Julia Vilariño

I am Julia Vilariño, an artisan hatmaker. I am in Pontedeume, A Coruña, I have a workshop in a village on the outskirts of town, surrounded by nature. I just launched my first collection of hats, website and online store.

I studied fashion styling, I am a social worker and I have been with the hat shop for 3 years, I arrived by chance and fell in love with the trade, thanks to my teacher Felix de Martin.

I make headgear with the traditional techniques of the trade, I want to preserve the essence of headgear, adapting it to the current moment and to my Galician essence.

My business objectives are:

I want to make a living from it, do my bit so that the profession recovers its splendour, and get people to find their ideal hat and wear it more often. Become a reference in the sector.

My learnings from the Crafting Business Programme:

It has been three intense months, with a lot of learning and assimilation. Intense classes, which moved me a lot, made me change my vision from an artisan to a businesswoman. Especially the financial issue helped me lay a solid foundation and know-how to focus.
How to run the company, marketing or commercialization, and redirect me if things don’t go as expected. Now with everything clear, let’s go!

My 5 top tips that I have learnt on this journey:

1. Be prepared to redirect things if they do not go as expected, to do so set measurable goals
2. Take the financial issue to the millimetre and focus on what is profitable
3. Create a work schedule, especially for tasks that are not workshop tasks and cost more
4. It is important to associate and support each other with other artisans, the union is strength
5. Be yourself, do not copy, look for your differential value and bet on it