FROM IDEA TO LAUNCH
I'm Vlady, the founder of BRIMBACK, well known rapper and a member of Kasta, a famous group that immigrated from Russia to Europe in 2022 due to our opposition to putin's invasion of Ukraine and the personal repression we faced. Here is my story of BRIMBACK.
One can easily imagine a baseball cap with a round visor. But it didn't exist. I googled it 10 years ago and 5 years ago. Nothing. So, I decided to create it. I contacted 60 hat factories, but all said they don't make it. I found a few attentive ones, not from Russia, who were willing to try producing a cap based on my patterns — and clearly understood it wasn’t a bucket hat. I thought about patenting it. It's long and expensive, but eventually, I received full protection from WIPO for my design of FULL BRIM BASEBALL CAP in the EU, US, CN, RF, and etc. So my cap designs were officially registered and patented to me. Since then, I’ve seen some clumsily handmade or half-baked round-brim Yankee caps — but of course, that’s definitely not that cool.
The IDEA is a classic fitted baseball cap we used to wear — the shape, stitches, eyelets, and material are the same — not fedoras, not bucket hats, not helmets. But the brim is going 360° around the crown, stiff and flat. That’s where the freshness and charm appear — something regular caps don't have. We coined the new word "BRIMBACK", derived from SNAPBACK, with a "brim" instead of a "snap".
ENTERPRISE IN EXILE
When my country became a late-putinist state and invaded Ukraine, we publicly protested against the war. Our concerts and public activities were banned by the authorities, and soon we became immigrants — to remain free rap artists and speak openly. That's what we now do everywhere we tour, from Canada to New Zealand and from Portugal to Thailand. Immigration, and the fact that my country is a war-crime aggressor, is a source of grief. Building a new rap-style enterprise in Cyprus (EU) helps me cope with it. That’s why I established BRIMBACK LTD — a genuine brand of round-brim baseball caps.
I went through a tough quest: a new company, employees, production in China, ocean freights, quality inspections, customs, online retail, and marketing. All while managing the migration challenges that millions of Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Russians face now. And I made it, and it works, thanks to my long experience as the head of Respect Production record label.
My fans and Kasta’s fans didn’t learn about BRIMBACK right away — only in 2024. I never hid it, but since it’s not a Russian-language project and is an international brand, I didn’t focus the fans on it. Plus, FedEx doesn’t deliver to Russia and Belarus (though it still delivers to Ukraine, thankfully). But when so many great people supported me, wearing our cool hats and knowing the story, I announced Brimback widely. Welcome to our store — try a round-brim baseball cap that’s now worn by people all over the world: www.brimback.com.