It came with a dome-shaped crown, which called to mind the famous bowler hats of the era, but with a far larger brim. Stetson kept things simple by avoiding any preset creases or garish decorations, which would allow his customers to start with a blank slate, one that would transform over time.
Stetson employees on the factory floor, via Pinterest. John Stetson sent out samples of the Boss of the Plains to every Western-wear retailer he could reach and was sure to include a blank order form with each sample. The as-yet-unknown brand was then assailed with enormous orders from every corner of the frontier.
The Boss hat was offered in only two colors to start, black and a pearl-gray white. Cowboys in Texas preferred the black ones with a wider brim, while riders up in Montana chose the white, albeit with a narrower brim that was less likely to be swept off their heads in high winds.
The nine-acre Stetson factory, via Philly History. By , Stetson was not only a household name, but his hat brand was the largest in the world. A fully mechanized factory took up nine acres of Philadelphia and was churning out 2 million hats a year by Even after the West was fully won, people kept buying up Stetsons right and left. John Stetson passed away in , that landmark year where production ramped up significantly. But in the years before his death, he adopted many new modern manufacturing methods and took a paternal interest in his employees.
Stetson hats are an American classic like baseball, apple pie and fireworks on the Fourth of July. The company was founded by John B. Stetson in during the Gold Rush. This is after he recovered from a bout with tuberculosis. People were using maybe less-than-ideal findings and trappings to protect themselves as they were making that journey out West so he taught them the art of felting, which was a handmade, handcrafted process then and still is today.
When he was at his height, we had a factory in Philadelphia that employed over 5, employees. Stetson has made his mark on Western iconography. John B. Stetson was born in in Orange, New Jersey. His beginnings were humble as the son of a hatter and the seventh of twelve children. A hat maker or hatter was not a well respected profession at the time. Hatters were seen as unreliable, lazy drunks, but John's determination and good business practices would help change that stereotype.
In his youth he was taught the skills of the trade and worked for his father and brother making hats, selling them, buying raw materials, and training other workers. Eventually Stetson made plans to go into business for himself, but before he could start, his health took a turn for the worse. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was told that he only had a short time to live. John Stetson decided to quit the hat business and explore the western frontier before he died.
While on his journey he made his way to St. Joseph, Missouri where he got a job in a brickyard. Showing his great propensity for leadership, he shortly became the manager and then a part owner. However, his bad luck continued, and a flood destroyed his facility. After losing his job and his investment, he joined some pioneers on an expedition to Pikes Peak.
During the trip, Stetson and his companions obtained many animal skins but had no method of tanning them. The plains they traveled through were bereft of trees and provided no protection from storms or the mid day sun.
They would use the hides to make simple tents to protect themselves from the elements, but the raw hide tents would have to be quickly discarded. Stetson found a solution in techniques he had used to make hats for years. He showed the pioneers the process of making felt from animal fur that would be durable and water proof.
He helped his fellow travelers make felt tents that would last and protect them from the rain. This method of making felt would be a staple of his hats for years to come. Stetson made his first wide-brimmed felt hat to amuse his friends. It met some ridicule but, because of its aesthetic appeal and its ability to protect the wearer from the elements, it became the envy of many of his acquaintances, including his first patron—a bull whacker who paid him a substantial five dollar gold piece for it.
This was the first Stetson hat ever sold. After about a year, Stetson's health had returned, so he took his earnings and headed back east to the city of Philadelphia to start his own hat business. Stetson had dollars left to start his business by the time he reached Philadelphia. He used that money to buy tools and fur, as well as to rent a room on Seventh and Callowhill.
Stetson began by making hats in the styles that were popular at the time. He would sell his hats to vendors and store owners a few at a time, but he soon realized that if he wanted to stand out from all the other hat makers he would have to do something different.
Stetson experimented with different styles by making slight alterations to already established ones. He would add an extra curl to the brim or change the crown a bit to create what he hoped would be the next hit fashion. He would wear his creations and display them to dealers to persuade them to order some for their stores, but they were uninterested in the styles he created and believed that fashion came from Europe and not from the mind of a lone hatter.
Fortunately, this took a favorable turn when he created a light felt hat made out of a very fine fur. Soon Stetson started mass production of his hats and his company lasts to this day.
What gave them individuality and helped wearers identify with certain subcultures were creases. Hats could be modified in hot steam and then dried and cooled. Treated that way, felt would the keep the shape it was molded in. One of the popular creases is Cattlemen.
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