Photograph by Alex Martinez
James Keith wanted to wear a fedora with his outfit for New Year’s Eve 2015, but he couldn’t find one that quite fit the bill. Instead of shrugging off that disappointment, he began sketching one on paper, adding a striking red under the brim for a punch of color. It took a few tries to find the right manufacturer (a company in business for 180 years), but a year after he conceived his design, he finally got the hat he wanted on his head.
He wore it out immediately, and the reception was overwhelming, which got Keith thinking. “I’d never had everyone compliment me like that before, and I thought, Wow, I think I need to create a brand for this,” he says. On the back of that one fateful night—and hat—he founded his brand, Keith James.
While his name is now synonymous with style, Keith grew up far from the spotlight, in Riegelwood, a tiny town in North Carolina where the population hovers around 700. It’s not the launch pad one expects from a successful fashion brand, but Keith was interested in style from an early age.
Photograph by Christopher Andreou
His father and grandfather—both named James—grew up in the church and emphasized the importance of looking your Sunday best. “We always got dressed up to go to church, and that meant putting a hat on,” says Keith. (Plus, “I’m bald now too—I’ve got to cover that up,” he quips.) The brand name is an ode to his family, as it puts his last name and all its history first.
Even as Keith earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and an MBA, entrepreneurship was always top of mind. He sold clothing, including hats, out of the back of his car in college and worked in a wide range of settings, from a tax preparation office to the men’s floor at Saks Fifth Avenue in Atlanta. His lack of experience as a fashion designer didn’t deter him from creating his fedora.
Keith makes it seem so simple, and indeed, the brand has had a relatively straightforward path. Celebrities organically found him on Instagram, where he has been posting shots of his style for some time. (Keith has over 100,000 followers and regularly posts celebrities wearing his hats, as well as new styles and highly styled photos of himself in dapper outfits.) “People embraced it quickly,” he says. “I think people embrace what they like, and it was an easy sell for me because the product is so good. I didn’t have to do too much. Celebrities reached out to me.” His clientele now includes A-listers such as Beyoncé, LeBron James, Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, and Martha Stewart, who owns the Queen fedora in golden honey and jet black.
Photograph by Latrelle Yancey
Another high-profile customer is none other than accessories designer Christian Louboutin, whose iconic shade of red is similar but not exact to Keith’s. Louboutin and Keith met at an Art Basel event at the Christian Louboutin boutique in the Miami Design District. “I had my hat on, and he was amazed by it,” says Keith. “He said he loved it and needed one for himself. The next thing I know, he’s doing photo shoots wearing my hats.”
His signature red underbrim didn’t come about by chance. The hue has significance for Keith. “It represents unity and love. I call the brim the circle of love.” That style is carried through in the fall 2024 line. The collection features staples such as the King, a classic fedora with a two-and-a-half-inch curled brim available in more than 20 colors, including hot pink, tiger orange, and trendy canary yellow, and the Queen, a fedora with a wide, flat red brim and a teardrop crown, also available in a bevy of colors.
Newer styles include the Western, as seen on Beyoncé, which features a five-inch curved red brim, and the Bucket, a lightweight nylon style. Keith has branched out beyond classic hat shapes to include beanies, fragrances, sunglasses, belts, silk scarves, and leather goods such as top-handle bags, backpacks, duffels, totes, and wallets, all at the request of his discerning customers. “Accessories are the key pieces to an outfit,” he says. “All our [other] accessories go hand in hand to complement the hats.”
Photograph by Leonardo Calistri
Photograph by Leonardo Calistri
Keith moved to Atlanta from North Carolina for a relationship that didn’t work out, but he ultimately chose to stay and create his business here. He now splits his time between Los Angeles, for its industry and opportunities, and Atlanta, where he spends about one week a month, partly to visit his family here. His adopted hometown will forever be a draw thanks to its sense of community and support. “There are a lot of entrepreneurs in Atlanta, and that helps motivate me to create,” Keith says. “When I first arrived, I saw people who looked like me who were successful, and that gave me more confidence.”
He also loves the accessibility the city has to offer. “I don’t think I could have started Keith James anywhere other than here,” he says. “It’s all about the mixing and the mingling. Something is going on every day, and people know how to enjoy themselves. There’s visibility, and people like to dress up here.”
This article appears in our January 2025 issue.
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