Hat’s Off to the Stetson

The History of the Stetson Hat

If I told you I saw a cowboy, you would immediately have a picture in your mind of what I meant. Spurs or no spurs, you’d be picturing a man wearing a hat with a tall crown and a wide brim. This basic design, first called “The Boss of the Plains” model, came into being in 1865 in the small workshop of John B. Stetson.

He was born in 1830, and like so many men his age he was called westward by the promise of gold. The story goes that while he was in Colorado hunting with some buddies, he put on a little demonstration about the benefits of making a hat with no tanned leather. He used felt, in this case made from beaver fur but any natural fiber will do, to fabricate something that was meant as a joke, but turned into an icon. The wide brim kept the sun and rain out of his face, and the tall crown left a space above his head to carry a canteen.

Settling Down

In 1865, he ended his wanderings and opened up his hat shop where the first “Boss” was made. At first each hat was handmade and constructed of expensive materials (it takes 42 beaver pelts to make enough felt for one hat), wearing a real Stetson was a mark of wealth in the Old West. They also had the advantage of being adjustable, thus the band where the brim meets the crown.

By 1886, his hat factory grew to be the largest in the world and included the newest innovations in mechanized haberdashery, but the reputation for quality was already in place despite losing the handmade touch. In 1894, he had a factory that covered 9 full acres at his disposal.

Over time several variations on the original style arose, and especially in Texas the “10-gallon” hat became the favorite. Felt hats are waterproof, and an early advertisement of this over-sized model showed a cowboy dipping his hat into a stream to water his horse. Other variations were worn by military and police officers both in the US and abroad. For instance, the Canadian Mounted Police still wear a Stetson with a flat brim even today.

Like Bowlers, Stetsons are a popular accessory to upcycle into a Steampunk, so here are a few of my favorite Steampunk cowboy hats from around the interwebs.