Hat Company Features Texas Flavor & Designs

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Hat Company Features Texas Flavor & Designs

Buffaloes and the Texas star on one TRW style.
Buffaloes and the Texas star on one TRW style.
Houston-area native Steven Guerrero has found a new home and passion in Mercedes.
Houston-area native Steven Guerrero has found a new home and passion in Mercedes.

The rows of caps at the TRW Hat Co. have a distinction of design with a Lone Star flavor.

The company’s owner and founder – Steven Gallegos – was born and raised near Houston in LaPorte. He has found a second home and a new passion in Mercedes. The TRW brand stands for Texas Rustic Way. Many TRW designs feature the iconic map outline of Texas, along with longhorns, oilfields and cannons. There are also cap designs specific to law enforcement and blue-collar work in the petroleum and utility fields.

“There are a lot of stores and companies that sell generic hats,” Gallegos said. “We offer something that feels original.”

The Texas-themed and industry-aligned caps are finding a willing market. Gallegos said TRW’s total revenues grew by over 40 percent in 2021 over the previous year. Those are heady growth numbers for a company Gallegos based in Mercedes. The young entrepreneur has become active in the community in helping to launch and run the Queen City Market Days. He says the company is a good fit with the city’s heritage of boot-making and livestock shows. 

Longhorn and ranch imagery are among the cap designs at TRW Hat Co.
Longhorn and ranch imagery are among the cap designs at TRW Hat Co.

“We’re creating and developing our own brand from Mercedes,” Gallegos said. “It’s where I want to be.”

Keeping It Local

The TRW Hat Co. is appropriately enough located on Texas Avenue.

The traditional Texas imagery of cattle, guns, the state flag and the Lone Star state’s iconic map outline are in the over 50 patch designs on TRW hats. The designs are collaborative creations of Gallegos and designer Denise Reyna. The patches are stitched on, in contrast to the direct-to-garment mode of mass-produced caps, Gallegos said. The stitched style lasts longer and looks better, he said.

Gallegos beamed with pride in saying his company has grown large enough to “cut out the middleman,” with TRW now doing all of its stitching and design work in-house at the downtown Mercedes store location. 

“Everything is made here and designed here,” Gallegos said.

The TRW store in Mercedes also offers women's boutique styles and accessories.
The TRW store in Mercedes also offers women’s boutique styles and accessories.

New Ventures 

The Mercedes-based company is reaching out to new revenue streams and opportunities.

It has found a major business partner in San Antonio with the Thirsty Horse Dance Hall & Saloon. Caps created by TRW feature the Thirsty Horse logo along with the name of the Mercedes company. The specialty caps are sold by Thirsty Horse as its souvenir approach. It’s a similar approach 5X5 Brewing Co. of Mission uses along with EZ-Cuts, a hair stylist and barber shop company with multiple Rio Grande Valley locations.

These partnerships are giving TRW added exposure beyond its store and online sales. Gallegos has also forged partnerships with city governments in Edcouch and Mercedes to design cap designs that honor police officers and firefighters in their cities. 

“I see ourselves as more than a basic hat company,” he said of his business, which includes the Mercedes store run by his wife Anissa. The store also sells western-themed boutique clothing steering mainly to women. 

5X5 Brewing turned to TRW to design caps featuring the Mission business.
5X5 Brewing turned to TRW to design caps featuring the Mission business.

Gallegos and his wife have remodeled the Mercedes store, adding lines of new clothing brands in addition to growing the market for their specialty caps. He sees the cap sales that generate the majority of TRW’s revenues as a category that will continue to grow as he carefully selects new partners and outlets to sell his company’s hats. At the same time, he wants to limit quantities of certain cap patch designs to ensure a certain level of exclusivity. 

The snapback and fitted TRW caps generally sell in the $27-to-$35 price range. A walk into the Mercedes store will find customers receiving a warm greeting with good conversation about the array of caps and distinctive patches found on the TRW hats. 

“We want to keep it Texas,” Gallegos said. “Something that when you look at it, you know it’s authentic. When customers buy one of our hats, we want them to feel like they’re wearing something special that will be one of their favorite things to wear.”

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