So as the cowboy hat evolved, so did those that manufactured the cowboy hat. Today, there are several companies that mass produce cowboy hat replicas. But for anyone who is truly interested in the quality and durability of a real cowboy hat, then getting one custom made is the only way to go.
Joella Torres is a third generation hat maker. Currently, she is the president of Manny Grammages Texas Hatters, which specializes in making custom cowboy hats. Torres said that a lot goes into the process of making a custom cowboy hat. But of all the steps that have to be taken, properly fitting the customers head and face is probably the most important of them all.
"It's always best if we can actually get our hands on your head to do the measuring ourselves," Torres said. "If that's not possible, we have an explanation of the measurement procedure on our website. It's pretty easy using a regular seamstress tape. You start the tape going around the fullest part of the back of the head, over to about a half inch above the ears and eyebrows. We use that circumference and also have to kind of look at the top of the head."
"You would have to have somebody else kind of "eyeball" the shape of the head, because the shape of the head has just as much - if not more - to do with the fit, than the actual circumference," she added. "I can line up a half a dozen people with same measurement in circumference and they might all have a totally different head shape. The same hat wouldn't fit each of them."
Another great detail about a custom made cowboy hat is that it can be refitted. So, if the owner of the hat has growth in their head size, they're still able to keep their hat by making a few simple adjustments.
"Refitting a hat is basically the same as making a new one," Torres said. "We'll need to have a new measurement, and then we'll re-block it just the same way as before. Re-blocking is $47, and that usually includes a new sweat band."
In addition to custom made cowboy hats for men, most experts also do custom cowboy hats for children and women. Torres said that having a custom cowboy hat made for a child will depend on how the cowboy hat is intended to be worn.
"It really depends whether you want them to play with it for a little while or whether you want them to grow with it," she said, "We can block it every couple of years as their head grows. In fact, my brother is 45 and can still wear the hat he had when he was three years old. It's been blocked up."
"A lot of times, especially if a lady has long hair, I'll ask her if she usually likes to braid it," Torres added. "When you have a braid in your hair, your hat is going to fit differently. If she usually likes to have one big French braid in the back, that's the way I want to measure her head, accurately."
