East Carolina University

12/02/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 12/02/2024 14:19

ECU alumna’s hats are a feather in her business cap

ECU alumna's hats are a feather in her business cap

Briley King '14 did not wait years for the crowning achievement of her fledgling business; she started with one - a handmade trucker hat that can take you from a bad hair day to the red carpet.

The East Carolina University College of Fine Arts and Communication graduate launched Little Bird Trucking in 2023 and put her heart and equity into designing feather-crested trucker hats. The business name and each hat design are stitched with a backstory from the songs of her husband, country musician Marcus King, and her father's long-haul trucking career.

"I was always wearing trucker hats on the road with Marcus because you never know if you're going be able to dry your hair or anything like that," King said. "Watching him play all these venues obviously bled into my style. He always wears a feather crest on his cowboy hats [and I thought] you know what, that would be sick on a trucker hat."

Briley King created Little Bird Trucking and designed the company's signature line of fashion trucker hats. (Contributed photo)

She wanted to give her hats an elevated look, began researching ideas for her specialty designs and started Little Bird Trucking. In the year and a half since, King has designed and sold 10,000 caps.

Her designs include three caps named for Marcus King's songs. Each cap in this classic lineup is emblazoned with a colorful feather crest. Other designs pay tribute to trucking, with pithy sayings like Trucker Hat and crocheted granny squares representing the slow or "granny" lane on highways.

"Everyone looks good in a trucker hat, I think," King said. "I'm notorious for wearing mine with high heels and I'd even wear them with a ball gown. It's wild. I love them so much, maybe too much, honestly."

Pirate treasures

Little Bird Trucking hats are among the picks of the newly launched ECU Alumni Association (ECUAA) Pirate shopping guide. The guide recognizes alumni-owned businesses throughout the country and companies that support the ECUAA.

"We wanted to share our top picks from unique treasures to ECU-themed goodies to make holiday shopping a breeze for Pirates," said Amanda Murer, associate vice chancellor of alumni relations. "Alumni-owned businesses have something special to offer and the holiday shopping guide provided a great opportunity to also announce our alumni-owned business directory."

Murer said alumni can submit their businesses to be included in the directory or search for ECU alumni-owned businesses where they live or where they'll be traveling.

A growing fan base

King's first 300 caps sold out after family and friends began sporting Little Bird Trucking caps and she posted on social media wearing her own feather-crested cap.

King and her Little Bird Trucking line have soared since. Each new collection sells out in hours. The tremendous response to her trucker hat designs has spread beyond being a favorite among family and friends. Little Bird Trucking caps are collecting rave reviews from musicians who see King wearing them.

Post Malone, right, wears his Little Bird Trucking hat while recording music with Dwight Yoakam. (Contributed photo)

King had gifted one of her hats to Lainey Wilson, who wore it while touring with the Marcus King Band. The hat caught the attention of rapper, songwriter Post Malone.

"I wrote [Lainey] a card and made a hat that I thought would look good on her and she loved it, and ended up wearing it," King said. "I'm not sure the exact moment that she ran into Post Malone with it on, but he was like, 'I love that hat, where'd you get it?'"

Word made its way to King that "Post Malone really wanted a hat or two," she said. "So, I sent him like 20 of them, just a whole slew of hats because I didn't know his style."

During the Video Music Awards (VMAs) in September, Post Malone wore his hat on stage when he accepted an award with Taylor Swift.

"My phone started blowing up with all of these people saying Post Malone is wearing your hat," King said. "That screenshot of Post Malone with Taylor Swift and Flavor Flav at the VMAs, now that is forever ingrained in my mind."

A business journey

Founding a fashion business was not the trajectory King expected when she enrolled in the ECU School of Theatre and Dance. "No, this [business] was not on the agenda at all, but it's been a great journey," she said.

The Kinston native imagined she was destined for Broadway. She switched programs and entered the School of Communication with an eye on a media or communication-related field. King entered the corporate world and worked as a communication professional in Charlotte. Corporate hours as a project manager began to clash with time on the road with Marcus and his band.

"All of the courses that I was taking at ECU really gave me the toolkit to be in this position that I am in now," King said. "I give a lot of thanks to Dr. Glenn Hubbard and Dr. Pam Hopkins and Dr. Mary Tucker-McLaughlin. They were instrumental in teaching me all the facets of communication, whether it be interpersonal, on a camera, behind the camera, writing, all the things."

She has leaned on those ECU lessons throughout the launch of Little Bird Trucking. King has been in charge of social media creation, website creation, interviews, marketing and networking in the "hard and scary growth" of her business.

King recently hired a business manager and someone to support order fulfillment and customer service to keep up with demand. A jacket and crewneck sweatshirts will be released this month.

"The attention [the hats] have gotten in such a short period of time has been the biggest shock for me, personally. Oh man, I just hope that it keeps growing," King said. "I've been blessed thus far, and you know the more heads I can get them on, the better."

King said she hopes people feel the authenticity of her business and begin to see "that there's just so much love behind it. Every hat is unique and has a story behind it."

"I love seeing girls in the game day hats, but even moms tailgating and the ECU fans," King said. "It's hard to put my audience and my target person in a box. It just started as females, but men are wearing them now. They're really meant for any and all, especially if you're having a bad hair day."

Fans can follow King on her company Instagram page or learn more on the Little Bird Trucking webpage.

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