The h Cap - Story behind the design
A Constant in Motion
This hat was originally supposed to be a Lunar New Year release.
When I began designing it for the Year of the Horse, I kept thinking about what the horse represented to me: freedom, movement, independence, and the courage to choose your own direction.
When I began designing it for the Year of the Horse, I kept thinking about what the horse represented to me: freedom, movement, independence, and the courage to choose your own direction.
Those ideas brought me back to 2014.
That was the year my second daughter was born. It was also the year I decided to break away from the path I had been following and leave my nine-to-five career in IT to pursue entrepreneurship full-time.
My job gave me stability. Walking away from it meant stepping directly into instability, without knowing what would happen next.
But through sports, I learned that instability is not always a bad thing. Sometimes it is the catalyst that forces your body to adapt. It challenges your balance, activates the muscles beneath the surface, and trains you to build a stronger core.
And in my own core, I felt that I needed to make this change.
I wanted freedom.
Not the version of freedom that gets packaged and sold online. I was not trying to escape responsibility or avoid work. I wanted more control over how I lived. I did not want to ask for permission to rest, or to miss the moments when my children needed me. I did not want their childhood to pass while I waited for someone else to approve my time away.
So I took my first small step into entrepreneurship.
It may have looked small from the outside, but it did not feel small to me. I was leaving something dependable for a life I could not predict. I was scared, and I did not have everything figured out. I only knew that the direction felt right.
That was what eventually led me to Planck's constant.
In physics, Planck's constant is written as a single lowercase letter: h. The same letter that carries my brand. It is one of the smallest numbers in all of science, yet nothing in the universe works without it. Energy, light, motion—all of it rests on a value so tiny most people never think about it.
That is exactly why it stayed with me. Real progress often begins with something so small that other people may not even notice it.
One thought. One decision. One action.
A small step can change the direction of an entire life.
I wanted that idea to sit at the center of this hat.
I also wanted the design to explain what həsəl represents, even when reduced to a single letter.
The lowercase "h" stands alone on the front. It is simple and quiet, but it still carries the full identity of the brand—and the full weight of that constant. That felt honest, because many journeys begin the same way: alone, without applause, without certainty, without anyone fully understanding where you are trying to go.
You begin with what you have. You move with what you know. Then you figure out the rest along the way.
The colors were chosen with intention. They represent Southern California, the place I live and the environment that continues to shape both me and the brand. They are also connected to USC, where my wife works.
She is a big part of my həsəl pack, or should I say herd.
Horses are powerful on their own, but there is something different about moving together. My wife and my children have always reminded me that even during the loneliest parts of this journey, I was never truly doing it alone.
That is why I underlined the "h."
The line represents their support beneath me. They may not be able to prevent every fall, but they are always there to keep me from falling all the way down.
The hat was supposed to release in early February for Lunar New Year. Manufacturing delays pushed it into the summer.
At first, that was frustrating. The original timing was part of the story, and missing that window made me question where the hat belonged. But as the delays continued, I realized the process was asking me to practice the exact message I had built into the design.
Keep moving forward.
Sometimes progress was just another email. Another adjustment. Another sample. Another delay to work through. The release date changed, but the direction never did.
And somewhere along the way, the hat became more than a Lunar New Year piece.
The Year of the Horse may have started the idea, but its meaning was never meant to belong to one holiday, one season, or one year. It is about freedom, movement, courage, support, and the internal force that keeps pulling us toward the life we know we are supposed to build.
That is something you can carry with you any day of your life.
This hat is a reminder that progress does not have to look impressive to be real. You do not need to see the entire path before you begin. You do not need perfect timing, and you do not need to have everything figured out.
You only need a direction.
Regardless of what is happening around you, keep moving forward. Even when the steps feel small. Even when the plan changes. Even when the moment arrives later than you expected.
A small action still creates movement. Movement creates momentum. And momentum can eventually carry you toward the life you once only imagined.
It's the Year of the Fire Horse. Keep that fire burning inside you.
Because the ones who move on their own—the ones who never quite line up with everyone else—are the ones who end up somewhere new.
Outliers Never Correlate.