The name came first.
Faustine (pronounced Faw-steen) is my middle name, passed down through generations. The story goes that my grandparents, a painter and an architect, fell in love with the Temple of Faustina in Italy in the 1960s. They named my mother Chelon Faustine, who then gifted the name to me. It carries creativity, history, and a little romance. And now, it names the hats I sew.
The hats came from the sea.
Faustine Fine Goods started as a one-woman workshop on my 52-foot sailboat: a floating millinery, one woman, one sewing machine. I first began stitching hats after craving something functional yet joyful: a brim with both flair and sun protection. With my grandmothers' sewing wisdom in my hands, I shaped the earliest versions for myself. They made me feel like summer, even when sailing the depths of the Southern Ocean.
When strangers started stopping me on land to ask, "Where did you get that hat?"… I realized the joy could be shared.
Then the family came aboard.
When the workshop outgrew the boat, my sister Emma joined as Chief of Atelier Operations, bringing the structure to match the vision. Two women, one name, and a shared belief that the most luxurious thing an object can do is outlast the moment it was made for.
Rooted in Old Florida.
I'm a fourth-generation Floridian, and there's a thread of Old Florida woven through everything we make. Breezy porches, palmetto, citrus groves, seashells, and the kind of sun-drenched summers where terry cloth towels were practically a family heirloom.
How every hat begins.
Every hat starts with a rescued vintage towel. Sourced by me, and often lovingly scouted by grandmothers and aunties across the U.S. and Australia. These towels, once destined for landfill, are transformed into wearable sunshine. Each hat is cut, stitched, and finished by hand. Slowly. One at a time. The way things were made before speed became the point.
What we believe.
Beautiful things deserve more than one life. That's the heart of everything we do. Sophie Faustine is an environmental scientist by background, so care for the Earth isn't a marketing position, it's a conviction. Every vintage towel we transform is embodied energy already spent: water, labor, fibers given a second life.
We believe that joy is a form of elegance. That whimsy, worn well, is its own kind of confidence. And that kindness, in how we make things, how we speak, how we show up, is where real luxury begins.
Handmade in Sarasota, Florida.
