Age of a Resistol?

[Levallois]

Good afternoon,

I'm glad to have found this site as I've been a fan of hats, primarily cowboy hats, all my life. I currently have 8 hats but I'm looking all the time. I recently acquired a Resistol and wondered if there is some way to determine the date, year, or decade of manufacture? It is a cowboy hat that came in a round Resistol box. It has the red satin lining with Resistol Western in the center. The sweat-band has the name of the store it came from and "Self Conforming, Trade Mark and Pat. Off. No. 403324." There might have been some type of beaver X-rating but alot of this is pretty faint. It's been used but the felt is very nice. I've never had a Resistol before and would appreciate any information about when it was made. Thanks!

John

 

[feltfan]

Photos photos photos

This is becoming a regular feature here. The formula is
that someone asks how to date hat X. Then someone has
to respond saying that in most cases it's impossible to make
guesses on dates without photos.

So now I've done my part.

That said, Resistol doesn't go back too far, does it?
Don't know that I've seen Resistols older than the 1950s.
I only own one myself, so I'm no expert.

 

[Levallois]

I appreciate the reply. I did a search and didn't see anything about dating a Resistol so I apologize if this has been all done before.

I was hoping characteristics such as the round box (Resistols seem to come in a square box), red satin lining (all I've seen have a white lining), and the Patent No. (1st one I've ever seen) might be clues enough for getting at approximate age? If photos are needed then I'll see what I can do.

John

 

[jamespowers]

Don't apologize. No problem at all to ask a few clarifying questions.
The round Resistol box is the older box. Is it a cowboy hat or a fedora? Resistol stopped making fedoras or what they call dress hats in 1968 so if you have a fedora it dates before 1968.
What color is the sweatband? The brown sweatbands are usually the older models. The black sweatbands are from the 1960s and newer---usually.
The red satin liner might be fairly new. The best thing to do is post a picture of the hat---outside, inside and close up of what is written on the sweatband. I'd be interested in seeing it. :cheers1:

Regards to all,

J

 

[Levallois]

J.

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to borrow a camera.

This is a cowboy or western hat with a brown sweat-band. There is a Resistol box like this one on ebay and dated to 1943 with another patent number. I think that someone, somewhere must know what these patent numbers mean.

The obvious solution is to call Resistol and ask them but I can't find a phone number for them on the www. I did find out that they been making hats since 1928 though.

John

 

[fedoralover]

The last I heard Resistol was now owned by hatco, the same company that owns the Stetson brand as well. I've called them before and nobody there has any history knowledge of anything other than very general stuff. People here at the lounge are probably as a group more knowledgable than anyone there.

fedoralover

 

[SHARPETOYS]

Part of Hatco Inc.

Resistol History
In the early 1920's a young millionaire, E.R. Byer sold his business in Michigan and traveled South to further his fortune and investment. His investment was a brilliant young hat maker, Harry Rolnick, who was operating a small hat factory. E.R. Byer was one of Rolnick's customers and was so impressed by his professionalism, flair for fashion and devotion to quality that in 1927 the firm of Byer-Rolnick was founded in Dallas, Texas. The company produced men's felt hats in Western and Dress stylings, both were marketed under the newly created brand name "Resistol Hats," meaning to resist- all weather.

Distribution was limited to Texas and Oklahoma early on, but innovations like the Self-Conforming band and Kitten Finish (an innovation in the finishing process of felt) gained national exposure and in 1938 prompted expansion to a larger facility in Garland, Texas, where Resistol hats are manufactured today.

Byer-Rolnick's success continued and the Resistol brand became the greatest name in western hats. In an effort to better control the quality and flow of product, Byer-Rolnick acquired a fur cutting plant and built a rough-body plant in Longview, Texas. These acquisitions made Byer-Rolnick the first and only manufacturer to operate the entire felt hat making process, which includes over 200 processes. By operating all phases of production, Byer- Rolnick was able to obtain maximum quality control and thereby produce the most consistent and finest hat known the world over.

Demand for Resistol hats continued and today "the small hat factory" is the largest manufacturer of headwear in the world, as a part of Hatco, Inc. All phases of production are still operated and controlled to ensure product of the highest quality.

Hatco Hats
601 Marion Drive
Garland, TX 75042


972-494-0511

 

[Levallois]

Photos:

 

[feltfan]

I'll be very curious to hear what those who know more than I do
have to say about this hat. It looks 50s to me. Love that box!

I wonder if the way the brim is rolled up was done by the owner
or blocked in originally.

And I just want to reach out and pop that dent back in on
the right side...

Great thread so far.

 

[Levallois]

Feltfan,

I was thinking the 50's too with the graphics on the box and the shape of the hat. It just screams Glen Ford in "The Violent Men" or Jimmy Stewart in "Winchester 73" from that period. Apparently this came from an estate in Wyoming and I suspect this old cowboy just naturally shaped his hat through use.

John

 

[jamespowers]

Very interesting. Looks like you have the original box for that hat as well. It is a very interesting hat with that liner and the logo with the special O in Resistol. My guess, and it is just a guess would be from the late forties to the middle fifties. The box looks great with those graphics. There is a decorator demand for boxes like that----so there is a market for the box without the hat as well as for the hat.
Enjoy the hat. No matter how old it is it is surely worth what you paid for it from what I gather. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Resistol, like other manufacturers sent their hats out open crown and with a flat brim in those days---as did most other hat makers. It was up to the owner to give it character with dents and brim rolls. The hat store would shape the hat as per the customer's request. Looks like this old fella had quite a bit of character.

Regards to all,

J

 

[feltfan]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Resistol, like other manufacturers sent their hats out open crown and with a flat brim in those days---as did most other hat makers. It was up to the owner to give it character with dents and brim rolls. The hat store would shape the hat as per the customer's request.

The only 50s/60s Resistol I have is quite stiff.
The customer couldn't shape it. Do you mean the
hat store would block it for the customer?

 

[Levallois]

Here's a supposed 1930s Resistol Ladies? hat:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8211118966&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

What's interesting to me is the spelling of Resistol uses the strangely shaped "O" as well as the two "O"s in Self Conforming. I wonder when they started and stopped using those "O"s?

John

 

[jamespowers]

The only 50s/60s Resistol I have is quite stiff.
The customer couldn't shape it. Do you mean the
hat store would block it for the customer?

Yep, like I said, The hat store would shape the hat as per the customer's request.
I have never had a stiff Resistol hat so I am not sure how hard they could get. Nothing I have could not be steamed into shape. I suppose they were going downhill after Rolnick died. Are you talking about a cowboy hat or a fedora? Any pictures?

Regards to all,

J

 

[jamespowers]

Here's a supposed 1930s Resistol Ladies? hat:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8211118966&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

What's interesting to me is the spelling of Resistol uses the strangely shaped "O" as well as the two "O"s in Self Conforming. I wonder when they started and stopped using those "O"s?

John

Thats a man's porkpie hat with a stingy brim. Probably mid to late 50s by my estimation. The box looks older. They stopped using the stylized Os in the 60s from what I can gather.

Regards to all,

J

 

[MattC]

Older than 60s?

While nobody knows his way around hats better than Mr. Powers, I think this hat may be older than the 50s. The style of the type on the liner suggests 30s to 40s. There were narrower brim hats back then, though not as popular, and the back ribbon on pork pies I think was more common then.

But maybe not.

 

[Levallois]

I've been corresponding with the seller of the hat on ebay. Apparently this hat has "Dallas, Texas" on it which would make it pre-1938 which is when Resistol moved to Garland, Texas. It also has Harry Rolnick's name on it with Pat. number 407210 -(I'm trying to find out when he died) and on another part of the hat Pat No. 403324, style 038720 which the seller says means 3X, Brown, 2" brim.

John

 

[jamespowers]

While nobody knows his way around hats better than Mr. Powers, I think this hat may be older than the 50s. The style of the type on the liner suggests 30s to 40s. There were narrower brim hats back then, though not as popular, and the back ribbon on pork pies I think was more common then.

Hmmm. The only problem I have with that is the plastic liner in the top of the liner. You can throw out a good portion of the 1930s because of this plastic. That came later in the 40s. The war years prevented use of such materials in the manufacture of consumer products during the war years so that puts you at least into the late 40s. I could be persuaded to move it back a few years there but that is about it.
I am not at all an expert on hats really. It is just that with this one it was easier to look at the materials it is made of and then make a deduction from that. Not all 30s porkpies had a short brim. The 1930s Porkpies also generally had a thinner ribbon something like this from 1938:

Regards to all,

J

 

[shamus]

I don't think that hat box looks 1950 at all. It looks more 30's to me.

 

[jamespowers]

I checked with the seller to make sure that my eyes were not playing tricks on me with the plastic lining topper. His answer was: "Yes it has a clear type of plastic covering the label top of lining." So I wasn't seeing things. Clear plastic came later than the 1930s.

Regards to all,

J