What started with a laser etcher, a piece of leather and a little experimentation eventually became Authentic Leather Patch Company.
There wasn't a master plan in 2015 to build a custom headwear company. We were simply curious about what we could make.
One leather patch led to another. Rivets led to stitching. A sewing machine led to a production shop. And eventually, leather patch hats led us into embroidery, live events, mobile customization, licensing partnerships and entirely new ways of decorating leather.
More than a decade later, a lot has changed.
But the reason we started and the way we believe a great hat should be made hasn't.
This is the story of how ALPCo got here.
2015: It Started With a Piece of Leather
In 2015, we began experimenting with a laser etcher and different materials.
Eventually, we tried leather.
There was something about it that immediately felt different. Leather had texture. Character. It developed its own personality as it aged. And when a logo was etched into it, the end result didn't feel like another piece of promotional merchandise.
It felt like something you'd actually want to wear.
Our first leather patches were attached to hats with rivets. They looked good, but we thought there had to be a better way to finish them.
So we brought a batch of patches to a local saddle stitcher.
That changed everything.
The thick thread around the leather completely transformed the look. It made the patch feel intentional, handcrafted and substantial.
More importantly, it gave us an idea.
What if this wasn't just an experiment?
What if there was an opportunity to build a better custom hat?
2016: Bringing the Stitching In-House
As more local businesses started asking us to make leather patch hats for them, we quickly realized that relying on someone else to stitch every patch wasn't going to work.
So in 2016, we bought our first sewing machine and brought the process in-house.
That decision ended up shaping a major part of what Authentic Leather Patch Company would eventually become.
It allowed us to control the details.
The placement.
The stitching.
The thread.
The consistency.
And the overall quality of the finished hat.
There were plenty of mistakes and plenty of learning along the way, but we began developing a process that was distinctly ours.
We weren't interested in finding the fastest way to attach a patch to a hat.
We wanted to find the best way.
2017: Authentic Leather Patch Company Is Born
By 2017, what had started as a side experiment had become a real business.
Authentic Leather Patch Company officially launched.
The idea was simple: make custom leather patch hats using real leather, stitch the patches to the hats, pay attention to the details and create something people would genuinely want to wear.
That last part has always mattered to us.
A branded hat can have the perfect logo and still fail if nobody wants to put it on.
We've always believed the best branded hats should feel like apparel first and advertising second.
If someone loves the hat, they'll wear it.
If they wear it, your brand gets seen.
And every impression starts adding up.
That philosophy still influences nearly everything we do today.
2018–2019: Learning How to Grow Without Losing the Craft
As orders increased, the challenge changed.
We weren't just figuring out how to make leather patch hats anymore.
We had to figure out how to make more of them without sacrificing what made them special in the first place.
We added team members.
We added equipment.
We expanded our leather options.
We improved our production processes and continued learning which hats, materials and techniques created the best finished products.
Some of those lessons came easily.
A lot of them didn't.
Growing a manufacturing business means discovering new problems almost as quickly as you solve the old ones. But those years helped build the foundation of the production shop we have today.
The business was getting bigger.
The details still had to matter.
2020–2021: Learning to Adapt
Then came 2020.
Like businesses everywhere, we suddenly found ourselves dealing with challenges nobody had planned for.
A global pandemic.
Supply-chain disruptions.
Hat shortages.
Constantly changing conditions.
It forced us to become more adaptable.
When one hat wasn't available, we found another.
When a process stopped working, we built a new one.
When circumstances changed, our team figured out how to keep moving.
Those years reinforced something that has become part of ALPCo's DNA:
Keep figuring it out.
That mentality helped get us through two incredibly unpredictable years and positioned the company for the growth that came next.
2022: Five Years of ALPCo
In 2022, Authentic Leather Patch Company celebrated its fifth anniversary.
It was also our biggest year yet.
Looking back, it was a meaningful milestone.
Five years earlier, we were trying to determine whether people would even want leather patches stitched onto hats.
Now we had a growing team, more equipment, more customers and businesses across the country trusting us with their brands.
But we weren't interested in simply doing more of the same.
We were starting to ask a new question:
Where else could we take this?
2023: Taking Authentic Leather Patch Company on the Road
In 2023, we started bringing the ALPCo experience directly to events.
Instead of customers only seeing a finished hat arrive in a box, they could watch the process happen in front of them.
Patches were made.
Hats were stitched.
Guests could choose their look and walk away wearing something created specifically for the event.
It changed the way we thought about custom headwear.
A hat didn't have to simply be merchandise.
Making the hat could become part of the experience.
That opened the door to corporate events, conferences, trade shows, activations and other opportunities where custom hats could become something people interacted with instead of something they were simply handed.
And it ultimately led to an even bigger investment in taking ALPCo mobile.
2024: A New Kind of Partnership
In 2024, we entered our first licensing partnership with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force.
For a company that began by experimenting with pieces of leather, seeing officially licensed designs come through our shop was a milestone we were extremely proud of.
It also represented something larger.
ALPCo had grown beyond making hats for local businesses.
We were now working with national brands, organizations and licensing partners while still producing products using many of the same principles we started with:
Real materials.
Attention to detail.
Quality craftsmanship.
And hats that people actually want to wear.
2025: Going Mobile and Adding Embroidery
In 2025, we took another major step forward with the addition of our mobile ALPCo trailer.
Instead of simply bringing equipment to an event, we could now pull up with an entire mobile hat-making experience.
The trailer gave us the ability to bring ALPCo directly to companies, events and activations in a way we couldn't before.
That same year, we also expanded our production capabilities by adding custom embroidery.
Leather patches will always be at the heart of our company, but embroidery opened another creative lane for our customers.
Front embroidery.
Side logos.
Back text.
Puff embroidery.
And combinations of embroidery and leather that allow brands to use multiple areas of a hat instead of treating the front panel as the only place that matters.
Our goal wasn't to become another embroidery shop.
It was to give our customers more ways to make a genuinely great hat.
2026: Introducing Premium Authentic Press
In 2026, we introduced one of the biggest evolutions of our leather patch offering yet:
Premium Authentic Press.
Instead of relying only on laser etching, Authentic Press allows us to create leather patches using traditional pressing techniques.
Gold foil.
Silver foil.
Specialty foils.
And branded leather with the artwork physically pressed into the material.
The result is a completely different look and feel.
There's depth.
Texture.
Reflectivity.
And the kind of tactile quality that is difficult to appreciate until you actually hold one.
For us, Authentic Press represents what ALPCo has always been about.
We aren't trying to find the cheapest possible way to put a logo on a hat.
We're constantly looking for ways to make the finished product more interesting, more premium and more wearable.
Sometimes that means embracing new technology.
Other times it means bringing an old-school process back in a new way.
More Than Leather Patch Hats
Today, Authentic Leather Patch Company looks very different from the little experiment that started in 2015.
We make custom leather patch hats.
We embroider hats.
We create Premium Authentic Press patches.
We travel to live events.
We operate mobile hat experiences.
We work with small businesses, national organizations, outdoor brands, breweries, contractors, ranches, nonprofits, retailers and companies across countless industries.
Our shop has more machines.
Our team has grown.
Our capabilities have expanded.
But when we look at how far ALPCo has come, the part we're proudest of isn't necessarily the equipment or the number of hats we've produced.
It's that we've managed to grow without abandoning the things that made us different in the beginning.
What Hasn't Changed
We still believe real leather matters.
We still believe stitching a leather patch to a hat creates a better finished product than simply adhering one.
We still obsess over the little details that most people probably never think about.
We still believe there is a difference between merchandise someone receives and apparel someone chooses to wear.
And we're still experimenting.
That may actually be the most consistent part of our entire story.
The laser etcher was an experiment.
Leather was an experiment.
Saddle stitching was an experiment.
Live events were an experiment.
The trailer was an experiment.
Embroidery was another expansion.
Authentic Press started with the same question that has driven us from the beginning:
What if we tried this?
What's Next for Authentic Leather Patch Company?
We don't know exactly what the next ten years of ALPCo will look like.
That's part of what makes this fun.
There will be new hat styles.
New decoration techniques.
New partnerships.
New equipment.
New events.
And probably a few ideas that sound a little crazy when we first talk about them.
If our history is any indication, we'll keep experimenting, keep improving and keep looking for better ways to help brands create hats people genuinely want to wear.
Because after all these years, the mission really hasn't changed.
Make something great. Make it authentic. Make it worth wearing.
It's been a pretty incredible journey from that first piece of leather.
And we still feel like we're just getting started.
Frequently Asked Questions About Authentic Leather Patch Company
When was Authentic Leather Patch Company founded?
Authentic Leather Patch Company officially launched in 2017 after beginning to experiment with custom leather patches in 2015 and bringing the stitching process in-house in 2016.
What does Authentic Leather Patch Company make?
Authentic Leather Patch Company specializes in custom leather patch hats, custom embroidery, Premium Authentic Press leather patches and live custom hat experiences for businesses, organizations, events and brands.
Does Authentic Leather Patch Company use real leather?
Yes. Real leather has been central to ALPCo since the company's earliest experiments with leather patches. The natural texture, character and way leather ages are all part of what makes each finished hat unique.
Are ALPCo leather patches stitched to the hats?
Yes. Stitching has been part of the ALPCo look since the company's earliest days. The patches are stitched to the hats using heavy thread to create a durable, handcrafted finish.
Does Authentic Leather Patch Company offer custom embroidery?
Yes. ALPCo added custom embroidery in 2025, allowing customers to create fully embroidered hats or combine embroidery with custom leather patches.
What is Premium Authentic Press?
Premium Authentic Press is ALPCo's premium leather decoration process introduced in 2026. It includes foil options and branded leather that create added texture, depth and detail compared with traditional laser-etched patches.
Does Authentic Leather Patch Company offer live event hat customization?
Yes. ALPCo offers live custom hat experiences and mobile event capabilities that allow companies to bring hat customization directly to conferences, trade shows, corporate events and brand activations.
Ready to Make Something Worth Wearing?
Whether you're looking for custom leather patch hats, embroidery, Premium Authentic Press or a live hat experience, we'd love to help bring your idea to life.
Start your custom hat project with Authentic Leather Patch Company.
