Classic Hat Makers List

[johnnyphi]

Good Point...

Good point regarding the stingy-ness of the brim. I guess I'm looking at it from the perspective of one who has seen a ton of 2.5+" brims, and quite a few very stingy brims. I haven't seen many in the 2" - 2 1/4" range. Personally, I think 2 1/4" is a great width... Not too stingy, not too wide! You say it's your size? If it was 7 1/2, I'd keep it for myself, but it's not, so...

That MacLane is a nice-looking hat (and my size, too!), but 2 1/4" certainly isn't stingy. Looks lower-end to middle to me, but that's just the impression I get from the liner.

 

[GWD]

"Styled in the English Manner" is the term used in the lining, so I mis-spoke when I said these are made in the UK. Apparently, the company WISHED the hats were made in England.

So... where were these hats made?

Photos:

The crest looks very similar to the old Mallorys, at least the medalians at the top. Hey Johhny! Why isn't this hat in your list of hats?

 

[handlebar bart]

The crest looks very similar to the old Mallorys, at least the medalians at the top. Hey Johhny! Why isn't this hat in your list of hats?

Maybe we could work out a joint custody agreement GWDlol

 

[Alon]

"Royalist" and not made in the UK? Perhaps it's Canadian?

 

[Dinerman]

Styled in the English Manner" is the term used in the lining, so I mis-spoke when I said these are made in the UK. Apparently, the company WISHED the hats were made in England.
So... where were these hats made?
Photos:

Hmmm. I have one with a very similar liner also stating it was styled in the English manner, only mine was made by Bergen.

 

[Lefty]

Bee Hat Co. = Condos

It's a sign of the times.

Bee Hat
1021 Washington
St. Louis, MO 63101

Developer Matt Berghoff has purchased this structure on the northeast corner of 11th and Washington. With the help of tax increment financing, he plans to develop 36 condominiums.
The Bee Hat Company building is on the northern edge of downtown in what was once the City's thriving garment district. When the Eads Bridge opened in 1874 on the eastern end of Washington Avenue, improved transportation made the avenue desirable location for warehouses and garment factories. Around the turn of the century, many seven-story warehouse buildings, such as 1021 Washington, opened for business. Four brothers began the Bee Hat wholesaling and distributing company in 1926; their business remained on Washington Avenue from October 1944 until the beginning of 2000. Most of the Washington Avenue garment district buildings from 9th Street to 18th Street are on the National Register of Historic Places for architectural and cultural significance. 36 one and two bedroom apartments ranging in size from 900 to 1,300 square feet are planned. Rents will range from $990 to $1,430 a month.

A restaurant and a boutique retail store will occupy the 9,000 sqaure foot commercial space.


Developer Matt Burghoff
Owner Bee Hat Building LLC
Project Cost $ 32,000,000
Status In Planning
Last Updated: 08/15/2005

 

[Meyer416]

lion hats?

anyone heard of lion hat manufacure?

 

[Brad Bowers]

anyone heard of lion hat manufacure?

Welcome to the Lounge, Doug.

The Lion brand was made by the Langenberg Hat Co. in Missouri. Beaver Brand Hats, the corporate descendant, has a nice timeline on their website, but not much more in the way of information.

Brad

 

[Lefty]

Pictures of the Companies

Images of hat companies in Danbury, Ct.

 

[Nash Buckingham]

My eyes aren't what they once were, but I didn't notice the "Bollman Hat Co." from Denver PA listed.

I happened to drive by their factory a few months back and it appears to be a sizable operation.

Does anyone here know what they make or market?

Perhaps they only do contract work for other brands?

 

[Lefty]

I'm not sure what defines a classic hat maker, but here's the link to Bollman.

 

[mingoslim]

UPDATED . . .

There have been some good additions to the list, so I thought it was about time for an update.

Here is where my research has led so far . . .

Now the question is, can any of our Hat Aficionados help fill in any more of the details on this myriad of manufacturers? When were they in business? Where did they operate? What kind of quality did they produce? What styles or innovations were they famous for? . . . Are they still making hats!?!?!

And please check out the list of brands/companies at the very end of the list . . . These are all names for which I have found absolutely no information . . . Perhaps you have one of these hats in your collection? If so, check out the sweat, liner and under the tag and see if you can provide us with more information!

I have noted before that ideally we should distinguish between Hat Makers and Hat Sellers . . . For example, house brands such as Penney's Marathon should be identified as such, and when possible, the actual manufacturer should be noted . . . For example, in the case of J.C. Penneys’ Marathon, most sources list Lee as the manufacturer.

Are you all up to the challenge?

Manufacturers

Adam
Adam Hats of Fifth Avenue were produced by Miller Brothers as the budget brand of the day. None-the-less, the brand was very popular in the 1940s and 50s. One reason for that popularity was that Adam made a dependable hat for considerably less than the “big name” makers. They also made sure that they copied the styles of the most popular hat makers . . . and the “elite” models of the company, the Executive and the Aristocrat, were of a quality that could compete with Stetson, Knox and company.

They had a famous radio slogan "I love my man who wears an Adam Hat".

F. Agnew Jr. Hat Co. of Huntington, WV.

Akubra
An old Australian hat company, founded in Tasmania by Benjamin Dunkerley in the 1870s, moving to Sydney, New South Wales, in 1918, and Kempsey, also in New South Wales, in the '70s. The company is famous for its rabbit-fur felt, and for the Australian military slouch hats it manufactures. Today, not only are the company's hats revered as an Australian cultural icon, but are praised for their quality, and it is generally agreed that they are the best modern-day factory-produced fur felt hats on the market. Akubra is known for its impressive array of styles, which are produced by rotating production in a tri-monthly cycle. This can often mean that there is a delay in filling hat orders of up to 3 months, if the particular style, color, and hat size are not in stock at the time, but it is also known to allow a degree of customization. If the purchaser desires a special color or size, he can often speak with a dealer and work something out.

Artel Hats
US manufacturer of cloth and tweed hats and caps in the 1960s and 70s; the brand was later handled by Dorfman-Pacific.

Bailey
Founded in 1922 by George Bailey, and still in production.

Barbisio
Founded in 1862, Barbisio was a classic Italian manufacturer in the Cervo Valley, and a competitor of Borsalino. The company began exporting worldwide in the 1930s and continued to produce quality hats until the 1980s.

Barrister
Barrister was a brand of the LaSalle Hat Company (Champ), & dates to 1935.

Bates
Edward Bates Ltd of London was founded on Jermyn Street at the turn of the last century, and remains in business today.

Beaver Brand
Founded in 1860 in St. Louis, Missouri, and based in New Haven, Missouri since 1928, this manufacturer, formerly known as the Langenburg Hat Co is still in operation today.

Bee Hats
A small family run firm, founded in 1926 and originally located on Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis, the company is no longer producing fine hats as of 2000.

F. Berg and Co.
At the turn of the last century, the F. Berg hat factory complex was the most productive of the 34 firms manufacturing hats in Essex County New Jersey, which was the hat-making capital of the world between 1870 and World War I. The area had 21 hat-making companies by 1892, and 35 by 1900. Hat making began to decline in the 1920s, and the Berg company moved to Norwalk, Connecticut, where it was primarily a finisher, producing hats for high-end retailers such as Finchley’s in New York.

Biltmore
A Canadian manufacturer, founded in 1917 and still in operation

Boldt of Washington D.C.

Bollman Hat Company
Founded in 1868 in by George Bollman, located in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. The company still manufactures wool felt, fur felt, and straw hats and caps to this day, and the Bollman Group provides product for such brands as Bailey, Country Gentleman, Kangol, and Timberland headwear. They also provide private label products to retailers and apparel brands globally.

Borsalino
A classic Italian manufacturer, still doing business today. The company began in 1857, in Alessandria Italy; when Giuseppe Borsalino set up the first artisan workshop for the production of felt hats.

When Giuseppe Borsalino died in 1900, his business employed almost a thousand workers and boasted an annual production of one million hats. By 1913 the company employed more than 2500 workers and reached an annual production of more than 2 million hats with its products reaching every corner of the world.

Brent
The “house” brand for Montgomery Wards stores . . .

Cavanagh
Cavanagh Hats was started by John Cavanagh in 1928 in conjunction with the creation of Cavanagh-Dobbs, Inc., out of the merger of Dobbs and Crofut & Knapp. Cavanagh opened an exclusive store, John Cavanagh, Ltd., at 247 Park Avenue in NYC. The company was one of the premiere hat-makers in the 1920s and 30s, and Cavanagh remained a premier hat maker through the 1950s, and made excellent hats into the 60s.

Cavanagh introduced the Cavanagh Edge patented 25 February 1913. A second patent, for an improved version of the Cavanagh Edge was granted on May 19, 1931.

The company was located in Norwalk, CT, where many of the the high end hatters were located: Knox, Crofut & Knapp, and Dobbs.

Cavanagh-Dobbs acquired Sunfast Hats, of Danbury, CT in 1928, and F. Berg & Company of Norwalk, CT in 1929. The company merged with Knox and Dunlap in 1932 to create the Hat Corporation of America.

Cervo
Founded in 1897, Cappellificio Cervo is fine Italian hatter, located in Sagliano Micca, Italy, at the foot of the Alps. During the late nineteenth century, the Cervo valley was home to more than 30 hat factories.

The company is still in business, making fine quality hats, has from time to time been contracted by Borsalino to make their felts and hats.

Champ
Champ was a brand of the LaSalle Hat Company of Sunbury, PA, and was distributed nationally from at least the 1930s.

Considered a budget to mid-quality brand, Champ made a really nice quality hat, and they had a lot of style! Champ hats sold for about $7.50 in the 1940s and 50s, on par with the products of Adam and Lee, while Knox, Mallory and Stetson started in the $10 range.

In the 1950s Champ used celebrities in advertising, such as Guy Williams. They also sponsored fights and had radio ads with Walter Winchell.

In the 1956 the Hat Corporation of America acquired Champ, and added the brand to its collection of labels.

Christy's of London
Founded by Miller Christy in a small courtyard shop off Gracechurch Street in the city of London in 1773, Christy’s is still manufacturing fine quality hats today.

The modern Christys' has absorbed or merged with many old hatters firms;. including Lincoln Bennett, Henry Heath, The Chestergate Hat Manufacturing Co., Scott's Ltd., Battersby's, T&W Lee's of Stockport, Moore's and Wilson's of Denton, and, of course, the original Christys'.

Churchill
A line of fine quality hats, the Churchill line was bought out by Resistol in the 1950s, though Resistol continued to produce hats under that name for quite some time.

Crofut & Knapp
Founded by James Henry Knapp in Stamford, Conneticut, and the makers of Knapp Felt Hats in New York City. The company was actually located in Norwalk, CT, where many of the the high end hatters were located, including Cavanagh, and Dobbs.

The company merged with Dobbs in 1928 to form Cavanagh-Dobbs, which, in turn, merged with Knox and Dunlap to form the Hat Corporation of America in 1932.

Dalton
Dalton was a small manufacturer in Yonkers NY. Like many of the smaller manufacturers of the day, by the late 1940's they went out of business.

Disney
Founded in 1885 in New York City, during the 1930s and 1940s the Disney Hat Co. was a known for excellent quality and styles that appealed to the younger man, with different colors and ribbon combinations.

Dobbs
One of the premiere hat-makers from the 1920s into the 1940s, and still around today, the Dobbs Hat Company was formed in 1908 by John Cavanagh.

The impetus seems to have been that, unable to get Crofut & Knapp products sold in towns around the country due to franchise restrictions, Cavanagh created the Dobbs brand and hired advertising executive Robert Holmes to market the brand, and H. Dewitt Dobbs, manager of the Dunlap store, to design the new product line. It was Dobbs who lent his name to the new line of hats.

The company was located in Norwalk, CT, where many of high-end hatters were located, including Knox, Crofut & Knapp, and Cavanagh.

The company merged with Crofut & Knapp in 1928 to form Cavanagh-Dobbs, which, in turn, merged with Knox and Dunlap to form the Hat Corporation of America in 1932.

Dunlap
Robert Dunlap received his first job at the age of 12 in 1857 as a general office boy for Charles Knox of Knox Hats in New York. Soon the boy graduated to the ranks of the hat salesmen, and several years later was still selling Knox hats, his salary having risen to $12 weekly. Ambitious, he asked for $15, and when Knox refused the raise the angry, Dunlap left to start his own business. Thus began the famed Dunlap hat company, founded by a onetime Knox errand boy.

By the late 1890s Dunlap Hats was known for the quality of its high end “formal” hats, such as top hats and bowlers. In deed, Dunlap succeeded in turning out the blackest derbies ever known, the Dunlap hat eventually outsold the Knox in Manhattan. For many a year small hat-makers held up their spring lines until they could see and imitate the Dunlap derby and the Knox felt.

As for Knox-Dunlap competition, both the Knox and the Dunlap businesses declined in the second decade of the 20th century and in 1918 Dunlap was acquired by Knox, though hats under the Dunlap name continued to be produced.

Etchinson
This small North Carolina company traced its origins to 1866 but by the 1940s, they were probably getting their hats made through Lee and finished them out with their liners and sweatbands.

Francato Cappello
A quality hat-maker with product comparable to Borsalino.

Flechet France.

Foreman & Clark
Foreman & Clark is a chain of men’s clothing stores based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Guerra
In 1855 Mastro Cappellaio Guerra received his first order for hats from the Savoia army, and since that day the Guerra Hat Company has maintained their essence and centennial tradition and style. Guerra hats are still produced today,

P. & C. Habig.
Austrian hat-maker founded by Peter and Carl Habig in Vienna in 1862 and still in production.

Hat Corporation of America
Founded by John Cavanagh, whose Park Avenue hat shop was among the most prestigious in the United States.

Originally called the General Hat Company, the Hat Corporation of America was created through the merger of Knox and Dunlap with Cavanagh-Dobbs in 1932. By the mid 1930s, the company was one of the leading manufacturers of high-end hats, and second in size only to John B. Stetson.

In 1956 Hat Corporation of America acquired Champ from LaSalle, and began to market their lines in a “tiered” manner that was similar to the sales structure of General Motors’ vehicles, with Cavanagh being the Cadillac line, Knox being the Oldsmobile, Dobbs, representing the Buick level, and Champ, the Chevrolet line.

In the 1960s the company changed its name to HCA Industries. In 1972 HCA was bought out by Koracorp, the owners of Byer-Rolnick (Resistol), and through that merger HCA gained the rights for such brands Kevin McAndrew, Bradford, and Churchill, as well as its original brands, Knox, Dunlap, Dobbs, Chanp and Cavanagh.

HCA changed hands several times in the 1970s and 80s. In 1979 HCA acquired the Stetson name and in 1985 was bought by ADJ Caps, which owned the Texas, Miller and Adam labels, among others.

Finally, in 1992 a new group of investors reorganized the various corporate entities into HATCO. The company currently manufactures the following: Cavanagh, Dobbs, Knox, Mallory, Stetson, and Resistol. Their production facility is located in Garland, TX.

Hardeman
The J.T. Hardeman Hat Company was established in the early 1900s and was located at 700 Republican Street in Seattle, Washington. Well-known for its fur felt hats.

Henschel Hat Company
The Henschel Hat Company of Saint Louis, MO, USA has founded in 1947. At first, Henschel's niche was the leather hat business, but have since expanded their line to include many varieties including felt, clothe, and straw.

Herbert Johnson
Herbert Louis Johnson was apprenticed in 1872 for seven years to hat-makers Lincoln Bennett, to learn the trade. He obviously did well and in 1889 on the somewhat unlikely advice of the Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VII), he went into business with one Edward John Glazier at 45 New Bond Street, London.

Johnson continued to work in the business personally until his retirement in 1928. He had made the name synonymous with quality "a man with a Herbert Johnson hat is a man apart".

Huckel
A German manufacturer.

Imperial
Founded in 1916 as the Mid-West Cap Works Company, undergoing several name changes, ultimately becoming Imperial Headwear, Inc.

Knox
Charles Knox, an Irish immigrant who came to the United States in 1830 at age 12, and apprenticed to Leary & Company Hatters of New York, opened his first hat shop before he was 20.

The company he founded was one of the premiere hat-makers in the day, along with Dobbs and Cavanagh, Knox positioned their hats as being the best money could buy, and had a knack for exploiting a market with slick advertising.

The Knox factory was originally located in Brooklyn, NY, with a store on Fifth Avenue, but later had its corporate headquarters in Norwalk, CT, where many of the the high end hatters were located, including Cavanagh, Crofut & Knapp, and Dobbs.

Knox merged with Dunlap 1918, and Knox and Dunlap were merged with Cavanagh-Dobbs in 1932. Originally called the General Hat Company, it quickly became the Hat Corporation of America, and was second in size only to John B. Stetson.

Lamson-Hubbard Co. of Boston.

Langenburg (Lion Hats)
Founded in 1860 as Gauss, Hunicke & Krause in St. Louis, the Langenburg Hat Co is the forerunner of Beaver Brand hats.

The company went through numerous mutations in its early years, as partners came and went. Gauss, Hunicke & Krause of 1860 became Gauss-Hunicke & Company in 1863 when Mr. Krause sold his interest. In 1881 the company was incorporated as Gauss-Hunicke Hat Company.

When Mr. Hunicke retired in 1885, Mr. Shelton joined the company, and it became Gauss-Shelton until 1901, when Mr. Shelton left to join White-Branch-McConkin, and Mr. Langenberg joined the firm. The company was renamed the Langenberg Hat Company in 1919.

In 1922 Langenberg absorbed the White-Branch Hat Company of St. Louis, and in 1926 they acquired Parrotte, McIntyre & Co. of Chicago.

The company moved its operations from St. Louis to New Haven Missouri in 1928, where it formed and shaped hats from stock materials manufactured at other locations. During peak production, the factory produced and shipped nearly 500,000 hats domestically and around the world each year. The facility closed in the late 1990s and the company was liquidated in 2000.

Largomarsino
Founded in 1891 by Don Carlos and Don Jose Lagomarsino in Buenos Aires, Argentina, this South American manufacturer is still in business today.
LaSalle LaSalle Hat Company of Sunbury, PA, was the Saleskys' company, started in 1911.

Owners of Champ Brand name, as well as Barrister and others.

Lee
The Frank Lee Hat Company, located in the hat-making center at Danbury, CT, Lee was probably the most prolific producer of hats for private labelling . . . such as the economic JC Penney’s Marathon line and Brent for Montgomery Wards; their own brand ran from mid-grade to fine quality.
Usually the wider the ribbon on a Lee the higher the grade of the hat (but not always as is the case, as is seen in the thin ribbon on the Lee 100). Lee considered its base $5-7.50 hat (depending on the year) a "farmer hat." The farmer hat had a thin ribbon and a thinly bound edge. The sweatband and liner were not as high quality as their expensive models. As the scale went up in price the hat was a better dress hat on up to the 100.

James Locke & Co.
Respected British hat manufacturer.

Lincoln Bennett & Co.
British hat manufacturer known for top hats.

MacLachlan
Harry MacLachlan began work as a hatter’s apprentice in 1884 and went into business for himself in 1892 in Danbury, Connecticut, producing rough felt bodies for finishers in the hat trade in that city. He formed the S.A.G. Hat Company in 1904, and in 1909 Mr. McLachlan and Frank H. Lee formed a partnership under the name of the Lee-McLachlan Co., which continued until 1914, when the partnership was dissolved and H. McLachlan & Co.,Inc. was incorporated.

Mallory
Owned by the E. A. Mallory Company, Mallory Hats was one of the oldest hat-makers in the United States when the brand was sold to Stetson in 1946.

The Mallory Factory in Danbury, Connecticut, was in production from 1860 until 1969, when it was sold to the Danbury Hat Company which filed for bankruptcy in 1987.

Mayser
Founded in 1800 in Lindenberg, Germany, over the course of 200 years Mayser grows from a small hat-maker into a large hat factory with several production sites in Germany, and a safety technology division which is among industry leaders.

Kevin McAndrew
McAndrew was a high quality hatmaker, originally out of England, and later acquired by the Hat Corporation of America.

Marathon
Made by Lee for J.C. Penney’s.

Morfelt
Established around 1879.

Mossant
The Mossant factory was in Bourg-de-Péage, France, and manufactured some of the finest hats in the early decades of the 20th century. The brand was considered the pinacle in France and but was also well-known in the United States for most of the twentieth century. The company was founded by Charles Mossant in the nineteenth century, and by 1929 more than 2,000 hats a day were being produced; half of them were directly shipped to the U.S. Hat production ended in 1998.

Park Royal
Not a true manufacturer, but an importer/exporter incorporated in Maryland in 1957 and still in business.

Panizza
The Panizza Headwear Company is among the oldest companies in Italy, having been manufacturing headwear since 1881 in Griffa.

Parotte-McIntyre & Co
First established by the King brothers in Chicago in the 1850s. In 1890 W. L. Parrotte, C. J. Andrews, G.B. Scripps and H.W. Beals took of the business of King Brothers, incorporated as Parrotte, Andrews & Co., Inc.

The company went through several mutations and minority partners during the 1890s, including Taylor & Parrotte, Inc. (1895), Parrotte, Beals & Co. (1904), and finally Parrotte, McIntyre & Co. (1914), which it remained until be acquired by Langenberg in 1926.

Perfect Hats
The Perfect Hat Company of New York was known for its slogan "Good as the Name".

Pilgrim
The Pilgrim brand had a long and successful life as a brand of Sears clothing for men, first appearing in 1905, and hitting its high point in the 1940s. Most Pilgrim brand hats were made by Lee for Sears, and the product line continued until 1964.

Portis
The Portis Brothers Company was founded by the Portis brothers in 1914, and was based in Chicago its first decade, but later moved manufacturing across the lake to western Michigan.

The company made fine hats, and did a lot of advertising in magazines such as Esquire and Colliers.

Portis lasted until the late 1960's, when the line was taken over by Stevens Hats.

Puerto Fino
Founded 50 years ago, this South American manufacturer is in Columbia and is still in business today.

Resistol
Founded in Dallas Texas by financier E.R. Byer and hat maker Harry Rolnick in 1927 the firm of Byer-Rolnick produced men's felt hats in Western and Dress stylings, under the newly created brand name "Resistol Hats," meaning to resist-all weather.

Distribution was limited to Texas and Oklahoma early on, but by the late 1930s was nation-wide.

Byer-Rolnick was eventually purchased by Koracorp, and was merged with the HCA (Hat Corporation of America) when Koracorp aquired them in 1972.

Royalist
High end hats, made in England.

Rundle & White
Established in the mid-1800s in Danbury, Conneticut.

Scala
The brand is now owned by Dorfman-Pacific.

Schoble
Frank Schoble & Co was founded in Pennsylvania in the 1880s.

Selco
Founded in 1898 in Brooklyn, New York, Selco traced its root back to 1799 and the Italian firm of Selentino. They manufactured hats (or had them manufactured under contract) into the 1950s, but are best known for marketing Tonak hats, made in the Czech Republic. There is still a Selco store in Brooklyn today.

Stack
Frank Stack started the company in South Norwalk, CT in 1911. Stack made quality hats, but was primarily a hat finisher; using felt from the large manufacturers in Norwalk, such as Crofut and Knapp. The company lasted at least until 1945.

Stetson, John B.
John Batterson Stetson was born in East Orange, New Jersey in 1830. His father, Stephen Stetson, was a successful hatter and taught his children the trade. Stetson developed tuberculosis as a young man, and moved west hoping to recover. He first settled in St. Joseph, Missouri, and later moved west following the Gold Rush to California, before finally returning to Philadelphia to try his hand at the hat manufacturing trade.

Stetson found the eastern hat market difficult, and so turned his attention to the Westerners . . . marketing hats based upon styles he had seen and developed during his own travels. By 1872, he was also marketing dress hats in his own catalog, and by the turn of the twentieth century he had the world's largest hat factory.

Although John Stetson died in 1906, his company followed men's fashions into the twentieth century, manufacturing top hats, bowlers, homburgs, fedoras, and trilbys, as well as straw hats in both western and dress styles.
By the early 1950s, there were fewer dress hat wearers, and Stetson has since focused primarily on their western hats.

In 1971 Stetson sold its machinery to the Stevens Hat Company and ceased production of hats, concentrating instead on marketing, and outsourced its actual manufacturing. In 1979 the Stetson name was acquired by the Hat Corporation of America.

Stetson, Stephen
Stephen L. Stetson was a grandnephew of John B. Stetson, and an independent hatter in New York City, during the first half of the 20th century.

The John B. Stetson Company eventually sued in January of 1934 and made a case for copyright infringement, from which point you see the notice “In no way related to the Stetson Hat Company of Philadelphia" on the company’s label.

Stevens
A small family-owned firm, the Stevens Hat Company was located in St. Joseph, Missouri. The company took over production of the Stetson brand in 1971, and was eventually merged with HatCo’s Stetson division in 1984, most of which were still made in St. Joseph until HatCo moved all of its production to a new factory in Garland, Texas.

Sunfast
Located in Danbury, CT. Acquired by Cavanagh-Dobbs, Inc., in 1928.

Trimble
Located in Orange, New Jersey, the Trimble Hat Company was a popular hat manufacturing company during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The company apparently produced a number of house brands for individual retailers, including the Stafford Club line of hats.

Wasicka's of Cudahy, Wisconsin.

White-Branch Hat Company
In 1883 the Goodbar-White & Company moved to St. Louis from Nashville, Tennesee. During the 1890s, the company took on new partners, and in 1898 the firm was incorporated as White-Branch McConkin Hat Company.

In 1901 the company was joined by Mr. Shelton of Gauss, Hunicke & Shelton and it would continue as an independent firm until 1922, when it merged with the Gauss-Hunicke-Langenberg Hat Company.

Wormser
Wormser was considered a mid-range hat, though several were just as good as any vintage Stetson or Mallory. They had different levels of quality.

Worth and Worth
Founded in 1922.

Can you help identify . . .
Bond, Bradford, Brooks Brothers
Buckley, Cavalier, Caxton, Chesterfield
Citation, Courtney, Duff, Elis
Empire State, GH, Gage
Gelot, Golden Gate, Hatters Guild,
Jaxon, Kristall, Look & Johnson,
MacLane, Manhattan, Melton,
Merrimac, Meyer, Montecristi,
Monterray, Optimo, Palco,
Park Plaza Hats, Peschel, Pedigree,
Robert Hall, Rothschild, Royston,
Sarnoff, Scala, Scott
Supernatural, Swann, Tilly
Willoughby

 

[Lefty]

Great job!
For Optimo, there's quite a bit of its history available though the links on the Optimo Southside Mobsters page.

I've found a bunch of ads for hat companies that you haven't mentioned yet. I'm not sure if they're house brands, but I've posted the ads here.

 

[Fibo]

West & Co

Anybody have any info on West & Co.? Just got one on OFAS but I can't find any info on the company.

 

[Brad Bowers]

Welcome to the Lounge, Fibo.

From the photos you posted on the eBay thread, it looks to be most likely a department store brand or something similar, meaning it was made for a store named "West & Co" by a jobber-type hat manufacturer.

Brad

 

[Rick Blaine]

Murdoch Hats (R) and Simon Hats. Both very nice felts. Murdoch is far nicer w/ a Cav. edge.

 

[Don Rongione]

Oldest Hat Companies

The Bollman Hat Company celebrates our 140th year of continuous manufacturing of headwear in the US this year. Founded by George Bollman in 1868, the Bollman Hat Company has continued to produce hats under our own brands as well as other brands at our Adamstown, Pennsylvania location.
Our brands include Bailey, Kangol, Helen Kaminski, Country Gentleman, Betmar, Plaza Suite, Pantropic, Timberland, Ignite and Eddy Bros.
Please visit our site at bollmanhats.com for more information on our history and our 14 Decades of Excellence Collection.

 

[Cary Grant]

This thread is a wonderful resource, thank you.

I'm curious- and perhaps this thread exists elsewhere and I have yet to discover it. Of today's current hat makers still in business, how would you rank them?

When looking for quality hats the brands I should look for would be?

I have one Borsalino, currently. I have, in the past had an Akubra and a Stetson.

So, Stetson, Borsalino, Dobbs?, Miller? And?

 

[Lefty]

Hat factories must make for good living space. Just like the Bee factory, the building that Adam once occupied has been converted.

 

[carter]

For years I'd drive by that building when it was vacant and say to myself, "Hmmm...that would be a great place to live." Sure enough it came to pass and it's just OK inside. A lot of color, metal, etc. Not exactly what I had in mind but at least the building is being put to good use. Dallas has seen a lot of loft conversion projects the past 5-10 years in the downtown area. Maybe one day the downtown area will become a viable working/living environment for a llot of people. It always seems to be on the cusp but never makes it to Chicago or NYC levels of interaction. I'm keeping my hopes up.

Hat factories must make for good living space. Just like the Bee factory, the building that Adam once occupied has been converted.