Hat stores in Austin, TX?

[rlandrews3rd]

OK, I decided to look for a fedora or similar style hat. I've been in Austin forever, but never seen a hat store. Lots of caps, but few hats. I found a nice crushable in REI, but it's only in brown. I'd prefer black or gray, as those would be colors that fit into my usual wardrobe. I'm looking for a lower crown than the Indy hats, with about a 2 1/2" brim. I've seen lots online, but I'd like to see them and fit them before buying. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[majormoore]

Texas Hatters is just south of town about 20 miles on I-35, in Buda, Texas, they were there last summer when I was in the area.

http://www.texashatters.com/products.php?id=5

Mike

 

[jpdesign]

they are now down in lockhart.

Jimmy

 

[jpdesign]

I have mentioned before that I could come down to Austin in order to measure people, and show samples. I am nop to a point where it is time to set that up. I guess I should put that on the events page, huh.

Jimmy

 

[rlandrews3rd]

Mr Pierce, the Lonestar Custom Hotrod show is coming to Austin in April. That may be a good venue, as lots of retro folks go to check out the old cars. You might see if you can get into that.

http://www.lonestarroundup.com/

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Have you tried checking the phone book? It seems to me Austin's big enough that there ought to be at least one if not a couple hat shops with fedoras and similar.

 

[Uncle Vern]

There are no real hat shops in Austin, just small stores selling lots of funky wool fedoras and homburgs, and there are certainly no full-service hatters. Texas Hatters, in Lockhart make very nice westerns, but I'm not sure if they fool with dress hats. There's an old guy in a dry cleaner's shop over on the east side of Austin who claims he's a hat expert, but he once turned a nice old Open Road of mine into a shrunken football helmet, and once was enough for me.

The only recourse here is either mail-order or antique malls. Seems like it would be a good business proposition for a bored Dellionaire.

 

[majormoore]

Call Jimmy and set up a time to meet him at his shop, drive up there and pick out the blank, the trimmings, all the details you want in a hat, and let him make the hat of your dreams, he is a hatter and can make it.
Mike

 

[rlandrews3rd]

Not being a Dellionaire, and not wanting to take the better part of a day to drive to and from Granbury (about 4 hrs each way) I actually found a decent looking, inexpensive, crushable hat at Banana Bay, in Austin. Not a place in which I would have expected to find the hat, but it will work for now. If I like it and decide to upgrade, then it would be worth the drive to Grabury. Mr Pierce's hats look very nice!

 

[Lefty W.]

No decent hat stores in Austin, TX

Well, Austin has always been a little different than the rest of the state. We refer to ourselves, sometimes derisively, as "the people's republic of Austin." Perhaps due to the University of Texas historically being a big part of the town, Austin has been somewhat more laid back and casual than Dallas or even Houston. A t-shirt and sandals is accepted business attire at many places.

So, there are no full-service hat stores in Austin. There's a store on 6th Street in the middle of the entertainment district, called "the Hat Box" (www.hatbox.com) that sells entry-level fur felt hats and wool felts, but they probably couldn't clean or re-block a hat if you needed that.

I used to frequent Texas Hatters (www.texashatters.com) when they were on South Lamar in Austin, and after they moved to south I-35 in Buda, but I haven't been there since they moved to Lockhart. A visit to Texas Hatters would be the perfect excuse to go get some of the world's best BBQ at Kreuz' Market in Lockhart.

Other than Texas Hatters, I guess the closest full-service hat store would be Paris Hatters in downtown San Antonio (www.parishatters.com), about 80 miles south of Austin.

Lefty W.

 

[kiltie]

Paris Hatter

I've posted this a coupla other places on this site, but don't let the Paris website be your only guide to that shop. The site is a poor reflection of the storefront.
fftopic:
Austinites: San Antonio has it's own catch-phrase bumper sticker to counter the "Keep Austin Wierd" stickers. It says "Keep San Antonio Lame" lol lol lol But hey, we got a hat shop.