There are lots of manufacturers that boast about their American heritage, even when they’re only some a long time previous.
Then there’s Stetson.
The quintessential Western model was based in 1865 by John B. Stetson, who hailed from a hat-making household in New Jersey. When he was 20 years previous, Stetson got here down with tuberculosis and headed West to deal with his illness — and seek for gold.
It was throughout his time in Colorado that he recovered and have become acquainted with the opposite gold rushers and cowboys within the Rockies.
It didn’t take lengthy for him to note that the coon hats these Westerners wore didn’t present safety from the weather and sometimes attracted fleas.
So he drew on his expertise within the hat enterprise and developed a mannequin product of waterproof felt with a large brim and a tall crown that quickly grew to become the headwear of alternative for these adventurers. He known as it The Boss of the Plains, and the cowboy hat was born.
Annie Oakley in a Stetson hat.
Courtesy of Stetson
At this time, that enterprise stays the quintessential Western hat maker. It’s owned by a household that prefers to stay nameless that has been within the Western enterprise because the Sixties. Though the unique firm stopped manufacturing within the Seventies, the hats are nonetheless produced in America by Hatco, the corporate’s manufacturing and distribution companion, in Garland, Texas, in some instances on equipment that has been in use for generations.
For the previous 4 years, the enterprise has been overseen by chief government officer Robert Dundon, a style business government whose background contains Pentland Manufacturers, Fossil, Thomas Pink and Paul Smith. He joined as chief working officer and was elevated to chief government officer in March of 2023.
“After I began speaking to [the owners] concerning the position, I assumed that I knew every part I wanted to know concerning the model,” he stated. “After which after I began to look into what they had been doing and the way they had been placing a more-modern face on the model, it simply grew to become actually compelling. And I made up my mind that this was an absolute gold mine sitting proper out within the open that had by no means been totally tapped into. Given their place and presence within the West, American historical past and tradition, it simply appeared like there was a lot runway to develop the model.”
Robert Dundon
courtesy of Stetson
The method of modernizing the American-made enterprise began in 2019 when Stetson was given a “rebrand.” Dundon stated the replace included an internet site that was “Americana” quite than “Western,” an e-commerce enterprise. The corporate additionally began exploring licensing alternatives.
To commemorate the corporate’s 160th anniversary this 12 months, Stetson created a limited-edition premium straw hat, the JBS Version 50X, made out of shantung straw with a saddle leather-based hatband and sweatband and gold JBS branding iron hat pit with inset stones. Solely 400 items had been made they usually retailed for $230. They offered out in lower than every week.
The JBS Version 50X from Stetson.
Courtesy of Stetson
Coming this fall can be a Stetson artwork coffee-table e book revealed by Rizzoli. “They’ve been an incredible companion for us and have give you the definitive quantity that tells the Stetson story and what it’s identified for,” Dundon stated. The e book will converse to product in addition to “this nice American historical past and a love story between the model and its customers. It’s a extremely good tackle the model, what it has meant and the way it’s stood the take a look at of time for over a century and a half.”
Wanting on the model’s historical past, Dundon stated Stetson “hasn’t modified in any respect. It’s the expression of the model that has modified.”
A classic picture of the Stetson hat manufacturing facility.
Courtesy of Stetson
Western themes are having a second in style and music proper now — from Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and her “Cowboy Carter” album to Pharrell Williams’ fall ’24 Louis Vuitton males’s present to final 12 months’s Isabel Marant’s cowboy stylish assortment. And Stetson is properly positioned to capitalize on the development, the CEO stated.
“Nation music has crossed over and Western tradition has unfold from the middle of the nation,” Dundon stated. “And with that comes a curiosity. Stetson options closely in that story as a result of we’re the hat model all people is aware of. If you say Stetson, it’s a synonym for ‘hat.’ So we’ve the chance to actually inform the story by means of content material creation and this nice digital flagship.”
The corporate’s web site is its finest promoting automobile, he stated. Along with storytelling, the platform additionally reveals the breadth of the Stetson universe, which ranges from attire and boots to perfume, small leather-based items and jewellery.
“Our enterprise has grown within the double digits yearly since 2021,” he stated. And in contrast to the “City Cowboy” development of the early Nineteen Eighties, which lasted 18 months after which died, “what we’re seeing now’s longevity as a result of it transcends only a standard film or present. It’s actually discovered its manner into peoples’ minds and hearts.”
At this time, headwear accounts for 75 % of Stetson’s whole enterprise and remains to be the “cornerstone of the model,” he stated.
Justin Theroux and Carlos Quirarte of New York’s Ray’s Bar had been featured in a Stetson x Ray’s assortment.
Courtesy of Stetson
Boots have been particularly standard, he stated, with gross sales doubling yearly for the previous two years. And whereas Stetson continues to be a male-oriented model, ladies’s is changing into more and more standard and 50 % of all boot gross sales right this moment are ladies’s.
“I feel ladies are extra engaged with a style second,” he stated, including that Stetson created the hat Knowles-Carter wore on the duvet of her “Cowboy Carter” album and that “created extra power for the model and visitors to our web site.”
The perfume too has been a perennial favourite. It debuted 40 years in the past and in its peak within the Nineteen Eighties, was over a $100 million enterprise, he stated. “Different issues have come and gone nevertheless it’s at all times been on the shelf,” he stated.
Lately, the corporate has launched a few new fragrances and it has tapped “Yellowstone” actor Luke Grimes to be the face for the scent and males’s grooming merchandise.
Luke Grimes within the marketing campaign for Stetson perfume.
courtesy
Along with Knowles-Carter and Grimes, Stetson additionally did a collaboration with Bruno Mars on a preferred Ranger hat, in addition to a trucker hat with Publish Malone. The model additionally provided 100 cowboy hats for Ryan Gosling’s musical quantity from the “Barbie” film, “I’m Simply Ken,” on the Academy Awards final 12 months.
“Final 12 months was huge for us by way of getting a couple of actually well-known faces,” he stated. “We additionally work with lots of artists and musicians and provide headwear for them.”
Extra lately, the model created a customized bowler for Usher to put on for his Met Gala efficiency.
Dundon stated that whereas Stetson is finest identified for its cowboy hats, costume and out of doors appears to be like make up 20 % of the headwear.
Along with the straw hat and Rizzoli e book, Dundon stated Stetson can also be making a particular capsule assortment for the 160th anniversary that may characteristic commemorative, limited-edition hats, together with flat-brim fashions, in addition to belts and small leather-based items. It will likely be launched within the third quarter.
And never particularly associated to the anniversary, Stetson will even be launching a few new classes this 12 months. Final 12 months, it obtained into the espresso enterprise with an organization known as Free Rein, created by Cole Hauser of “Yellowstone,” and now “we’re moving into the meals enterprise by launching beef jerky with a companion,” he stated. “That looks like match for the youthful, protein-obsessed shopper.”
The model is planning to enter the house enterprise with a brand new mattress and tub licensee. And an entry into spirits by introducing bourbon can also be within the playing cards for subsequent 12 months.
“We’re actually attempting to fill out this life-style, from house, meals and beverage, attire, footwear, headwear. These are the principle focuses for us,” Dundon stated.
The place does he see Stetson sooner or later? “I’m a steward for this model and I might nonetheless wish to retain our standing because the headwear authority that you would be able to depend on for craftsmanship, enduring high quality and elegance,” he stated. “Then we’d wish to become this nice American model that has sturdy roots within the U.S. however has alternatives and an viewers in Europe, Asia, Latin America. These are markets we’re already in, however we wish to grow to be extra of a life-style model.”
At present, 25 % of Stetson’s enterprise comes from Europe and the model simply launched into Mexico final 12 months.
The e-commerce enterprise at present accounts for about 20 % of Stetson’s enterprise and though the model doesn’t function shops within the U.S., there are six in Europe and Dundon stated that including its personal retail shops is “positively on the roadmap for us.”
Till that point, the corporate will proceed to lean into its web site. “After I joined, it was only a platform. Now it’s a significant piece of our enterprise and I see that persevering with to develop,” he stated. “It’s the place folks can come and actually see the fullness of the model. Since we don’t have a brick-and-mortar retailer within the U.S., that’s the place you come to see all of the classes and actually expertise the model. Now we have an incredible story part on the web site with lots of our archival materials, and it actually provides you a way of what the model is past the merchandise.”
