Apparel business soaring

They say there’s no place like home, and one Homewood business wants to make it easier for people to take a piece of home with them on the road.

Aviate, headquartered in downtown Homewood, is best known for its airport code hats that allow the wearer to show off the city of their choice.

Aviate got its start in May 2015, beginning with “BHM” and nine other prominent cities, such as Los Angeles’ “LAX,” owner Ben Lancaster said. 

The first batch of hats, about 2,000 between the 10 cities, were sold in about a month.

In June 2015, Lancaster took over full ownership of the business after splitting with a business partner.

He said he immediately rebranded and got to work, adding another 10 cities and changing the company logo into something he said he believed could go further.

“To me, when I saw it, I didn’t look at the present. I looked at the future,” he said.

In the time between June 2015 and this fall, Aviate has grown to include 100 cities in 22 states — with several celebrities such as Zac Brown and Carrie Underwood requesting hats.

However, Lancaster said he doesn’t plan to stop there. He said his goal isn’t to simply continue adding cities until every airport out there has a hat.

Rather, he said his goal is to transform Aviate into a premium travel brand.

“The airport codes on the hats, they’re always going to be there,” he said.  “[But] we’re currently positioning this company, Aviate, to be a premium travel brand.”

By fall 2017, Lancaster said, Aviate hopes to have a wide variety of premium travel products, including leather goods, luggage, headphones and anything else a traveler might need.

“We basically looked at the travel market and what gaps there are and what needs to be filled, and we’re going to fill that gap with our stuff,” he said.

Lancaster emphasized that the growth process will not simply be taking a prefabricated product, such as a mug, and slapping a logo on it. Aviate’s products, he said, are 100 percent customized and designed in-house.

“We’re in the process of doing everything we need to do to get there,” he said.

Lancaster said while the brand has grown across the country, not many people know about the brand other than recognizing the BHM hats.

“A lot of people think we just do Birmingham stuff, and when they tell them we do other cities, [they] are surprised,” he said.

And while Lancaster said he wants to see the brand continue to grow beyond Birmingham, he said he is happy to be in Homewood.

“This is home to me,” he said. “I’ve been here for 13 years.”

He said it has been his dream for the last 10 years to not only own his own business, but to own one in a place where he could walk to work and enjoy being part of the community.

“I take pride in where I’m from, and that’s kind of what the concept of the company was founded on,” he said.

Aviate products can be found at several retailers throughout Homewood and greater Birmingham, including Pure Barre on 18th Street, which his wife owns, as well as Alabama Outdoors and Gus Mayer. Items also can be purchased online and shipped all over the world.