Aaron Hats - Aaron’s Hat Blog

This just in…the Kenny. This has been a long time customer favorite and it’s back for 2008. This is a great summer cowboy hat made of Guatemalan palm leaf. It was made famous by the award winning country superstar Kenny Chesney. In fact, even after all this time he’s still wearing it and is shown on his web sites home page. Even though there has been no formal endorsement of the hat by Kenny it has become known as the Kenny Chesney hat.

Get a Kenny hat on,

Aaron

I’ve been busy unpacking all the boxes of new hats and thought I’d post a couple favorites. These are two straw cowboy hats that have been customer favorites year after year. These hats are great for sitting at your favorite beach this summer or going to a country concert.

The first is the Scala Raffia Western Hat. It has a turquoise hat band with leather chin cord and a shapeable brim.

The next hat is the Scala Soft Toyo Western Hat. It has a cotton chin cord and is available in multiple colors. We currently have it in black and mud colors but will be getting additional colors soon.

Get a cowboy hat on,

Aaron

I just got the new Resistol Hat catalog for 2008 so I’m in the process of updating the web site with all the deletions and new styles. As usual there is a strong selection of George Strait western hats as well as Tuff Hedeman and the United States Team Roping Championships (USTRC) for all you rodeo fans. I’ll include myself in that category of rodeo fans. I’ve done a little horseback riding but I’m not even close enough to being able to do what those team ropers and barrel racers can do.

I’ve already added quite a few of the new style but I should have them all added by the end of the weekend. Some of these styles will be stocked in the store while many will be available only through Special Order.

Now take a gander at Resistol’s best cowboy hat, the Double Eagle:

Gidde up,

Aaron

Up here in North Conway, NH we had about six inches of snow on Monday and we’re expecting another six inches on Friday. On top of the three feet of snow that was already on the ground this makes for a winter wonderland in the White Mountains. This is great news for all skiers and snowmobilers around New England as I’m sure a lot of them will be heading here for a weekend of white fun. Now, having said all that we have our first shipment of Kangol Spring/Summer hats due to arrive in about 2-3 weeks. This will be the first of many shipments to start arriving. Just yesterday we went to a trade show and ordered ladies hats for the Kentucky Derby, straw sun hats, Toby Keith hats, Indiana Jones hats, childrens bucket hats, Panama hats and hats with certified UV protection for both men and women.

Yesterday while we were at the trade show we were talking with one of the sales reps and she was explaining how every year she thinks about retiring and taking some time off to relax. The reason she hasn’t retired is because whenever she sees the next seasons hats she gets all excited and falls in love with the new hats and just has to share her excitement with her customers. I’m not ready to retire but I do get excited every time I get a new hat catalog or when a salesman shows up at the store with new samples to preview.

Over the next couple weeks I’ll be posting pictures of some of the new hats we’ve ordered and having coming into the store for the Spring and Summer season. I hope you’ll get as excited as I do when you see them.

Get a hat on,

Aaron

Felt hats are made out of either wool or fur. Fur felt being the better option due to it’s feel and how it holds up better to the elements. For this reason it is generally more desirable among many consumers.

Decades ago most hat manufacturers used mostly beaver fur for their felt hats. As the raw beaver fur became more and more expensive the manufacturers started using more rabbit and wild hare and less beaver in the hats. These manufacturers kept their blends or recipes a highly regarded secret and still do to this day. In the last 18-24 months the price of the raw rabbit fur has gone through the roof due to the Chinese clothing manufacturers using more real fur. For this reason, RHE Hatco who makes hats for Stetson, Resistol, Dobbs, Charlie 1 Horse and Cavanagh has experimented with different kinds of fur. A couple years ago they started using Buffalo fur and continue to make select styles using Buffalo. The Buffalo fur is better than wool but still not quite as nice as the beaver and rabbit fur hats. This actually turned out to be good because it created a price point in retail that was missing. Previously you could spend $50 on a wool felt hat or $150+ for a rabbit fur felt hat. Buffalo fits right in the middle of that floating right around $100. This year the Stetson brand has introduced a few fur felt hats made of Kangaroo fur. They will be priced similarly to the Buffalo felt hats but I have yet to see and touch one to get a real sense of the quality of the felt. Once I get one in my hands I’ll be sure to right a review here so stay tuned.

Here’s one of the new styles called the Stetson Amaroo:

You can tell all your friends you heard it here first.

Gidde up ‘Roo,

Aaron

Barmah Hats of Australia has been one of those brands that Aaron Hats has stocked since the day we opened our doors. We are now proud to announce that you will be able to see and purchase Barmah’s entire line of hats from our web site GetaHatOn.com. While many Australian hat companies have closed down Barmah has expanded its operations. In fact, Barmah Hats now has its own dedicated leather manufacturing factory in Melbourne, Australia. This provides Barmah several advantages such as:

*consistent high quality leather
*stunning and unique full grain leathers
* consistency of colours - every hat will be the same
* waterproof leathers
* guaranteed supply of material

If you’re looking for the highest quality Kangaroo leather hat look no further than Barmah and Aaron Hats. The highest quality is the Barmah 1019 Sundowner Roo which uses the same Kangaroo leather that is used to make soccer boots in Australia. My new favorite Barmah is the 1018 Squashy Kangaroo with the Crackle finish and Cooper Crossing hatband shown below:

Get a hat on Mate,

Aaron

Country music super star Toby Keith’s popularity continues to grow and so does his fans thirst for more Toby Keith hats. The latest additions include an embroidered ball cap and a knit camo military style cap.

Back in the Spring we had pre-ordered our crushable wool western hats from Bailey. They were scheduled for delivery in mid-summer but the Bailey rep called us about a month ago and asked if they could ship them early because they needed to make room in their warehouse. We said “sure, no problem”. What a surprise it’s been to have the wool crushable western hats so early in the season…and selling so quickly. Most people can’t wear them in the summer because as you can imagine a wool hat is quite warm. Customers have been buying them up faster than ever before. I don’t know why but I guess I’ll attribute it to my superior buying skills and knowing what our customers want. Well, maybe it has something to do with the popularity of country music but I’d still like to think I had something to do with this buying craze.

You can check out our full line of western hats in both straw, wool felt, fur felt and leather in our Western Hats category.

Here’s a preview of the crushable western hats from Bailey:

Gidde up,

Aaron

I often get asked what my first hat was or what event as a child got me hooked on hats. Honestly, I don’t know or at least can’t remember. There was a great little hat shop in the city I grew up in and started visiting in my early teen years. I eventually bought a Stetson fur felt western hat but can’t say for sure if it was my first hat. In my early 20’s I had a Greek Fisherman’s cap and bought a Kangol Carrimac cap when I was in France and even though they’re both still made today I don’t currently own them.

Here’s a sampling of some of my current hats (the ones in rotation for regular wear):

-Stetson Diamond Jim – my favorite western hat

- Dobbs Naples – always get great comments at summer weddings

- Tilley T5 – great for hiking or yard work

- Kangol 504 Ventair – my favorite summer cap (got it in 4 colors)

- Dobbs Nugget – shown here but since discontinued by Dobbs

So what got you into hats?

Aaron…yes I have a hat on.

Over the decades the cowboy hat has come, gone and come back into popularity time and time again. Some of the most famous people to make the cowboy hat a fashion statement include Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, John Travolta, Robert Redford and of course Clint Eastwood. They may have only worn a western hat on screen but you have to admit they made most folks want to run out and buy a cowboy hat in hopes of being as cool as they appeared on screen.

Whenever the hat industry rides a wave of popularity with cowboy hats, those in the industry are always waiting for the shoe to drop, actually the hat to drop from popularity. Today, cowboy hats or western hats as some call them now, are more popular than ever thanks to the great country western music that’s riding a wave bigger than any hat has ever seen. Whether it’s the country music duo Montgomery Gentry and his Charlie 1 Horse hat called “Tattoos and Scars” or Toby Keith with his own line of hats there are plenty of styles to choose from. Whether it’s a straw cowboy hat, wool crushable western hat or the finest Stetson cowboy hat made of fur felt you’re sure to find one to fit your head and your budget at Aaron Hats.

Gidde up,

Aaron