Langenberg / Beaver Brands

[M Hatman]

Here is a "Thoroughbred" and an extremely faded "Westchester"....(the Westchester was used for theatrical storage.........)

 

[M Hatman]

Wow, thanks for this. I didn’t know there was a Wormser connection.

Yes, and those later Wormsers were just not the quality of the early ones.....(and they confounded things by sometimes applying two "grade" terms on the same hat. Notably 3x/ten star as well as others......). I have a true "Ten Star" from the 40's that is quite the superb hat, a match for any 7XCB of the time!!! As well as an earlier 50's "Royal Luxury" that is quite thin and nice also. I have seen and felt the later ones and none are quite the same.....(of course true for many of our revered hat companies.....)

 

[M Hatman]

Langenberg Hat company had "Lion Hats" as their lead brand for quite a long time (past the 60's) which was replaced by "Beaver Brand" which lasted until the company's demise......It seems there was no overlap between the two. I THOUGHT that "Beaver Brand" was introduced in the 70's BUT the earliest trade mark reference I found,was not filed by Langenberg until 1980!

I have four or five Lion Hats from the 1930's to the 60's.......I will try to get them all posted here......

But in the meantime here is one of my ads.....this one from 1920. Note how it (Lion Hats) is the hat for "REAL MEN"!!!

 

[Blare]

Langenberg Hat company had "Lion Hats" as their lead brand for quite a long time (past the 60's) which was replaced by "Beaver Brand" which lasted until the company's demise......It seems there was no overlap between the two. I THOUGHT that "Beaver Brand" was introduced in the 70's BUT the earliest trade mark reference I found,was not filed by Langenberg until 1980!

I have four or five Lion Hats from the 1930's to the 60's.......I will try to get them all posted here......

But in the meantime here is one of my ads.....this one from 1920. Note how it (Lion Hats) is the hat for "REAL MEN"!!!

View attachment 283227

I love the photo in the ad. Very classic look.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Langenberg Hat company had "Lion Hats" as their lead brand for quite a long time (past the 60's) which was replaced by "Beaver Brand" which lasted until the company's demise......It seems there was no overlap between the two. I THOUGHT that "Beaver Brand" was introduced in the 70's BUT the earliest trade mark reference I found,was not filed by Langenberg until 1980!

I have four or five Lion Hats from the 1930's to the 60's.......I will try to get them all posted here......

But in the meantime here is one of my ads.....this one from 1920. Note how it (Lion Hats) is the hat for "REAL MEN"!!!

View attachment 283227

Preying on male insecurities is almost as effective a marketing tool as using sex to sell.

Shocking to think Beaver Brand only came into being in 1980. I don’t have any proof, but that just doesn’t feel right. Then again, 1980 was 40 years ago and that doesn’t feel right either. Thanks for the great research, Mark.

 

[glider]

Beaver Brand was one of the largest and longest operating hat manufactures in the U.S. They produced quality hats and caps in New Haven Mo.. In business from 1860 to 2013, it is possible to find new beaver Brand hats today and there are a lot of used ones on e-bay etc. They made a lot of custom order hats and some of those command a high price but there are deals to be had. Bernard hat company was bringing the brand back but I don't know about that.

 

[M Hatman]

Beaver Brand was one of the largest and longest operating hat manufactures in the U.S. They produced quality hats and caps in New Haven Mo.. In business from 1860 to 2013, it is possible to find new beaver Brand hats today and there are a lot of used ones on e-bay etc. They made a lot of custom order hats and some of those command a high price but there are deals to be had. Bernard hat company was bringing the brand back but I don't know about that.

"Beaver Brand" was not around in 1860......it is a relatively a new trade name.....created by Langenburg Hat company. Saying it was around in 1860 is trade hype the same as HATCO saying THEY have been around since 1865 because they "own" Stetson or since 1817 because they "own" Malory........

 

[M Hatman]

Preying on male insecurities is almost as effective a marketing tool as using sex to sell.

Shocking to think Beaver Brand only came into being in 1980. I don’t have any proof, but that just doesn’t feel right. Then again, 1980 was 40 years ago and that doesn’t feel right either. Thanks for the great research, Mark.

EXACTLY what I was thinking on BOTH counts.......But so far....1980 is all I can find......and as you point out that was 40 years ago.....CRAP.....40 years ago.........

 

[glider]

"Beaver Brand" was not around in 1860......it is a retentively a new trade name.....created by Langenburg Hat company. Saying it was around in 1860 is trade hype the same as HATCO saying THEY have been around since 1865 because they "own" Stetson or since 1817 because they "own" Malory........

I disagree, the company didn't change hands when they brought the beaver brand name to market, same company. You could make the argument on the other end because they actually did change hands in the early 2000 or late 90s. Actually would you not say that it is correct to say that Stetson has been around since 1865, how many times has it changed hands ? I think you're splitting hairs .

 

[M Hatman]

I disagree, the company didn't change hands when they brought the beaver brand name to market, same company. You could make the argument on the other end because they actually did change hands in the early 2000 or late 90s. Actually would you not say that it is correct to say that Stetson has been around since 1865, how many times has it changed hands ? I think you're splitting hairs .

You are missing my point........Langenburg Hat Company was around for quite a while.....while "Beaver Brand" is quite a new creation by ANY comparison......and it confuses the issue and is misleading with people thinking "Beaver Brand" as a trade name has existed since 1860.........

Compare that to any trademarked style (or even sub brand) by Stetson for example, the "Stratoliner"..........one would NOT say the Stratoliner has been around since 1865 just because Stetson makes it......

 

[M Hatman]

Dates of Interest:

Founded in 1860 as: Gauss-Hunicke & Company in St Louis Missouri.

1881 Changed to: Gauss Hunicke Hat Company.

1886 Changed again this time to: Gauss-Shelton Hat Company.

Langenberg appears in 1901 with another name change: Gauss-Langenberg Hat Company.

In 1918 it was finally just the: Langenberg Hat Company

The name changed again in 1938 to Harris Langenberg Hat Co.'

In 1954 the company operated five Factories:
Berger, Missouri

Marthasville, Missouri


New Haven, Missouri

Mascoutah, Illinois


Lebanon, Illinois.

All were within a radius of 75 miles from St. Louis where the company was headquartered.

And then back to: Langenberg Hat Company in 1955.]

Company became "employee owned" in 1993

The Company was ordered to close in in 2000 by a State Order due to fraudulent conversion of employees stock and retirement funds by a Connie C. "Chip" Armstrong in his operation of Hamilton Taft & Co, (a payroll investment management firm) which had dealings with Langenberg and the parent company the Four Rivers Corp. This order was contested. (Not sure when they were acquired by Four Rivers Group, they (FRC) MAY have been simply a "management" group" corporation securing and managing Langenberg.)

I am not sure how it was resolved but the company obviously resumed operations between then (2000) and 2013 when it closed it doors for good.

Additional: {It seems it (Langenberg) was bought by the American Hat Company out of Texas in 2000 or at lease one plant (New Haven, Mo) and part of the company, was acquired by them as a result of the forced closure by creditors. The New Haven Plant seems to have been established in 1928 as an expansion of operations of Langenberg, and it was there that the majority of the actual "Beaver Brand" hats were manufactured by Langenberg in 2000 apparently}

EDIT: Added known info up to 2013......

 

[glider]

I suppose I should post a Beaver Brand hat, my one and only.

 

[M Hatman]

I consolidated and added a bunch of known information about the Langenberg Hat Company in my post above.........brings us to the FINAL demise in 2013.

 

[M Hatman]

Mid-50's Lion Hats "Stetson Wanderer" Clone...their "Major" quality....One of my absolute favorites!!!! Has plenty of crown to shape as you can see with my wonky crease....this is one nice felt hat.......Note the striped welt detail between the lining and the tip.......

 

[M Hatman]

Here is a early to mid 40's "Whippet" style......or "French Bound" as they said in the trade.....I DO have the awesome RED liner with gold stamped tip.....I had to take it out to condition the sweat as it (and the whole hat) was a restoration project....while the finish is rough looking, I WAS able to save the sweat and for all its looks, it is nice and supple with no rough texture at all........I feel the remaining mothing (which is slight) adds character (believe it or not I have NEVER had one person notice the mothing, But MANY have complemented the hat.....).

Note the offset bow (which I really like).

I took to wearing it in warmer weather hence never got back to putting in the liner, but as it looked so plain, I fabricated a tip label such as I have on other warm weather felts.....and as you see I incorporated a little red to brighten it up......I DO of course still have the cleaned original liner....I just need to get it out and photograph it.

Now on this hat the sweat has no welt or reed and is sewn directly to the felt....I actually like these sweats better....they conform nicely.

This one has great natural color.......

 

[M Hatman]

Early to mid-1930's.......has a really wide (just over 2") non-reeded textured sweat with taped joint. Very tall crown with narrow brim reminiscent of the 20's......Very nice sort of short hair finish on this one.......bow is offset to the rear though not as much as the 40's version above......This hat was (is) like new.....came from that NOS stock from Iowa......has original stock tag with code and retail price of $2.95!!!!

 

[M Hatman]

ALMOST back to the 1930's in style......we have a mid to late 1960's Lions Hat stingy brim underwelt.....about the end of the run before they turned into "Beaver Brand"...Basic black with a "European" bow treatment.....This one was NOS when I got it....I like wearing it to Club Meetings (I am a member of Lions Clubs International).
One of the FEW times I left the feather (it needed the color).

 

[VetPsychWars]

I have three Beaver Brand I bought just before they shut down, with Stratoliner specifications in colors that Stetson didn't offer.

Very good quality and I am glad I have them. The burgundy one certainly gets attention and I'm almost sorry I didn't get any other bold colors.

 

[belfastboy]

My first Beaver brand was a homburg that I thought was a nice mid brown colour. Well, damn the monitor because it turned out to be the Beaver Brand colour called Mustard. Yep, French's yellow mustard. Gave that one away to a woman in clown school. My other is a nice Black western....not a great hat but for some damned reason I really like it. Maybe because for a western it has a really soft hand and is easy to bash.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

My first Beaver brand was a homburg that I thought was a nice mid brown colour. Well, damn the monitor because it turned out to be the Beaver Brand colour called Mustard. Yep, French's yellow mustard. Gave that one away to a woman in clown school.

Damn, there's a good story there somewhere, waiting to be told!

 

[belfastboy]

Damn, there's a good story there somewhere, waiting to be told!

It was one of my very first Ebay hat purchases......There was a lesson in there that I was very slow to learn!