This Monday’s hat sale is a bit of a repeat from the post a few days ago…the Dobbs Tweed Newsboy cap. We have plenty of stock in both the grey and brown tweed and all sizes small through XL but don’t wait because this sale is only for today, thus the name Madhatter Monday. This Dobbs cap is normally $36 but today is just $30 which at this lower price point also saves you a little cash on the shipping charge as well. Be a Newsboy and start spreading the news!

My first love of hats started with the cowboy hat and there’s no better time to wear a great felt western hat than fall. Charlie 1 Horse Hats is known for their fashionable and sometimes funky cowboy hats so with the popularity of poker the Wild Card is a great new design that combines card playing and cowboy hats.

Charlie 1 Horse Wild Card Hat

This hat isn’t currently in stock but can be special ordered. If enough interest is generated then we’ll stock it in the future.

Get a hat on,

Aaron

If you’re a hunter or enjoy sporting clays, skeet or trap shooting this hat is for you. The Bailey Gunman is a crushable wool felt that feels more like a fur felt it’s so soft. It has a leather hat band and the emblem on the side is of a shotgunner. I like the style because it’s not really western but not dressy like a traditional fedora either. Check it out and let me know what you think:

Support the shooting sports.

Aaron

Another new arrival notice. This one is the Charlie 1 Horse Night Rider. It’s a black straw cowboy hat with a 3 1/2″ brim. We decided to stock this at a customer request. I didn’t order a lot of them but just in the last few days since it arrived we have already sold half the hats we got.

This is a perfect example of a customer who kept asking for a particular hat and now we’ll stock it because it has quickly turned into a good seller.

Keep the requests coming,

Aaron

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