Beaver Brand Hats, gone?

[barrowjh]

gtdean48 - I liked the look of that river runner in light olive also, but am still hoping Winchester will do another run in the light green and I will make a western at Mike's. VERY SAD to see BB go down; my first real fedora was a BB and I bought a pure beaver light brown thin-ribbon that thefedorastore put on sale a couple of years back. Sad.

 

[besdor]

Wow, I have to say this is the first I've heard about Beaver Brands closing although I'm not suprised. After Hatco, there is little left to the hat market in the USA. Bollman does little fur felt and Biltmore is gone , moved to the Milano Hat factory in TX. Beaver Brands never could compete with the other guys .

 

[Jedwbpm]

Biltmore was bought by Dorfman Pacific which also owns Milano. Dorfman also makes the Stetson cloth hats. The hats that I have seen come into our shop from Texas Biltmore are very nice factory hats and we are very pleased and look forward to doing more with them now that they are stable.

Jeff

 

[tonyb]

I'm interested in hearing more about the Milanos. I was a little distressed when I heard the company was acquired by Dorfman, as the few Milano brand hats I had handled impressed me quite favorably, and I feared that the quality might suffer under new ownership, especially considering the junk Dorfman was known for. But I maintained hope that they were looking to be a big, big player in the business, with offerings ranging from the equivalent of Kias to Cadillacs, and a coupla-three or four brands in between. It's good to hear that the Texas-made Biltmores are up to snuff, Jeff. If you would be so good as to keep us posted on the Milanos, I'd appreciate it.

 

[besdor]

What I have heard from the Milano hat factory is that is taking a little time for the workers to get used to making dress hats . The Milano factory is mostly a western factory and the workers arent used to making dress hats. But I think they will get it right.
Anybody on the FL live near New Haven MO that can check on Beaver Brands?

 

[Walt]

Don't live near them, but did try calling them on Friday and the voice mail says they are open till 4:30 Mon-Thurs so will try again Monday. If I learn anything I'll let everyone know. If only vintage hats hadn't been consuming my hat deficit spending I would have ordered a BB fedora and at least two of those 1860 Old West collection hats!

 

[tonyb]

What I have heard from the Milano hat factory is that is taking a little time for the workers to get used to making dress hats . The Milano factory is mostly a western factory and the workers arent used to making dress hats. But I think they will get it right. ...

Had they even made dress hats at all prior to the takeover? Unless I'm misunderstanding here, I take your post to confirm just that -- that the Milano brand had been exclusively Western hats.

I ask because the only hats of theirs I've come across were Westerns, at Renton Western Wear, a local two-store chain. As I recall, RWW's top-o'-the-line house brand hat is (or was; it's been a while) a Milano-made product.

I'll be interested in seeing these dress hats of theirs, once they're on the shelves. Few things would tickle me more than to see a major player in the hat trade emerge to take on Hatco and Borsalino and Bailey on the "city" hat side of the business, and beat 'em with a better product. Might compel the others to dial their games up a notch or two. Or ten.

 

[besdor]

I 've found out that they are indeed closed. The factory was down to a three day a week shift during the summer. Apparently there were financial problems that caused them to split from another hat factory and they never were the same.
Its a shame. The owner Doug was a nice person.

 

[danofarlington]

So do any of you retailers, or custom hatmakers, ever have secret daydreams to get a small quality line of factory hats going? Maybe a retailer joins with one or more custom hatmakers. Retailers doing that would have the advantage of knowing the market going in, which is probably not the forte of the factory suits.

 

[tonyb]

So do any of you retailers, or custom hatmakers, ever have secret daydreams to get a small quality line of factory hats going? Maybe a retailer joins with one or more custom hatmakers. Retailers doing that would have the advantage of knowing the market going in, which is probably not the forte of the factory suits.

In my case, it would be an absolute daydream. But yes, it has crossed my mind. To be a success, it would certainly take the input of someone who knows the world of business better than I do. And it would be a very different undertaking than an all-custom hattery turning out one-of-a-kind hats with vintage ribbon and whatnot.

I'd love to see somebody do it, though. Optimo in Chicago is something of a model -- a custom hat shop that'll refurbish your old hat but is also equipped to turn out hats in much larger numbers.

There's really no reason that a mass-produced hat couldn't rival a custom hatter's work, with the exception of the old ribbon. I suspect the reason we see so few such factory-made hats is because it is cost-prohibitive. Their research and experience likely tells them that the return on investment just isn't there. Far more profitable to crank out a whole lotta sub-$200 hats that cost a small fraction of that amount to make than relatively few $400 or $500 hats that cost a much larger fraction to produce.

 

[Walt]

Today I talked to the gal at my local western gear retailer who carries a lot of Beaver Brand western hats and she confirmed that she had also heard of their closing. She said that she had talked to them recently and heard they were closing though she didn't have any details as to the reasons for it. She said they had become much slower in fulfilling orders this year and that they have apparently sold out their hat stock otherwise she would have bought some more hats. Apparently she has a pending order to be shipped of some western hats. She also said that the lady she knows at Beaver she has known since the 70's often ran a booth at the Western trade show in Denver and told her that they had been having problems with getting good hat bodies. I asked her if that was Winchester, but she didn't know and that on the surface doesn't make a lot of sense, but that is what she said.

The gal at this western store says that she really likes Beaver for being one of the few places where you can still get big hats like those with 5" brims and 7" crowns. She has a few in stock in my size, but they are 5" instead of 7" or I would probably have grabbed one. Can't do much with a 5" but with a 7" I can do a Hoppy or Tom Mix style crease!

A few years ago when one of the online western retailers stopped carrying their stuff they told me that Beaver had been raising their prices such that they couldn't sell them anymore. $300 plus hats are just hard to sell compared to sub $200 prices for mass retailers---I'm talking Western of course though the same must be true for dress hats as well outside of specialty shops.

 

[-30-]

"Few things would tickle me more than to see a major player in the hat trade emerge to take on Hatco and Borsalino and Bailey

on the "city" hat side of the business, and beat 'em with a better product."
QUOTE tonyb.

I have not seen any modern Hatco or Bailey product, but as far as Borsolino goes it wouldn't take much effort.


Regards,
-30-

 

[Walt]

I finally called Beaver Brand today and talked to a person there. Confirmed they are closing and their last official day is 10/31. Their stock of hats is sold out and they are taking no more orders. Didn't grill the lady that I talked to about the reasons (doubt if she knew all of the details as I don't think she was in a management level).

She did say that there was some potential buyers of the plant and equipment so it is possible that it could be restarted so we can keep our fingers crossed. Got the impression she would like to see that as would the workers! If no one buys it as a single lot then there could be an equipment auction. I'm sure you guys on the Lounge in the hat business might be involved or interested in that aspect. If I had millions to invest in a hobby I'd be interested in investigating a restart of the business. Though perhaps with some good marketing targeted to include the under 40 crowd one could make a successful go of it.....that is to say, make it profitable.

I think they had a good thing going with the 19th century, old west shooting sports crowd, but probably not enough market alone to keep it going.

 

[besdor]

Beaver Brands could not compete in todays market. The owner was a very nice person who was passionate about the business similar to the last owner of Biltmore.

 

[TomS]

Sorry to hear this news. It will be interesting to see if the business is picked up.

 

[fedoracentric]

A shame. I have a Beaver Brand western hat. It's pretty nice.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Beaver Brand factory liquidation

http://www.hatlife.com/newsletters/2013/july13_1/art2.htm


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[froguy]

How sad. Probably some great buys though. Wish I was closer.

 

[Mulceber]

Somehow I feel like Art's going to be taking a business trip soon...

 

[gtdean48]

Well hopefully some custom hatters can get some needed equipment...sorry to see them go.