Dandy Hats CEO on Juice Unlocked: a $30K first drop, 20 cars and a break-in

On Sept. 2, Juice Unlocked posted a teaser promising a 7 p.m. YouTube live with the CEO of Dandy Hats, saying he "built a multi-million dollar hat company from the ground up, all by himself."

The stream started just after 7 p.m. that night. The full video, "Dandy Hats CEO on Making Millions, Getting Robbed & His Top 5 Hat Brands," runs about 1 hour and 56 minutes on the Juice Unlocked YouTube channel. Host Matt Allenn and Dandy covered the hat business, supercars, golf and more.

From taco shop to sold-out drops

Dandy said he started the brand in 2015 and was still working at his dad's taco restaurant when it began to blow up. The spark, he said, was seeing JC Hats pull up to a party and get treated like a star just for selling hats.

He admitted the early years went nowhere because he was in it for the money: he would make some, then stop. Back then there were no drops, he said, just hats made and sold a few at a time.

The first time he did a drop, he said, it brought in $30,000 in one day, when he was making $1,000 to $2,000 a day. He told Allenn that in 11 years his drops have always sold out.

“This guy built a multi-million dollar hat company from the ground up, all by himself.”

The cars and the break-in

Dandy said the cars were a marketing tool as much as a hobby: people saw him driving a Lamborghini, asked who he was and found the brand. At one point, he said, he had 20 cars and wasn't driving them all; he is down to 10. These days he mostly drives a G-Wagon to stay low-key.

He also shared something he said he had never talked about. Last year, while he was in Mexico City for a show, someone broke into his house and took about 30 watches, his chains and his girlfriend's purses, he said. They came home to a broken bathroom window, and he said no one was ever caught. He now has a 24-hour security guard at the house.

Who is Dandy

Dandy is Leonardo Sandoval, who grew up in West Covina, according to a 2023 Offbeat Podcast episode. On the stream he said he was born there and lived in Texas from sixth to 10th grade. Until about a year ago, he said, his warehouse was in West Covina, and before that La Puente.

He named his top five hat brands, putting his own first and including Rude and Sad Boyz. He said he picked up golf because he can buy almost anything, but he can't buy getting good at golf.