Faith, Felt, and the Making of Saints Western

Some businesses begin with a market opportunity. Others begin with a business plan. Saints Western began with a hat. More specifically, it began with the man who needed one.

Long before Saints Western became a growing Texas lifestyle brand worn by musicians, creatives, and modern-day cowboys, founder Derek Welborn was navigating one of the most difficult seasons of his life. In 2020, the Austin-based pastor was diagnosed with severe alopecia, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss. What started with patches soon progressed to losing nearly all of his hair, including his eyebrows and facial hair.

For a man who had always enjoyed style and self-expression, the diagnosis forced him into a confrontation with identity.

“At 36 years old, I was wrestling with why my hair was suddenly falling out,” Welborn recalled. “I felt like God was teaching me that my identity wasn’t rooted in any of those things.”

During that season, hats became less of an accessory and more of a companion. He rarely left the house without one. A well-worn Stetson became part of his daily uniform, helping him navigate a period marked by uncertainty and vulnerability. Each night, his young daughter prayed for her father’s hair to return. Meanwhile, Welborn searched for answers, trying treatments, supplements, injections, and dietary changes. Nothing seemed to work.

Yet somewhere in the middle of that struggle, curiosity emerged. After months of following custom hatmakers online, Welborn found himself staring at the same hat he had worn for nearly a year and asking a simple question: “Could I make these?”

For Father’s Day, he requested a felt blank and a hat block instead of a traditional gift. Working from home, he taught himself the craft through trial, error, and persistence. His first hat wasn’t perfect, but it was wearable. Then came another. Then another.

Soon, people started asking where he bought them.

When Welborn explained that he had made them himself, the response was immediate: Why aren’t you selling these? The answer was simple: “It’s not like I’m trying to start a business.”

But sometimes other people see the beginning of something before you do.

A member of his church purchased a complete set of hat blocks so he could begin making hats for customers. His community rallied around him. Friends helped launch a website. A church gathering became an impromptu hat launch party. The first thirty hats sold quickly; what had started as a creative outlet was becoming something more.

Then came another pivotal figure. Through a mutual friend, Welborn met Clint Hough, a longtime Round Top fixture with deep roots in the Western apparel world. Clint immediately recognized Welborn’s talent and invited him to bring his hats to Round Top, Texas, the legendary antiques and design destination that has become a pilgrimage site for collectors and tastemakers alike. Round Top gave Welborn something he hadn’t yet experienced: an audience.

Customers weren’t simply buying hats. They were buying into a story, an experience, and the craftsmanship behind each piece. Encouraged by the response, Clint invested in equipment, introduced Welborn to manufacturers in León, Mexico, and helped him expand into handcrafted boots—the brand was evolving in a way Welborn hadn’t imagined was possible and what began on a kitchen table was becoming Saints Western.

God wasn’t quite done, and another chapter was waiting just around the corner. At the time, Welborn had a dream customer in mind: Grammy award-winning artist, Brandon Lake.

Lake was experiencing a meteoric rise in music, and Welborn often joked that making a hat for him would be a bucket-list moment. Then, through a chain of friendships in the Christian music community, it happened. Singer-songwriter David Leonard happened to be wearing one of Welborn’s hats while spending time with Lake. The hat caught his attention immediately.

The next morning, Welborn received an unexpected FaceTime call.

“Brandon Lake wants you to make him a hat,” Leonard told him.

For Welborn, it felt like one of those moments that confirms you're on the right path.

“God did that in three months,” Leonard joked. “You better start dreaming bigger.”

The first hat led to another. Then several more. But what developed wasn’t a transactional celebrity endorsement. It became a friendship rooted in shared interests: faith, storytelling, creativity, style, and a belief that meaningful things are built over time. Welborn never pushed the relationship. He simply continued doing what he had always done—making hats and nurturing authentic connections.

Over the next few years, Lake became a supporter of the brand, purchasing hats and boots while cheering Welborn on from afar. Meanwhile, Saints Western continued growing through Round Top, custom orders, and a steadily expanding reputation.

Then in 2025 came a phone call that would change everything. Lake reached out with a proposal. He loved the brand, he believed in the vision, and he wanted to become a partner.

“I’ve always wanted to build something like this,” Lake told Welborn. “What if we do it together?”

For Welborn and his wife, the decision wasn’t immediate. The opportunity was exciting, but they wanted to ensure they were saying yes for the right reasons. After some prayers, contemplation, and a brief waiting period, Lake officially joined Saints Western as a partner. Other additions included Austin-based entrepreneur Wade Lombard and apparel industry veteran Ryan Case. Together, they assembled the team necessary to transform Saints Western from a handcrafted side business into a scalable lifestyle brand.

Today, Saints Western has expanded far beyond custom hats. The company produces handcrafted boots, premium apparel, and American-made headwear while developing its first collection of cut-and-sew garments manufactured entirely in the United States. The aesthetic remains rooted in vintage Western Americana—equal parts Texas grit, 1970s nostalgia, and timeless craftsmanship.

One of the brand’s most visible growth moments arrived through a renovated 1976 Airstream trailer that became a mobile retail experience. Last year, Saints Western joined Brandon Lake’s national tour, bringing the brand directly to fans across the country. Over dozens of tour stops, thousands of people encountered Saints Western not merely as a product line but as an experience.

Yet despite the growth, Welborn insists the mission remains unchanged. Of course the hats matter. The boots and craftsmanship matters. But people matter more.

After spending fifteen years in ministry, Welborn still sees much of his work through the lens of relationships and service. He often talks less about sales numbers and more about conversations, stories, and connections forged along the way. That perspective may be one of the reasons Saints Western resonates so deeply. 

The brand isn’t really about hats, it’s rooted redemption. It’s about what can happen when hardship becomes purpose, when community shows up at the right moment, and when unexpected doors swing open. Most of all, it’s about remembering that some of life’s best stories begin in places we never would have chosen for ourselves.

Today, Welborn’s hair has returned thanks to a breakthrough treatment that became available several years after his diagnosis. It serves as a daily reminder that seasons change, healing happens, and unfinished stories often have unexpected endings. 

Fittingly, the thing that once helped him cover a loss became the foundation for everything that followed; and a Texas brand built to tell stories that, much like the people who wear them, only get better with time.