But what we don't know about cowboy hats is that they originally were not intended to be worn as symbol of toughness. The first cowboy hat made by John B. Stetson in 1865 was made as a joke. From that point, he saw that his joke actually provided a much-needed service to the cowboys who spent most of their time working outside.
Today, many consumers who wear cowboy hats are familiar with the difference in choosing one off the rack and getting one custom made. 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 if you are serious about choosing the right cowboy hat, then custom made is the only way to go.
"It's just like the difference in buying off the rack and having a suit made for you by a designer," she said. "It's going to fit better. It's going to curve to the contours of your head better, and it's going to be what you really want instead of just whatever you can pick off the shelf. There is really not that much variety in the industry right now."
Wearing a custom cowboy hat allows the consumer to essentially pick the perfect cowboy hat for their head. Many experts will always advise that you should choose a cowboy hat based on the size of your face and the structure of your head. For someone who decides to buy a cowboy hat off a shelf, it is going to be very difficult to find the perfect hat. But by having your cowboy hat custom made, custom hat experts such as Torres guarantee that you will have the ideal cowboy hat for your head.
Another great detail that comes with owning a custom cowboy hat is that you get to pick out the design. In addition to choosing a design that best suits your head and face, most consumers take this as a great opportunity to find the perfect color as well. Torres said that having your cowboy hat custom made will ensure that you receive the perfect color for you.
"For a long time, there was only black with maybe a silver belly cowboy hat," she said. "But there have been more customers interested in getting chocolate brown. We can do anything from your basic black silver belly and brown all the way to red, purple, green, or yellow."
"There has been an increase in the chocolate brown, because there was a factory (I will not name) that had a little problem with their brown hats," Torres added. "When it would rain, the brown hats would bleed on the customer. They saw it was happening with one brand, so they kind of shied off brown with any felt pads. It's coming back in popularity though."
