How did you get FFV get into the hat-making trade?

How did you get into hatmaking?

Curiosity & Practice.

I have worn real hats for 20 years. Hats made from real fur felt that keep their shape and transcend time.

In 2016 FFV started selling hats on the road out of our traveling trailer. We noticed some of the hats we were selling needed to be reshaped. We researched and invested in a hat steamer and a few tools.

We took this hat steamer on the road with us and started reshaping our vintage hat collection and new Sunbody sunhats at outdoor events. Once we started shaping hats we quickly evolved into trimming hats with feathers, hat pins & hatbands.

Every event we did we found more momentum around this customized hat experience. Hats were selling as fast as we could source, reshape, trim and place out for sale.

The next logical step was investing in wooden hat blocks, liquid starch, and books about the hat-making trade. We started deconstructing vintage fur felt hats, washing the felt, re-blocking to larger sizes, hand sewing in new calf skin sweatbands and new satin liners. Once we made several hats we cold-called a hat maker in California and spent several hours on the phone with him asking questions. People love to talk about their craft. We just needed to listen and take notes as he shared his tricks to custom hat making.

In the beginning of hat making I had moments where I felt like an imposter, but as we made more western hats and people left happy that feeling of being an imposter faded away.

Being on the hook is a thrill and it’s the Practice that makes the professional.