Aviate speaks of ‘focusing on the future’ at Homewood Chamber Luncheon

Despite facing adversity, Aviate, a travel brand located in Homewood, has found success.

In the three short years they’ve been open, owner Ben Lancaster has led his business — which currently features high-end hats with airport codes on them — to a growth of more than 600 percent. 

But, as he revealed at Homewood’s monthly Chamber of Commerce Luncheon on Feb. 20, he and his company faced many challenges along the way.

Lancaster and his former partner first started the brand in May 2015 with the idea to put airport codes on hats. He first thought of the idea while he was still working with his family’s business in Gadsden and described starting the business while having a job as a “cliché entrepreneur story of sleeping two to three hours per night.”

The hats and his business, however, moved forward to share the concept of “loving where you’re from and loving where you’re going,” Lancaster said.

Originally, the hats were sold in cities that he had connections to and they were made domestically, Lancaster said. But that pushed the prices of individual hats up to $60, so he worked with another business connection in Nashville to start mass production of Aviate’s products. That led him to a production company in China, where he ultimately tested and signed for 55,000 units.

All of the units, however, were “nonperforming goods,” Lancaster said, and the production company would not refund or credit the order despite sending him hats that were not the same high quality as the test products. The business connection who organized the production then told him he was “going to have to sell what you could.”

Aviate soon had to change their policies when customers began requesting refunds as the hats were sold. Eventually, Aviate brought in a lawyer for litigation before moving everything to do with production and distribution to Tuscaloosa.

As the company grew, Lancaster said he ultimately made the decision to leave his family’s company to fully invest his time into Aviate. Today, the brand is sold in about 525 retailers across the country and the company has been a part of the Golden Globes and Country Music Awards swag bags for two and three years, respectively.

“Now, where we are is focusing on the future,” Lancaster said. As part of his plan to be the “premiere travel brand,” including the addition of high-end luggage, he wants to stay local and continue working hard.

“Aviate wouldn’t be what it is today if [we] didn’t take a risk to get to where we are,” Lancaster said before looking at the growth numbers from the first few years. “As long as we keep working and keep our heads down and all that, 2018 should be an explosive year, as well.”