WILTON 䴋 Running a successful start-up company is tough at any age, but Sadie Rose Zavgren is undaunted by the challenges of the business world and faces them each, one hat at a time.

Zavgren, 13, is owner of a Web-based business called www.doyoulikemyhats.com. On the site, she sells her one-of-a-kind wraparound hats, each made by hand out of brightly colored fleece. Zavgren selects the colors, cuts the patterns, and stitches together each piece of the long caps, using each scrap of material in the design to avoid waste.

At the age of six, Zavgren first sat down at a sewing machine and was instantly smitten by the process of creating wearable art. After taking a class with local instructor Ellen Morgan, Zavgren knew she had found a passion.

"I fell in love with sewing," she said. "I like to make my own clothes."

Gifts

Two years ago, the home-schooled teen found the calendar quickly winding down to Christmas, but she didn't have presents for her family. That year, she bought some fleece and came up with a design for her signature hats. The response was so positive from her kin, that Zavgren decided to take the hats to market, selling them at craft fairs and local shops before launching her popular Web site.

After borrowing some money from her parents, Bridget Mooney and John Zavgren, she set to work piecing together an inventory of hats and in the past two years, made enough money to pay her parents back and start putting her profits to work. She has three sisters, two older, one younger.

Her mother is an artist and her dad is a network architect at BAE systems and founder of a new company called Smart Phone Works.

"I've now sold over 200 hats," said Zavgren, "mostly through the Internet and word of mouth."Though in the early days, Zavgren was taking custom orders for color combinations, the demand began to take a toll on her other passions, including her studies, playing violin, ski racing, designing and making clothing, playing soccer and acting in two off-Broadway shows in New York with Andy's Summer Play House.

"It got to be too much," she said, "so now I'm just selling ready-made hats."

Though Zavgren's favorite color is orange, she has discovered that the market demands blues and greens "" cooler colors over her adored warm tones.

"I now focus on the color combinations that will sell," she said. "The combinations I like don't necessarily sell. I like pretty powerful colors."

Success

Zavgren has tasted success in her small business, but there's a sense of restlessness that eminates from the young woman.

"I will keep making the hats. I think they're a good product that can bring me far," Zavgren said but she is also ready for new adventures.

Moving on

"I would like to move on. I'm thinking about becoming a clothing designer, but I'm torn between that and acting and being a chef," she said. "I would like to open a fashion house and bistro in New York."

Zavgren's hats are $30 for the original style, and $36 for the new style that includes a pocket for holding iPods, cell phones, gum, and other necessities.

For more information, go to www.doyoulikemyhats.com.