“There wasn’t a day in high school where I didn’t wear a hat,” says Kasey Faver, founder of Southern streetwear brand LaFavre. So, it only tracks that his company’s hero product is just that: a classic ball cap. Whether it’s a corduroy number with an orange blossom emblem or one adorned with a Southeastern Conference school logo, all of LaFavre’s styles pay homage to its Southern roots. “And at the end of the day, I’m just a kid who wants to make cool stuff that I would wear,” the Jacksonville native explains. 

Although for Faver, spearheading a fashion company was never the original plan. He was in a radically different kind of design work—construction management—and after graduating from the University of Florida with a construction management degree, he began working at his father’s firm. “I then realized this isn’t what I want to do or who I am,” he says, explaining what prompted him to uproot his life and move to California in 2017 on a soul-searching mission. 

During the year he lived in Los Angeles, he realized that fashion was his calling and began applying for internships. Despite his inquiries going unanswered, Faver kept his focus, producing his first ever design that same year: a T-shirt printed with a picture of a basketball hoop from the local park where he played. “It was cool to finally get something out of my mind into something tangible,” he says. “Then I started the company—or in 2018, started the LLC and then moved home and continued to work in the construction industry—because at that point no one else was getting back to me, so I wasn’t going to work in the fashion industry out there. I figured I’d try and figure it out myself.” 

For the next two years, Faver honed his fashion chops on the side, figuring out how to create graphics and logos, build relationships with local embroidery shops (many of which he still uses today) and ultimately produce his first collection while in Jacksonville. In 2022, he finally quit his day job to focus on LaFavre full time. (Fun fact: LaFavre is a tribute to his family’s original surname before it was Americanized.)

At the end of the day, I’m just a kid who wants to make cool stuff I would wear.
—Kasey Faver

One of the catalysts for focusing on the apparel business came through a partnership with his alma mater, UF. After meeting with the school’s licensing director, she was impressed but initially said she needed more of a marketing plan. Faver immediately brought out his samples and showed her a short film on LaFavre, highlighting his story from working in the corporate world to realizing his passion. “The whole conversation turned from that point, and she was like, ‘Okay, you know what? We’re going to give you a shot at this,’” he explains. “I remember I walked out of her office, sat in the stadium and just cried.” 

With the Gators on board, other schools soon followed suit. “The University of Florida was a massive one, because they’re notorious for being tough to get in with,” Faver says. “But I mean, even to this day, we’re still getting denied licenses on the regular.” While their collegiate partnerships currently span from the Florida State Seminoles to the Ole Miss Rebels to the North Florida Ospreys, LaFavre has also teamed up with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. “They gave us a shot because a lot of their employees were wearing the hats we were making without the license,” he explains. Faver was asked to make hats for season-ticket member boxes. There was such a massive response afterwards they wanted to buy the hats for the entire organization. 

Part of the reason sports and fashion fans alike gravitate toward LaFavre is their attention to detail in terms of aesthetics and quality. “Our latest tagline is kind of ‘Southern Luxury,’” says Faver. Everything is cut and sewn in the South, and he is constantly inspired by his home state. “There are certain colors that speak to Florida, and it’s the pastel colors. I’ve always been someone that’s looked to the past for inspiration. When I looked in the past—the ’80s—there were corduroy hats. As I looked around the industry and the market, I was like, ‘Wow, no one is doing corduroy hats anymore.’ I just think it’s such a durable fabric.” 

LaFavre’s signature spin on market trends keeps their buzz going as well. In recent years, crocheted clothing has been having a moment. Faver asked his neighbor, who was skilled at crocheting kids’ toys, to make him a bucket hat, a ski mask and a few granny squares. He then fashioned the squares into a crocheted hoodie that you can add onto any jacket. “(The Jaguars) saw the product and they were like, ‘Congratulations on getting the licensing. We’re super excited to roll this out with you, but if there’s one item that we must have, it’s (the crocheted hoodie),’” he laughs. “I said, ‘Guys, my neighbor is knitting these by hand. I can’t drop this for the city of Jacksonville.’” But sure enough, in six months she had sewn them all. 

That story is fitting, since at the end of the day, it’s the people who keep Faver inspired. Proof? When Flamingo talked to him this spring, he was about to embark on a trip to southern Peru to experience Machu Picchu. “I’m going to see one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but I don’t even want to leave,” Faver says. “One of my Seven Wonders is this tiny office with the people I work with every day.”