Did Hatco close their rough hat body plant?

[TWKundrat]

I'll admit that I'm a bit sleep deprived but I swear I saw a comment on Facebook yesterday about Hatco closing their rough body plant in Longview and that they are now using imported felts. I can't find the post today so I'm wondering if there's any truth to this or if it was all a hallucination?

 

[The Hatted Professor]

I saw the same post. I'll reach out to Matt Range or my contacts at Stetson to find out.

 

[belfastboy]

I'll admit that I'm a bit sleep deprived but I swear I saw a comment on Facebook yesterday about Hatco closing their rough body plant in Longview and that they are now using imported felts. I can't find the post today so I'm wondering if there's any truth to this or if it was all a hallucination?

I have no idea how large they are but I have some felt samples from China in production, both rabbit and beaver. They prefer to sell in 200 and 500 quantity. Pricing is pretty good so Hatco could be sourcing from China. Although the pricing just rose 20%.

 

[The Hatted Professor]

I have no idea how large they are but I have some felt samples from China in production, both rabbit and beaver. They prefer to sell in 200 and 500 quantity. Pricing is pretty good so Hatco could be sourcing from China. Although the pricing just rose 20%.

If they import from anywhere, it’s kind of hard to justify their Made in the USA tag.

 

[Trouser Bark]

If they import from anywhere, it’s kind of hard to justify their Made in the USA tag.

Some mfg's justify a US Made perspective as long as it has greater than 50% US value (or some similar benchmark) and that can be finishing of raw goods.