, you know, she had like this little sewing machine, so but I loved at the time I remember I loved to stitch by hands with her in front of the fireplace in the winter time. Yeah, does she still stitch a little bit? Uh yeah, yeah, yeah. She's uh sometimes I remember like it was a few years ago I went back to Italy, it was like October with like a military jacket, and it was way colder than I I you know I thought. Yeah, and so it was so cold and it was the only jacket I had. And so I, you know, I have so much stuff, I don't want to buy again. And so we went to the fabric store with her, and we got this uh Fox uh um uh fur, and she relined my military jacket, and it became the warmest jacket I have. Yeah, you know, so it was one of the magical moments, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:21

Awesome. I feel like I can talk to you forever. What um what should people know when if they want to come here and have a custom hat made?

SPEAKER_04 41:31

I mean, a hat is not, you know, it's not something we need, it's something we feel. And you know, if you want to feel different, if you want change, if you want to celebrate something, design a hat. You know, I think uh it's one of those things that you remember forever and it will be with you forever or with someone you love forever.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

And when people come, should they have an idea?

SPEAKER_04 41:54

Should they have a I mean we have two different three different uh people, people that doesn't have any idea, and so we guide them through the you know through the process. People that have some ideas or they bring you know their grandmother's card for something that they want to incorporate, they don't know how, and people that has very clear idea. We prefer if you come and just you know create your idea while we talk. Because you know, sometimes you can't come knowing already what's all the options and how it's gonna look. So just come, spend some time. Usually you spend like an hour chatting together, like me and you, like that. Yeah, and then we'll discover each other and we'll discover what you want.

SPEAKER_03 42:35

Yeah, perfect. Uh, I forgot to ask you this. I I saw that you had a TED talk, but it's in Italian, so I didn't understand any of it. What was the TED talk about?

SPEAKER_04 42:44

It was about like this transformation, pretty much. That how I, you know, from a marketing executive, I started making hats. And um, yeah, uh, I I think, you know, especially in Italy, it was a very powerful argument because you know, we live like in a, as I told you, in a very, you know, tight and um and solid society that doesn't like see changing like very easily. Like, you know, I know a lot of people that have the same career for like 34 years, and because the fear of changing or because the fear of other people's judgment. And I think um the the best feedback I had after the TED Talk was this 18-year-old kid. He came to me and said, Thank you. This is exactly what I don't know what I want to do in my life. I said, You're 18 years old. You know, I don't even know right now what I want to do, you know. But that was the that was the feeling of an 18-year-old kid that he thinks that he had to have everything figured out.

SPEAKER_03 43:40

You know, and so I think if I I help that kid, that's I won, you know, like almost uh um what do you think the marketing version of you would think of the version of you today?

SPEAKER_04 43:53

That guy is crazy. What the hell are you doing? No, I I I don't know. I think I always loved you know different. And I never loved to be like in the same lane of everybody else. So I wanted to in some way be different and see different. And um and I think I looked for it in some way. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you, Amir. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 44:23

Thank you for listening to Shoe Wisely. If you found something in this conversation that inspired you, moved you, or made you think a little differently, please share it with someone who might need to hear it. Your support means a lot and it truly helps the show grow. If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and leave a review or comment on your favorite podcast platform. Those small actions make a big difference and help more people discover these conversations. I'm your host, Amir Bahimi. And remember, create with intention, live with curiosity, and always shoot wisely.