A hand-burned suede hat lettered “NC Rooted” resting on weathered wood at sunset, with a pyrography pen and a horse on the ridge behind.
Wear your roots

Hand-burned. Rooted in NC.
Made for the wild at heart.

Custom designs burned by hand onto suede hats, bags, and shoes. One piece at a time, from Millers Creek, North Carolina.

Handcrafted in Wilkes County

You want a hat that’s actually yours, not one more thing off a shelf that everybody else already has.

That’s the whole idea here. Every design is drawn and burned into the suede by hand, so the highland cow, the wildflowers, the name, the little bit of wild you’re after ends up on your hat and nobody else’s. Pick a ready-made piece, or tell us what you’re dreaming up and we’ll make it real.

Burned by hand
Real pyrography. No prints, no stickers, no two exactly alike.
Made to order
Your style, your colors, your design, drawn up before we start.
Shipped from the mountains
Mailed from Millers Creek, NC, or grab it local. Nationwide shipping.
How it works

Three steps to your piece

1

Pick your style & color

Choose a hat, bag, or pair of shoes and the color that feels like you.

2

Tell us your design

Florals, a highland cow, a name, a scene. Describe it, or send a picture for reference.

3

We burn it by hand

Heather draws it up, burns it into the suede, and ships it to your door.

Ready to wear

Hats made to burn

Soft suede and cork styles in a range of colors. Perfect as they are, or the canvas for a custom design.

Shop all hats

A highland cow wearing a floral crown, hand-burned onto the brim of a suede hat.
Custom work

Bring your own idea

Highland cows and horses. Wildflowers and feathers. Names, dates, and a few words that mean something. If you can picture it, there’s a good chance it can be burned into suede. Build your piece, right down to the hat band, and we’ll take it from there.

Start your design
Past work

A look at what we’ve burned

See the full gallery

Meet the maker

Heather, at the pen

NC Rooted is Heather Houser: one person, one wood-burning pen, and a booth full of ribbon and dried flowers. She hand-burns every piece herself right here in the North Carolina mountains.

Read Heather’s story
Heather Houser hand-burning a design at her market booth, surrounded by spools of ribbon and dried flowers.