Few icons are as American as the cowboy hat: grandiose, utilitarian and a trademark of the West.
The king is still Stetson, the original cowboy hat, created almost 150 years ago.
Philadelphia’s John B Stetson headed west in the 1860s for health reasons. He fashioned himself a big hat to protect him from rain, sun and wind which he dubbed the ”Boss of the Plains”. Praised for its utility, a Stetson could pull water from a stream, fan a campfire or even provide storage.
Its earliest influence was likely the high-crown, wide-brim hat worn by Mongolian horsemen centuries ago. Spaniards wore similar head wear when they came to the New World with another indispensable cowboy accoutrement: the horse. Those hats eventually evolved into the Mexican sombrero.
Though the Old West and open range are gone, Stetsons live on. Lots of manufacturers make cowboy hats, and the Stetson brand is even licensed around the world. But the only place that makes the authentic, handmade ”Boss of the Plains” is a factory outside Dallas.
Owned by RHE Hatco the factory originally made Resistol cowboy hats, a Texas contemporary to the Stetson. Some reports claim the plant is the largest hat factory in the world, but Stetson spokesperson Matthew Ranch is quick to point out there’s no quantifiable proof to that.
”You can say this is the largest Western hat factory in the world,” he said.
Hatco has put a Stetson on everyone from US presidents to the pope to U2’s Bono.
The factory turns out around a million straw and felt hats a year including Stetsons, Resistols and Charlie One Horses.
Business is good, thanks in no small part to Hollywood. The success of the film Brokeback Mountain has turned even some of the finer fashion houses in Europe on to Western wear. No one expects it to have the same impact as Urban Cowboy, though, in which John Travolta famously traded in his white polyester disco suit for a black Stetson and boots.
Hollywood has been a fan of the hat since the 1920s, when its cowboys sported seven-inch-tall Stetsons.
Resistols, which started production in Dallas in 1927, were the preferred topper for actors John Wayne and Henry Fonda. The Resistol Larry Hagman wore as JR Ewing on the television drama Dallas made it into the Smithsonian.
”We do see a rise when pop culture catches on, but we have a core market that will always wear a Stetson or Resistol: rodeo people, ranchers, Western businessmen,” Ranch said.
Law enforcement units using their hats include the Texas Rangers and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, whose red dress uniform includes a brown, flat-brimmed Stetson.
Though typical of Texas, Stetsons and Resistols are popular from Calgary, Canada to Tijuana, Mexico.
”I think they add a bit of civility to society,” Ranch said. ”Certainly more civility than a baseball cap ever would.”
How a felt Stetson is made
It starts as just a pile of fur.
Because felt is matted fur (usually beaver, rabbit or a combination), the hairs run in all directions, interlocking with each other, making it stronger and lighter than woven materials, as well as water resistant.
Once it is made into felt, a hat body is steam blocked to a specific head size, crown shape and brim width. Then a stiffening machine is used to apply shellac to firm the brim. The crown iron is used to tighten and to smooth the felt.
The brim is cut, greased and pounced, using sandpaper to create a smooth and fine finished felt.
A specially mixed powder, matched to the hat color, is hand rubbed into the body to enhance and even the tone.
Craftsmen use press machines to shape the crown, then steam to restore the finish and clean the hat before stitching in the lining.
Designations like ”5X” describe what the felt is made of. A ”5X” hat is all rabbit, a 10X hat is 50% rabbit and 50% beaver, and a 100X hat is 100% beaver fur.
A low-end Stetson is about $150. They top out just over $5 000 for a chinchilla and beaver blend sporting gold inlay and more than two dozen diamonds.
Custom hats take a minimum of four weeks to produce. – AFP
