1890's-1900's early hat manufacture HAWES (Hawes Von Gal) HAT CO

[Joshbru3]

I was trying to do some research on another early hat manufacture when I kept coming across advertisements for the Hawes Hat Co. The earlier advertisements only show the name, "HAWES," but later another partner joined the company and it was renamed "Hawes Von Gal Hat Co." I love these early soft hats and really loved how neat some of the advertisement drawing were. I have never seen a Hawes hat on the forum or on ebay, but according to everything that I could find on them, they were a pretty big seller of mens hats. I have collected some ads and wanted to post them in a thread. Hopefully a real life Hawes hat will pop up one day!

1897-1898

1899

1899

1900

1901

1901

1901

1901

1902

1903

 

[Joshbru3]

1904

1904

1905

1906

1907

1907

1908

1908

1908

1908

 

[Joshbru3]

1910

1910

1910

1911

 

[monbla256]

Looks like the firm went into recievership in 1913. Here's a clipping from the New York Times in 1913 about it :

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F30614FB3C5913738DDDA90B94DA415B838DF1D3

 

[Lefty]

no date on this one

1911

 

[hatophile]

Nice work on the research, guys.

 

[Joshbru3]

Looks like the firm went into recievership in 1913. Here's a clipping from the New York Times in 1913 about it :

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F30614FB3C5913738DDDA90B94DA415B838DF1D3

Thanks for adding this article, monbla256. Its extremely interesting.

 

[Joshbru3]

Thank you for adding those two ads, Lefty. I appreciate it. Im trying to collect as much info about this company as I can. I don't know why it interests me so much, but Im on the hunt for a Hawes soft hat.

 

[Lefty]

As far as I can remember, I've seen no more than three Hawes hats. I don't think I've seen a soft one yet.

 

[Joshbru3]

As far as I can remember, I've seen no more than three Hawes hats. I don't think I've seen a soft one yet.

Lefty, do you have any pictures in your archive of any real life Hawes Hats?

 

[Lefty]

I can't seem to find any at the moment, but that doesn't mean that they're not there.
Here's another ad without a date.

 

[Joshbru3]

Thats a great picture, Lefty! I wonder if that guy has a hat size bigger than an 8. Thats one vintage bowler size that might be hard to find.....

 

[hatophile]

Thats a great picture, Lefty! I wonder if that guy has a hat size bigger than an 8. Thats one vintage bowler size that might be hard to find.....

The dude has a balloon head for sure!

 

[buler]

1906 ad:

1906 newspaper ad:

Sweatband mark:

 

[Joshbru3]

Thanks for posting all those pics, Bill!

 

[Lefty]

 

[Lefty]

not mine, not my photos

 

[Joshbru3]

Early 1900's Caravan Derby (Von Hal Hats)

Well this Derby was a shocker. I bought it because it had a really cool sweatband stamp, but upon looking under the sweat, to my surprise, I have my first VON GAL HAT! Hawes Von Gal made hats in their own brand name, but also did private label work. In the little bits of information I have been able to piece together about the company, it started life as the HAWES hat company and then around 1902-1903 it merged with the E.J. von Gal Hat Company and was called the Hawes Von Gal hat company until around 1911-1912 where the Hawes name was dropped from some advertisements to only leave the Von Gal Hat Company. Some advertisements still used both names, "Von Gal made hats" and "Hawes Von Gal." Whats interesting is that even though the name changed to the Hawes Von Gal hat company around 1902 or 1903, many advertisements in THE AMERICAN HATTER and MEN'S WEAR still referred to the company as the Hawes hat company. The reorder tags also just said "HAWES" for a bit. I am unsure when the company actually used "Hawes Von Gal" on the reorder tags and sweatband stamps. This Caravan Derby has the "Von Gal" name on the reorder tag. Also the original price tag for the hat is stapled to the sweat and very faintly says $4. I would date this hat to around 1911 or 1912 if its a "Hawes Von Gal hat, but I'm unsure if this hat was made at the E.J. von Gal factory and therefore the reason that the reorder tag only says, "Von Gal." I suspect that since the hat was made in Danbury, Conneticut and not in Niagra Falls, New York (where the E.J. von Gal Hat Co manufacturing building was located), that this hat was MOST likely made by the "Hawes Von Gal" manufacturing plant post 1911-1912 when the "Hawes" name was dropped from the labels. Whats REALLY CONFUSING is that I've seen many references that show that E.J. von Gal Hat Co Limited and Hawes Von Gal Incorporated existed at the same time under similar management. My dates could be completely off because the info is all over the board, but if anybody can help me solidify any of these dates, I would really appreciate it.

Here's an advertisement from 1911 that shows the "Von Gal Made Hats" logo which I have not seen on any advertisement prior to 1911.

 

[Joshbru3]

Early 1900's Caravan Derby (Von Hal Hats)

Here's a picture from the Niagara Falls Library Archives of the E.J. von Gal Hat Co Manufacturing plant:

http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?id=94992&b=1

E. J. Von Gal Manufacturing Co., on the corner of Queen St. & Zimmerman Ave., Niagara Falls, ca 1914

"this building was originally built as a factory manufacturing mountings & accessories for carriages, later they manufactured hats; later still it became the King Edward Hotel, until it burned down; - the building on the far right of the picture was the Michigan Railway Station"

 

[alanfgag]

Very cool, Josh! (that location was in Niagara Falls, Ontario)