BRAND CAMPAIGN · STETSON
Big Sur,
by road.
A product release for Stetson’s crushable hat line, shot as a road trip down the California coast. Film, social cuts and stills from the same days.
CLIENT
Stetson
YEAR
OUR ROLE
2023
Direction · cinematography
DELIVERED
Director’s cut · 9:16 social cuts · stills
IN THIRTY SECONDS
THE BRIEF
Launch the crushable line.
Hats made to be packed, pulled out and worn again.
THE IDEA
Pack them in a truck. Drive Big Sur.
Firelight, river water and dust: the conditions the hats were built for.
ON THE ROAD
Six stops, three days.
Redwoods to the Pacific, with a stylist and a stills photographer along.
DELIVERED
One trip, every format.
A 2:06 film, three 45-second verticals, short loops and a library of stills.
THE BRIEF
Hats made to be packed. So we packed them.
Stetson’s crushable line is built to be folded into a bag, pulled out and worn again. A studio would have made it look new.
So we loaded the hats into a truck and drove Big Sur, letting firelight, river water and dust show what they’re made for.
THE IDEA
The trip sold the hat.
Every look had to survive the day it was worn in.
THE ROUTE
Six stops down the coast.
01
The redwoods
Camp under the canopy
02
The river
Cold water, warm light
03
The fields
A motorcycle off the trailer
04
The ridge
On foot, packs on
05
The pit stop
Next gas, 40 miles
06
The coast
Where the road runs out
01
The redwoods
Camp under the canopy at Big Sur Campground. The truck, the rooftop tent and the fire ring on the first night.
02
The river
Clear water and a hat that has to stay on. The hike and the river, cut together in one frame.
03
The fields
A motorcycle off the back of the truck. Dirt road, wet grass and a rider small against the hills.
04
The ridge
On foot, packs on, the valley below.
05
The pit stop
Next gas, 40 miles. The unglamorous stop every road trip has, and the cap line worn the way it’s actually worn.
06
The coast
Where the road runs out: wildflowers, surf on the rocks, and the truck parked where the road meets the Pacific.
THE LINE
The product, in every frame.
Felt crushables on the coast and the cap line at the pit stop. Every look was styled by Olivia Haug, so the hats read true in film and stills.
STYLING · OLIVIA HAUG
PHOTOGRAPHY
Shot twice: once for the film, once for the stills.
Titus Haug photographed the trip alongside the motion crew, and Olivia Haug styled every look. One trip gave Stetson a film, the social cuts and a library of stills.
Photography: Titus Haug · Styling: Olivia Haug
POLAROIDS
And a third time, on instant film.
Between setups, Titus kept a Polaroid camera going. Sixty frames came home from the coast. These eight follow the route, from the first night at camp to the last light on the cliffs.
Camp, night one
Pour-over, the redwoods
The river
The fields
Above the valley
Golden hour
Polaroids: Titus Haug
The ridge
Last light, the coast
WHAT WE DELIVERED
One trip, cut for every screen.
1
DIRECTOR’S CUT · 16:9
The whole road trip as one film, in 2:06.
3
45-SECOND CUTS · 9:16
Vertical versions for social.
5–10s
CRUSHABLES LOOPS · 9:16
Short vertical loops for the crushable line.
3
DAYS ON THE ROAD
Six stops, from the redwoods to the Pacific.
WHY A ROAD TRIP
A crushable hat should look lived in.
A studio would have made the product look new. Time on the road made it look owned — packed into a truck, worn by the fire, pushed down against the wind on the ridge.
Big Sur did the rest. Every stop changed the light, the weather and the reason to reach for a hat.
WORKING WITH US
What an apparel brand can expect.
What a brand director wants to know before handing over a new line.
The product reads true
Every look styled by a stylist and lit so colour and shape hold up in film and stills.
Motion and stills, one trip
A film, verticals and a stills library from the same days, with no second shoot.
Built around a route
Six stops in three days, from the redwoods to the Pacific.
One trip, every screen
A director’s cut, vertical cuts and short loops from the same footage.
CREDITS
Client
Direction & cinematography & editing
Photography
Styling
Stetson
Lawn Chair Creative
Titus Haug
Olivia Haug
NEXT SEASON
Launching a new line? Take it somewhere.
Tell us what the product is built for, and we’ll find the place that proves it. Based on Maui; shooting across Hawaiʻi and the mainland.