Wallaroo Hats, a Boulder-based and woman-owned company, is celebrating 25 years of selling sun-protective headwear.

President and cofounder Stephanie Carter said the company’s goal is to combine fashion and function with more than 300 styles of hats. Wallaroo makes hats with a UPF 50+ rating, which means they use fabrics that are tested and proven to block 97.5% of the sun’s harmful UV rays.

“Skin cancer is a real threat,” Carter said.

“It’s the number one fastest-growing cancer, so it is important. And I think we really want to support people with fashion and function and make sure they know they need to wear sunscreen, they need to wear skin protective clothing and they need to wear sunglasses and hats.”

A big part of Wallaroo’s mission is skin cancer prevention and education.

“I connected with the mission of Wallaroo because I’ve actually had melanoma, so it was kismet for me to join the team because the mission was very important to me,” Hillary Fine, director of marketing, said.

Carter was inspired to start Wallaroo Hats through visits to her husband’s family in Australia. Sun protective hats and clothing were everywhere there, and she couldn’t find a similar product in the United States.

“We sort of pioneered that movement in the United States which I think is really cool,” Carter said. “At the beginning, in 1999, nobody was doing sun protectant clothing.”

Wallaroo is also a B Corp Certified company, meaning it proved it has sustainable manufacturing practices and financial transparency.

“We’ve been working really hard to try to create more environmentally friendly and sustainable practices for the business,” Carter said. “I’m proud to have a company that’s got people that are motivated and determined to help meet better standards and take care of the planet.”

Wallaroo earned about $100,000 in sales in its first year. Now, Carter said, the company registers closer to $15 to $16 million in sales.

Her goal is to continue growing steadily every year while keeping it manageable.

“You recognize the impact around your town,” Carter said. “You see it on people’s heads, you see your hat, you see your product. But what is amazing in 25 years is that I can travel internationally and everywhere I go — Europe, Japan, anywhere we supply these hats — I see them on people’s heads.”

Page Zarecki, director of operations, said there were only three employees when she started working at Wallaroo. As the company prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary in April, it now employs about 20 people.

“I remember making our first million along the way, that was a huge deal, and now we’re here for 25 years and still growing and getting our name out there,” Zarecki said, adding, “We’re really proud we’ve gone this far and grown this much.”

The company introduced its Carkella line in 2019, a series of hats that have a magnetic strip inside them with customizable magnetic emblems that can be attached. Wallaroo sells the hats to clubs, hotels, amusement parks and sporting events, including the PGA Tour and U.S. Open.

“It feels really good to be part of a company that provides a product that can protect people,” Chief Financial Officer Darby Moore said.