Stetson is a brand of hat manufactured by the

John B. Stetson Company The John B. Stetson Company, founded by John B. Stetson in 1865, was the maker of the Stetson cowboy hats, but ceased manufacturing in 1970. Stetson hats are now being manufactured in Garland, Texas, by Hatco, Inc., who also produce Resistol and ...

. "Stetson" is also used as a

generic trademark A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products or ...

to refer to any

campaign hat A campaign hat, sometimes called campaign cover, is a broad-brimmed felt or straw hat, with a high crown, pinched symmetrically at the four corners. The campaign hat is occasionally referred to as a Stetson, derived from its origin in the company' ...

, in particular, in

Scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

John B. Stetson John Batterson Stetson (May 5, 1830 – February 18, 1906) was an American hatter, hat manufacturer, and in the 1860s, the inventor of the cowboy hat. He founded the John B. Stetson Company as a manufacturer of headwear. The company's hats a ...

gained inspiration for his most famous hats when he headed west from his native New Jersey for health reasons. On his return east in 1865, he founded the John B. Stetson Company in Philadelphia. He created a hat that has become symbolic of the pioneering American West, the "

Boss of the Plains The Boss of the Plains was a lightweight all-weather hat designed in 1865 by John B. Stetson for the demands of the American West. It was intended to be durable, waterproof and elegant. This design and the term "Stetson" eventually became all-bu ...

". This Western hat would become the cornerstone of Stetson's hat business and is still in production today. Stetson eventually became the world's largest hat maker, producing more than 3,300,000 hats a year in a factory spread over in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. In addition to its Western and fashion hats, Stetson also produces fragrance, apparel, footwear, eyewear, belts, bourbon, and other products evoking the historic

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

Stetson University Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I–4 corridor in Central Florida with the primary undergraduate campus in DeLand. The university was founded in 1883 and was later established in 1887 ...

and

Stetson University College of Law Stetson University College of Law (Stetson Law), founded in 1900 and part of Stetson University, is Florida's first law school. Originally located near the university's main campus in DeLand, Florida, the law school moved in 1954 to Gulfport, Flor ...

in Florida were named after John B. Stetson in 1899 for his contributions to the school.

Beginnings

was born in 1830 in Orange, New Jersey, where his father, Stephen Stetson, was a hatter. He worked in his father's shop until he went West for his health.

Prospector's hat

Stetson created a rugged hat for himself made from thick

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

felt Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...

while panning for gold in Colorado. According to legend, Stetson invented the hat while on a hunting trip while showing his companions how he could make cloth out of fur without tanning.Etta Reid, ''Ingenuity, luck united to make Stetson hat''. News & Record (Greensboro, NC). Triad Classifieds Deasomedtriadn; p.. GRN6. September 9, 2007 Fur felt hats are lighter, they maintain their shape, and withstand weather and renovation better. Stetson made an unusually large hat from felt he made from hides collected on the trip and wore the hat for the remainder of the expedition. Although initially worn as a joke, Stetson soon grew fond of the hat for its ability to protect him from the elements. It had a wide brim, a high crown to keep an insulating pocket of air on the head, and was used to carry water. As their travels continued, a

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

is said to have seen J. B. Stetson and his unusual hat, rode up, tried the hat on for himself, and paid Stetson for it with a five dollar gold piece, riding off with the first western Stetson hat on his head.

Boss of the Plains

Stetson's western adventures came to an end in 1865. Stetson, then 35 years old and in better health, returned east and established his own hat firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which produced high-quality hats for outdoor use. After producing some initial designs based on popular styles of the day, Stetson decided to create a hat based on his experiences in the American West, which he called the "

".Stetson Century, Ralph Richmond 1965 The original "Boss", manufactured by Stetson in 1865, was flat-brimmed, had a straight-sided crown with rounded corners. These lightweight, waterproof hats were natural in color, with four-inch crowns and brims.Snyder, Jeffrey B. (1997) ''Stetson Hats and the John B. Stetson Company 1865–1970'' pg 73, pg 51 1997 A plain hatband was fitted to adjust head size. The sweatband bore John B. Stetson's name.

Price and popularity

Stetson produced a costly hat. The cowboy riding the range wearing the "'Boss of the Plains' hat showed the world that he was doing well". "Within a decade the name John B. Stetson became synonymous with the word 'hat' in every corner and culture of the West." The shape of the hat's crown and brim were often modified by the wearer for fashion and to protect against the weather by being softened in hot steam, shaped, and allowed to dry and cool. Felt tends to retain the shape in which it dries. The high-crowned, wide-brimmed, soft-felt western hats that followed are intimately associated with the American cowboy image.

Mass production

Stetson sent a sample hat to merchants throughout the Southwest with a letter asking for a minimum order of a dozen "Boss of the Plains" hats. The hat was an immediate success: in less than a year, Stetson set up a new factory in the outskirts of Philadelphia to handle his growing business. By 1886, Stetson's hat company was the largest globally and had mechanized the hat-making industry ("producing close to 2 million hats a year by 1906"). The Stetson Hat Co. ceased production in 1968 and licensed another hat company. However, these hats still bear the Stetson name, with the hats produced in St. Joseph, Missouri. Later the license was transferred to another hat company in Texas. "Today's

cowboy hat The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the western and southern United S ...

has remained basically unchanged in construction and design since the first one was created in 1865 by J.B. Stetson." Stetson also produced "dress" hats, distinguished from "western" hats by narrower brims and shorter crowns. However, his "Boss of the Plains" style hat and its many variants fueled the company's growth and fame.

Singing cowboys and ten-gallon hats

In the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, a hat was an indispensable item in every man's wardrobe. Stetson focused on expensive, high-quality hats that represented a real investment for the working cowboy and a statement of success for the city dweller. Early on, Stetson hats became associated with legends of the West, including "

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa, Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but ...

Calamity Jane Martha Jane Cannary (May 1, 1852 – August 1, 1903), better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, sharpshooter, and storyteller. In addition to many exploits she was known for being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok. Late ...

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...

, and

Annie Oakley Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Mosey; August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) was an American sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Oakley developed hunting skills as a child to provide for her impoverished family in western ...

George Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

allegedly rode into the

Battle of Little Big Horn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...

wearing a Stetson. Later on,

Western movie The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

cowboys were quick to adopt the Stetson; many were drawn to the largest, most flamboyant styles available. Texans were known for their preference for the "Ten Gallon" model. According to Win Blevins' ''Dictionary of the American West'' (p. 388), the term "ten-gallon" has nothing to do with the hat's liquid capacity but derives from the Spanish word ''galón'' (braid), ten indicating the number of braids used as a hatband. However, an early Stetson advertising image, a painting of a cowboy dipping his hat into a stream to provide water for his horse, symbolized the cowboy hat as an essential part of a stockman's gear and was later featured inside every western style hat.

Changing fashions

Der Stetson- ROYAL - Ich neige meinen Hut - gnädige Frau

Stetson also produced women's hats, operating a millinery department from the 1930s to 1950s. Hat sales suffered during the Depression years, but Stetsons remained ubiquitous until Americans' embrace of headwear faded after WWII. Stetson had operations in Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Finland, Guatemala, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, and West Germany at its peak. Stetson changed its business strategy in the early 1970s, closing its Philadelphia factory in 1971 and continuing in the hat business through licensing arrangements with several manufacturers. Popular demand for western-style hats spiked during the 1980s after the success of

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film '' Raiders of the Lost Ark''. In 1984, a prequel, '' Th ...

and

Urban Cowboy ''Urban Cowboy'' is a 1980 American romantic Western film directed by James Bridges. The plot concerns the love-hate relationship between Buford Uan "Bud" Davis (John Travolta) and Sissy (Debra Winger). The film's success was credited for spur ...

movies. Both western and dress hats continue to be popular men's accessories.

Diversification

In the 1980s, Stetson began to diversify, releasing the first Stetson cologne in 1981 and Lady Stetson in 1986. Luggage, handbags, umbrellas, and scarves also carried the Stetson mark. Currently, the brand carries western hats, fashion hats, fragrances, eyewear, apparel, footwear, belts, accessories, and bourbon. Stetson is available in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Asia.

Military and police uniforms

United States

The hat was first sold in

Central City, Colorado The historic City of Central, commonly known as Central City, is a home rule municipality located in Gilpin and Clear Creek counties, Colorado, United States. Central City is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Gilpin County. ...

in 1865 in a style called the "Boss of the Plains." In some versions of the famous American folk ballad "

Stagger Lee "Stagger Lee", also known as "Stagolee" and other variants, is a popular American folk song about the murder of Billy Lyons by "Stag" Lee Shelton, in St. Louis, Missouri, at Christmas 1895. The song was first published in 1911 and first recorded ...

," Billy Lyons is killed by Stack A Lee over a Stetson hat. Troopers of modern-day U.S. Army cavalry regiments will often wear a

Cavalry Stetson The Cavalry Stetson is a cavalry traditional headgear within the United States Army, typical worn by cavalrymen in the late 1860s, named after its creator John B. Stetson. In the modern U.S. Army, the Stetson was revived as an unofficial headgea ...

on ceremonial occasions in place of the ACU patrol cap or beret. The Homicide and Robbery Bureau of the Dallas Police used the Stetson hat as a badge of office. In addition, on April Fools' Day, 2011, the U.S. Army released a humorous statement that the official black beret of the Army would be replaced by Stetsons. The statement was supplemented by pictures of soldiers with Stetsons photoshopped over their berets, including an Army dog toting a Stetson.

British paramilitary

The

Legion of Frontiersmen The Legion of Frontiersmen is a civilian organisation formed in Britain in 1905 by Roger Pocock, a former constable with the North-West Mounted Police and Boer War veteran. Prompted by fears of an impending invasion of Britain and the Empire, th ...

created in 1905 in England also wore the Stetson.

South African police

The

South African Constabulary The South African Constabulary (SAC) was a paramilitary force set up in 1900 under British Army control to police areas captured from the two independent Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State during the Second Boer War. Its first ...

organized by

Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; (Commonly pronounced by others as ) 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, foun ...

in 1901 wore the Stetson.

Canadian military

In the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, the flat-brimmed Stetson became the standard issue of the 2nd Canadian Contingent, becoming recognized throughout the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

as a symbol of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Twelve hundred Canadian troops were part of the South African Constabulary under the leadership of

Robert Baden-Powell Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; (Commonly pronounced by others as ) 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the worl ...

, and it was after seeing these troops in action at the Relief of Mafeking that Baden-Powel ordered 10,000 of these hats for the British Troops under his command.

Canadian police

The

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

(RCMP)

Red Serge The Red Serge refers to the jacket of the dress uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It consists of a scarlet British-style military pattern tunic, complete with a high-neck collar and blue breeches with yellow stripe identifying a ca ...

dress uniform Full dress uniform, also known as a ceremonial dress uniform or parade dress uniform, is the most formal type of uniforms used by military, police, fire and other public uniformed services for official parades, ceremonies, and receptions, incl ...

includes a Stetson with a flat brim. The Stetson was first used unofficially by the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...

, in place of the traditional white

pith helmet The pith helmet, also known as the safari helmet, salacot, sola topee, sun helmet, topee, and topi) is a lightweight cloth-covered helmet made of sholapith. The pith helmet originates from the Spanish Empire, Spanish military adaptation of the na ...

, not practical for the Canadian West. The color for the RCMP Stetson is sometimes referred to as "Belgian Belly"; it is a reddish buff, pastel-like color of the underfur of the Belgian hare. It is also a very little-used "second name" for the Stetson. Although called a Stetson, the hat type is similar to a

. The

Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorpo ...

also wore the Stetson (grey woven fabric) as part of their uniform from 1909 to 1930s and again from 1997 to 2009. The

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

municipal police may wear a black Stetson as an optional part of their uniform, reflecting the city's western roots and cowboy heritage. Although worn by some officers year-round, the hat is especially prominent during the

Calgary Stampede The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and featu ...

, a ten-day summer festival celebrating the city's roots.

References

External links

* {{US Army uniforms 1865 introductions Brands that became generic Clothing brands of the United States Hats Rider apparel Western wear Western (genre) staples and terminology