Feather in her cap
Briley King ’14 did not wait years for the crowning achievement of her fledgling business — she started with one: a handmade trucker hat that can take you from a bad hair day to the red carpet.
Briley King created Little Bird Trucking and designed the company’s signature line of fashion trucker hats. (Contributed photo)
The College of Fine Arts and Communication graduate launched Little Bird Trucking in 2023 and put her heart into designing feather-crested trucker hats. The business name and each hat design are stitched with a backstory from the songs of her husband, country musician Marcus King, and her father’s long-haul trucking career.
“I was always wearing trucker hats on the road with Marcus because you never know if you’re going to be able to dry your hair or anything like that,” King said. “Watching him play all these venues obviously bled into my style. He always wears a feather crest on his cowboy hats (and I thought) you know what, that would be sick on a trucker hat.”
She wanted to give her hats an elevated look, began researching ideas for her specialty designs and started Little Bird Trucking. King has designed and sold more than 10,000 caps.
Her designs include three caps named for Marcus King’s songs. Each cap in this classic lineup is emblazoned with a colorful feather crest. Other designs pay tribute to trucking, with pithy sayings like Trucker Hat and crocheted granny squares representing the slow or “granny” lane on highways.
“Everyone looks good in a trucker hat, I think,” King said. “I’m notorious for wearing mine with high heels, and I’d even wear them with a ball gown.”
King’s first 300 caps sold out after family and friends began sporting Little Bird Trucking caps, and she and her Little Bird Trucking line have soared since.
King had gifted one of her hats to Lainey Wilson, who wore it while touring with the Marcus King Band. The hat caught the attention of rapper and songwriter Post Malone.
King sent “a whole slew of hats.” During the Video Music Awards in September, Malone wore his hat on stage when he accepted an award with Taylor Swift.
Founding a fashion business was not the trajectory King expected when she enrolled in the ECU School of Theatre and Dance. “No, this was not on the agenda at all, but it’s been a great journey,” she said.
The Kinston native imagined she was destined for Broadway. But she switched programs and entered the School of Communication with an eye on a media- or communication-related field.
She has leaned on lessons from ECU throughout the launch of Little Bird Trucking. King has been in charge of social media creation, website creation, interviews, marketing and networking in the “hard and scary growth” of her business.
King said she hopes people feel the authenticity of her business and begin to see “that there’s just so much love behind it. Every hat is unique and has a story behind it.” Fans can follow King on her company Instagram page or learn more on the Little Bird Trucking webpage.