PHOENIX — Founders of a Phoenix hat startup are hoping the hype around the Suns will help get their product in the hands of fans.
Noggin Boss makes giant, fun hats for all kinds of events and sports teams.
A pair of best friends, Gabe Cooper and Sean Starner, started the company in early 2020. They launched at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February.
"Just the exposure at that event, it was priceless," said Cooper.
Soon after, COVID-19 hit and all other events were canceled.
"To have the whole world shut down after that was a little heartbreaking. We were actually supposed to go on a Shark Tank casting call, and that got scrapped," said Cooper.
Now that sports are back, Noggin Boss has been getting some attention.
"The Arizona Cardinals -- they ordered a bunch to take to the NFL draft in Cleveland, so it was super rad to see on ESPN the Noggins just sprayed everywhere," said Cooper.
They've partnered with the Cardinals and now have the rights to print the team logo. They're hoping to do the same with the Phoenix Suns. The team gave them permission to print the Suns logo on a few hats to see how they look. They're donating the Noggins back to the team.
"We just want to provide the fans with a way to engage and support the team in ways they've never done before. We really feel this is the new foam finger in sports, and we just want to show people why Arizona and Phoenix is number one," said Cooper.
"It's a great opportunity for us and we feel extremely blessed to be a part of the partnership with them," said Starner.
Cooper and his son were at Game 2 at Phoenix Suns Arena wearing their hats and ended up on the jumbotron. Cooper said they got great feedback from both fans and team reps.
"The end goal is to be at every single stadium, every single arena across the country -- whether it's professional sports or collegiate sports, we just want our brand Noggin Boss to be out there," said Starner.
Noggin Boss will make hats for teams, nonprofits, events, conferences or individual orders. You can customize your order online. Hats cost $65.
Learn more about Noggin Boss here.
