Three years after Minneapolis-based Love Your Melon was acquired, its New York-based owners are shutting down the beloved hat brand—at least for now.

A message posted Thursday on the Love Your Melon website said the brand is “pressing pause.” It continues, “After 12 and a half unforgettable years, Love Your Melon is taking a step back to reflect and redefine our mission and products.” On Instagram, where Love Your Melon has more than a half million followers, the message reads, “This isn’t goodbye to our collective mission of fighting cancer, just to this chapter.”

Love Your Melon started in 2012 as a class project for two University of St. Thomas entrepreneurship undegrads, Zachary Quinn and Brian Keller. They made beanies and for every item sold, they donated another knit hat to a child battling cancer. Through the years, more the company reports that it donated more than $10 million to fight childhood cancer, in addition to giving away thousands of beanies.

The founders grew the brand, which ran most of its manufacturing in Minnesota, beyond their signature knit beanies into other apparel categories and partnerships with Disney and Marvel. For a time, they had a high-profile storefront and studio at the corner of Washington and Third avenues in the North Loop (now occupied by Jaxen Grey).  In 2022, Love Your Melon sold for an undisclosed sum to Win Brands Group, an e-commerce holding company.

Since the sale, Love Your Melon co-founder Quinn launched Oceanfoam, a foam roller made with sustainable materials.

Listen: Zachary Quinn shares the Love Your Melon founder’s story on By All Means, Episode 3.