How To Make A Stetson.....

[bolthead]

I don't know if any of you ever heard of or seen the show "How it's made"?

Well, I faithfully watch this show, I love it. Tonight they showed how they make Stetson Hats. It was very interesting because they use all automated machinery to do it. Unlike what we're used to seeing around here. [huh]

Please tell me I wasn't the only to catch this episode......

 

[Woodfluter]

I didn't see the program Bolthead but am profoundly funked out and disillusioned to hear of this -

I thought some aspects of hatmaking still had to be done by craftsmen - is nothing sacred?

Makes me wonder if the decline in hat quality was caused by market decline alone or perhaps compounded by rising cost of labor. What kind of hats to robots wear?

= Bill

 

[Inusuit]

Stetson Website

There's a brief video on the Stetson website that shows how the hats are made.

 

[zetwal]

Once something is mass-produced it may not matter much if it's made by hand or machine. And human labor can be all too easily mechanized anyway.

Handmade alone does not equate with best or even good quality. I know that's not what you're suggesting. I'm just stating the rather obvious distinction.

 

[Tomasso]

"How it's made"....I faithfully watch this show, I love it.

:arated:

Tonight they showed how they make Stetson Hats. It was very interesting because they use all automated machinery to do it. Unlike what we're used to seeing around here. [huh]

Sorry, but did we watch the same show, because I saw lots of human hands involved.[huh] Not to mention worker knowledge and expertise along every step of production, especially during constriction of the felt body.

Here's a current thread on the Winchester Hat Co. which depicts virtually the same process of making the felt body as shown in the Stetson piece.

 

[Tomasso]

Handmade alone does not equate with best or even good quality.

Yep, and often it's the smaller makers, who can't afford the necessary equipment, who tout the artisanal quality of their goods.

 

[HATCO]

The machinery we use, have been in use since the 1930's. There are patents for machinery dating back to the 1890's maybe longer. As the manufacturers no longer exist we have our own machine shop that machines the replacement parts in order to keep the factory running.

You're more than likely to find the same type of machines in use at other hat factories as well...

 

[Brad Bowers]

I'll just add that since the early years of the 20th century, almost all hat production was done with machines, or with the aid of machines. There are a few instances where the laborer does the work without machinery, not counting hand tools. Some final pouncing might be done by hand, but not on most hats. Ribbons and liners were stitched by hand, by the girls in the trimming room. Hand-felted edges were done by hand. Some companies, like Crofut & Knapp, still had their Derby brims curled by hand-shackles, but many others used machines for that. But by and large, machines were what enabled factories to turn out 10 hats every working minute.

Brad

 

[Tango Yankee]

My wife watches the show quite often and I sometimes get interested and watch as well. I always hoped that they'd do a hat-making one but I didn't catch this one. They do tend to rerun the shows, though, so I'm sure I'll see it eventually.

Hand-made vs Machine made may not be a dead horse we'd like to continue beating. We all know that there are wonderful hats out there that were made by hand, just as we know that those lovely Stetson Stratoliners and Knox 20's were mostly machine-made. The hand-made hats may beat out the machine-made in the finer details, but the average Joe out there won't notice.

Regards,
Tom

 

[bolthead]

:arated: Sorry, but did we watch the same show, because I saw lots of human hands involved.[huh] Not to mention worker knowledge and expertise along every step of production, especially during constriction of the felt body.

Here's a current thread on the Winchester Hat Co. which depicts virtually the same process of making the felt body as shown in the Stetson piece.

I agree, there were a lot of human hands, using automated machinery.

I also agree about the worker knowledge and expertise. I'm sure they were seasoned veterans that were shown and not a few new rookies.

I never said in my thread that I wasn't impressed by it, I was just a bit surprised is all.

They showed how to make a complete hat in about 3 mins. It was edited very well.

Some final pouncing might be done by hand, but not on most hats.

From what I seen Brad this was done using a belt sander while the block was spinning on the jig. [huh]

 

[Davidson]

On tonight!

At least it's supposed to be in this segment - listed last, maybe at 10:50 or so central time, on Discovery channel on Dish, at least.

 

[St.Ignatz]

Saw it a few weeks ago. My impression way that it was a lot of work for a mass market Stetson. This is no Pinnacle they made. Old photos show cones and so many other devises used in modern and golden age shops.

 

[handlebar bart]

Just finished watching it. Thanks. It was timed great to go along with Jimmys thread on the topic. :eusa_clap

 

[Davidson]

Saw it a few weeks ago. My impression way that it was a lot of work for a mass market Stetson. This is no Pinnacle they made. Old photos show cones and so many other devises used in modern and golden age shops.

They showed snippets of tape of different hats. One was wool I think (the "crushable" stamp in the crown). The 30X they showed will sell for a lot more than a Pinnacle. It's not crushable

 

[HATCO]

That was my biggest complaint with the production. They were very rushed. To me it would have made more sense to stick with one style of hat for the entire segment... Originally they wanted to compress it down to one 4.5 minute segment. I told them they would skip over a lot of important steps. They edited over the dying of the hats which I'm kinda bummed about...

 

[DavidVillaJr]

I caught it on the telly last evening.

I was struck by how MANY stages/steps there are in hatmaking - even if they left out a bunch.

How many times does the "raw" fur get blown through various contraptions before it even gets turned into a cone? That alone made me stop and think.

Very interesting - even if the hat kept changing in every shot...

Kind of like Indy's gun changing in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", or whatshername's breakfast in that "hooker with a heart of gold" movie she made...

dv