It’s not a hat,
it’s a movement.
TheHatGirlCo was created as a symbol to help put a stop to sexual violence. The hat is a symbol of privacy and protection, to allow people to feel invisible and essentially tells others around them to just go away.
Whether you are working out at the gym and someone keeps staring at you, or you are solo traveling and don't feel very comfortable, TheHatGirlCo was built to be that item to allow you to shut out the rest of the world & be able to feel comfortable.
The Founder
TheHatGirlCo was founded by an Arizona native, Fabs Abi-Ad and the idea later came to her while she was training at the gym in her then home in Switzerland.
In 2016 Fabs started working out at a new gym in Scottsdale, Arizona. She was always very active in the gym even being a personal trainer and group fitness instructor , so the gym was no new friend to her. Very soon after starting this new gym she wasn't feeling 100% comfortable going. There were trainers who would follow her out in the parking lot, grab her hair as she would walk in and whisper dirty things in her ear, and would train her "for free" thinking that she would later go on a date with them.
One day she met another female in the gym who told her to wear a hat it tells people to leave you alone, so the next day she did, and the feeling she felt after that was incredible. Fabs felt on top of the world, like no one could bother her, she would walk right into that gym and pretend that she didn't even see the PT who was harassing her, the hat started to become her identity so much so that her friends started calling her hat girl.
Fabs started solo traveling and eventually moved to Switzerland to obtain her masters, she was still wearing the hat. One day while working out in her new gym in Switzerland she realized that there was someone else there who would not stop staring at her, and was essentially glued to her side. She became very frustrated because this was her time to workout and this person was bothering her greatly. She turned around and said "hey if you can read my hat then you're too damn close to me" then it hit her... "why don't I create a hat that says that and stands for my privacy, like a closed door, when I am wearing this hat do not bother me." So at the gym in 2021 in Fribourg, Switzerland, TheHatGirlCo was created.
"I never want anyone to feel the way I ever did when I was getting harassed at the gym or during my travels. I understand that checking people out is human nature, but following people, moving with their every move, and everything else is just flat out uncomfortable and wrong. To me, when I put that hat on my head, no it doesn't stop people from still doing that, but it gives me a sense of privacy, like it's just me in there and I can have my space" -Fabienne, founder
