At first glance, this might just look like a Brigham Young University hat. But this design actually carries a deeper meaning. It tells the story of one man, a deaf and hard-of-hearing BYU-Hawaii alumnus who used a creative idea to bring more awareness and connection to the deaf community.
For Chris Wood, the idea for BYU hats in ASL started with a simple question: How could he make American Sign Language more visible and accessible to others?
“It started with ASL. It’s a very expressive language. It’s very visual, it’s not written and so I tried to figure out how to make ASL in English more accessible,” Wood said.
Wood later partnered with his friend Kelsey to turn the idea into something people could wear, hats that incorporate the ASL alphabet into the design.
The goal? To celebrate the deaf community while also creating something that brings people together.
“Making these hats with my friend Kelsey just shows the support and celebration for the deaf community,” Wood said.
What started as a BYU hat has quickly grown into something much bigger.
“Having that awareness, having the same BYU, but having something unique and very cherished within the deaf community … they’ll gravitate toward it and want it themselves,” Wood said.
Wood hopes the hats do more than just make a fashion statement; he hopes they spark conversations.
“If you see somebody walking down the street and they have the BYU hat, you might think, ‘They must know the ABCs a little bit,’ or they know something about the deaf community, and you can start conversations,” Wood said.
The hats are now sold in the BYU Store, and the project continues to grow. Chris and his team are already working with more than 25 colleges to design similar hat lines, including schools like Utah Valley University and Weber State.
The company is based in Salt Lake City and has been running for about two and a half years.
Today, Wood employs about ten people, and about 90% of them are deaf or hard of hearing. Creating jobs for the deaf community is one of the most important parts of the mission.