A Short History of the 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 United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America and Brazil, station workers in Australia and New Zealand. It is recognized around the world as part of traditional Old West apparel.
The cowboy hat as known today has many antecedents to its design, including Mexican hats such as the sombrero, the various designs of wide-brimmed hats worn by farmers and stockmen in the eastern United States, as well as the designs used by the United States Cavalry.
The first western model was the open-crowned “Boss of the Plains”, and after that came the front-creased Carlsbad, destined to become the most prominent cowboy style.The high-crowned, wide-brimmed, soft-felt western hats that followed are intimately associated with the cowboy image.
History
Cowboy hats, like the sombreros of Mexico, were designed in response to the demands of the physical environment. High crowns provide insulation, and wide brims provide shade. Hot and sunny climates inspire such tall-crowned, wide-brimmed designs and hats with one or both of these features have evolved again and again in history and across cultures. For example, the Greek petasos of two millennia ago, and the traditional conical hat widespread in different regions of Asia – and worn into modern times – incorporate such heat-mitigating features.Inclusion in headgear for riders on horseback can be seen at least as far back as the Mongolian horsemen of the 13th century.
It is not clear when the cowboy hat received its name. European-Americans in the Western United States originally had no standard headwear. People moving West wore many styles of hat, including top hats, bowlers, Civil War headgear such as cavalry and slouch hats, and sailor hats.
Various styles of American cowboy hats evolved from Mexican hats like the sombrero charro, torro hats and sombreros calentanos. While modern Mexican cowboys adopted the American style cowboy hats and modified it to have smaller brims and higher crowns.
John Batterson Stetson is credited for originating the modern-day American cowboy hat.
The original “Boss of the Plains”, manufactured by Stetson in 1865, was flat-brimmed, had a straight sided crown, with rounded corners.These light-weight, waterproof hats were natural in color, with four-inch crowns and brims.A plain hatband was fitted to adjust head size. The sweatband bore Stetson’s name.There was only one style of hat, but they were made in different qualities ranging from one-grade material at five dollars apiece to pure beaver felt hats for thirty dollars each.
J. B. Stetson was the first to market the “Boss of the Plains” to cowboys, and it has remained the universal image of the American West. The charisma of the West was carried back East when adventurers returned in the expensive “Boss of the Plains”-style hat.
Destinations: United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil
