Jen wears the Austral

Studio visit with commercial artist, Jen Mussari in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.

Photography by Mark Kauzlarich

Jen grew up in Philadelphia and spends a lot of her time in the California desert for inspiration.

“When I started working with Stetson I mentioned the project to my Uncle, who told me something I hadn’t known before: that my great grandfather worked at Stetson’s hat factory in Philadelphia in the early 20th century. My great grandfather, Anthony Catalano, was apparently one of many Catalano immigrants who spent his days blocking, or forming the felt into Stetson hat shapes. We don’t know much else about his time there, but it seems like there was a strong community of Italian immigrants in the factory. I’ve always loved western wear and had no idea that we had this familial connection until I designed this bandana.”

Receive this special edition bandana designed by Jen Mussari as a gift with purchases of $250. Use offer code: JUST4U. Limited quantities while available.

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Bill wears the Stetson Stratoliner Fedora

William “Bill” Oyster is a full-time career bamboo fly rod maker with a workshop in one of the south’s most authentic mountain towns (Blue Ridge, GA).

Photography and story by Corey Woosley

Each Oyster Bamboo Fly Rod is intensely handcrafted.  Bill is the only professional bamboo fly rod maker in the world who personally hand engraves his own rods.  The performance and aesthetics of each rod is truly remarkable.

As the most prolific teacher of this rod making art alive today, Bill draws students from as far away as England, Scotland, Australia and New Zealand as well as every corner of the US to his southern mountain own studio in beautiful Blue Ridge, Georgia.

Each year, Oyster introduces a little more of the world to this traditional craft and a look into the life of a bamboo fly rod maker.

Corey writes: Our truck wound down a mountain road that paralleled the Toccoa River a few miles outside the small sleepy town of Blue Ridge, Georgia. Eventually, we came upon an unassuming pull off that we tucked the truck into. Bill Oyster exited the front seat and made his way to the rear to gather his fishing gear. It was mid-October and the first bit of cool weather for the season had arrived with the morning. It had been unseasonably warm up until that point and the cool, crisp air was a welcome offering. Bill is middle-aged with a medium build and a medium height. The hair that’s still on his head is salt and pepper and it’s accompanied by one hell of a silver beard. On paper, he sounds older than he actually looks, but he is fit and has a youthful face and his eyes are hopeful like they are still looking forward to something. Bill is a craftsman by trade and constructs the world’s finest split cane fly rods by hand. I watched him work in his shop the day before as he took extremely plain looking bamboo poles and turned them into functioning pieces of art.

Our group made its way down to the water where we stopped and pulled on our waders. Bill strung up one of his current creations, an 8’6”, 7wt. hollow body bamboo rod. It was beautiful… Bill and I eased off the bank and into the moving water. I hung back with my camera and let him work his way upstream alone in search of the day’s first pocket or riffle to cast a fly into. He finally found a piece of water he deemed worthy and unfurled his line. He proceeded to haul out a cast so elegant and effortless it felt like I was listening to a Billie Holiday song. The rest of the morning was vainly spent trying to catch trout. Although it was a cooler morning, the water temperature hadn’t experienced the same change yet, and the fish were locked jawed or maybe even non-existent. Finally, we threw in the towel and decided to head back to town for some lunch.

On the truck ride home I asked Bill what drew him to fly fishing. He revealed in a former life he had been a professional cyclist and that he used the meditation of fishing to balance the demands physically and mentally of being a professional athlete. Bill went on to explain that he eventually suffered a pretty serious accident that ended his cycling career. He said after the accident he wasn’t really sure where his path was going to lead. He had already completed a considerable amount of schooling. He had studied Aerospace Engineering, English Literature, Philosophy, and finally, Studio Art all spread across three major colleges in two states, accumulating endless amounts of credit hours but finished with zero degrees, so there wasn’t much to fall back on. In the interim, however, Bill still had fly fishing, and along with that, he began a new pursuit of building his own bamboo fly rods.

There is no question about whether or not Bill has achieved excellence with his fly rods. He is an absolute master. He has made rods for people all over the world including sheiks, presidents, celebrities, and the list goes on. He has the claim of selling the most expensive fly rods in the world and the buyers to prove it. With so much to boast about, one might be tempted to think Bill is probably some kind of egomaniac that keeps his trade secrets closely guarded, but his humility is startling and as far as sharing his craft goes, he’s an open book. Bill’s wife, Shannen, explained to me that when he was starting out, almost no one was willing to share their knowledge and that he swore if he ever figured out how to make a rod he would share what he had learned with others. Now, he and his team host rod building classes almost every other week year-round, where they teach their students how to build a rod the same exact way Bill does.
After lunch, we reconvened and headed to a private property where a friend of Bill’s had a stream stocked with oversized trout, pellet pigs as they are affectionately referred to. Typically a stream like this would be frowned upon by fly fishing purists, especially ones that are so committed to the pursuit of purity that they build their own fly rod, by hand, out of bamboo. There was none of that with Bill though. He was genuinely happy to be on the water, with friends, catching fish. Bill ended up guiding me into a beautiful Rainbow Trout and caught a true trophy of his own. The balance of Bill’s life came into sharp focus on the water. He had the discipline and commitment to create the finest handcrafted rods that took years to master and hundreds of hours to create and still have fun and appreciate the innocence of catching stocked fish with them. That simple epiphany brought me to a pause.

Follow Anthony at @enginethusiast

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Growing up near Barber Motorsports in Birmingham, AL, Anthony Scott’s love for all things engine related was cultivated from an early age. As a United States Air Force Veteran, it was important for him to have projects to dive into as he integrated back into society. In 2013, Anthony moved to Portland, Oregon and got the idea to start Enginethusiast, a company and website dedicated to photographing cars and motorcycles. Anthony established himself as an upcoming bike builder, custom fabricator, mechanic, and creative in Portland.

The idea behind Enginethusiast was to foster a community of like-minded individuals across the globe who wanted to see content that not only made them feel good but was also aesthetically pleasing. As that community grew, so did Anthony’s projects. Along with pursuing modeling, photography, and directing full time, Anthony is the author of Supply & Denim, a book dedicated to makers, creatives, and the fashion that drives them.

Anthony was also inspired to take his love for vintage racing and share it with others, so he created The Desert Race, a traveling grassroots motorcycle event that encourages riders of all ages and skill levels to come out to the desert and enjoy a weekend of laid back racing, camping, music, and fun.

The Stetson Driver Goat Suede Cap boasts classic appeal with a sewn down brim and soft, goat suede leather construction.

Anthony sees his endeavors as a way to bring individuals from different walks of life together both socially and professionally. Through common interests and small community networks, Anthony feels we are already making the world a better place for the next generation.

Photography: Marisa Anderson

FREE GROUND SHIPPING on orders of $175+

The furniture we use every day tends to be one of the most overlooked commodities in today’s society. Our friend, William Graeber has set out to change that idea and share what woodworking is to him: a rare and forgotten art.

William wears the Plaid Wool Ivy Cap and the Brushed Twill Flannel

Photography by Eric Granado

It started in woodshop class at his middle school. William became surrounded by power tools, saw dust and all things woodworking; but it wasn’t until he was 19 when he started building furniture. When he was 23, he was designing, building, and repairing furniture for residential and commercial clients around the Central Oklahoma area.

More than 20 years after opening his first shop, William is proud to be Oklahoma’s only full line supplier of handcrafted custom furniture and I mean custom. He sits down with every client and gets an idea of what they’re looking for. Some clients give him free reign over a project.

As you enter his shop, there’s a sign that says, “Please allow 6-8 week delivery on all orders”. Behind the shop sits an airplane wing that a client donated to him to be converted into a table. Right when you walk in, there’s an area to the left with an overhead light, and two studio lights. His Nikon D800E is covered in years of saw dust. There’s a method to all this madness.

“We aren’t a large factory pumping out hundreds of pieces, we’re a group a craftsman, that love what we do, and we take great pride in the fact that each piece we build is built with our own hands.”

His furniture has been featured by media outlets like HGTV and House Beautiful. He built and installed every cabinet, table and desk at Cure nail salon in El Paso, Texas. Yet, with so many projects on-deck, he still takes pride in his craft.

As you scroll through his website and social media, there’s multiple videos showcasing his craft. There’s one video in particular that caught my eye. He shows his process of taking a knot out of a table top. He chisels out the knot and disposes of the remaining dead wood. He then proceeds to take a piece of paper over the empty space and color over it. He shapes a piece of wood and glues it into the empty area and sands it down. It’s the small details he captures that shows exactly what happens during the construction process.

Rugged quality denim you can work in. Shop here.

“To me, furniture design and construction are still art forms. I take great pride in carrying on the wonderful traditions of putting pencil to paper, sketching ideas, engineering parts, and putting together one of a kind pieces the world has never seen.”

William loves giving back to the community. His website has tips on how to treat your furniture. Want to inquire about a dining table but don’t know where to start? He has a guide for that, too. Visit here.

There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars. – Jack Kerouac

Since Doug and Emily moved into a van months ago, their monotonous 9-5 lives have been transformed into an exciting, never-ending adventure of exploring the places they had always dreamt of. Each new day spent traveling gives them the taste of freedom they haven’t felt since they were just kids playing in the sand. The wind constantly blows through their hair and the endless road begs to be discovered.

Part of the new Stetson Seeker collection, the Stargazer is an extra wide-brimmed wool felt hat designed to protect against the elements of the city or the outdoors.

The first stop on their journey was the cowboy state. Jackson, a small quaint mountain town nestled in the valley of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Here, they shared some beers with an old friend at a local saloon and gathered enough firewood and grub for a weeks worth of camping in the Tetons and Yellowstone. With their rig stocked up and spirits high, they set off to Shadow Mountain, a dispersed cang paradise that overlooked the entire Grand Teton valley and mountain range.

After driving thirty minutes up steep, rocky switchbacks, they pulled up to a little slice of heaven on top of Shadow Mountain unscathed. Opening the van doors, they greeted their new backyard for the evening — a 360-panoramic view of the Grand Teton valley and mountain range. Without hesitation, they cracked open beers, enkindled their firewood and began cooking over the cast iron as the sun fell over the Grand Teton mountain range. Only the sounds of crackling fire wood and their soft voices could be heard through the thin evening air. Again, they are constantly reminded how bittersweet this life can be.

The Pioneer is an updated take on the 1865 original Boss of the Plains, designed by John B. Stetson—one of Stetson’s most legendary, original styles

The next stop was Yellowstone. Spanning over two million acres, Yellowstone offers some of the most diverse landscapes and ecosystems in the world. From its expansive sylvan valleys home to several wolf packs to its volcanic geysers erupting water vapor into the atmosphere, this park is a feast for the senses. The mission for the next few days was to explore as much of the park as possible.

On the first day in the park with only a couple hours of daylight to spare, they got their first glimpse of wildlife off the main road. Now, this wasn’t the average bison or elk grazing. They got to witness a grizzly bear sitting proud on top of a dismantled elk carcass. Whenever an animal carcass is located in the park, there are park rangers watching over the scene at all times for good safety measures. Grizzlys can become extremely territorial over carcasses. According to the park ranger, this specific grizzly had claimed rights to the elk carcass a day ago after chasing off a pack of wolves.

Picking the brains of park rangers is a fantastic way to learn about wildlife behavior and the best places in the park to view them. While talking with the park ranger for five minutes, they learned that one of the best spots in the lower 48 states to view grizzly bears was at Yellowstone’s own, Pelican Valley. Instantly, they were hooked. They set forth at dawn on the Pelican Creek Trail to hopefully see multiple bears.

A soon-to-be classic in the new Stetson Seeker collection, the Quicklink is a Western-inspired, outdoor-ready, firm felt hat

Our last morning in Yellowstone was spent watching a wolf pack roam the furthest reaches of Lamar Valley. Crowds of visitors and ‘wolf watchers’ hugged the side of the road to catch a glimpse of a wolf pack. The only way to see the wolves was to look through a decent pair of binoculars because they were about 800m away. Peering through binoculars, we watched grey and black wolves scour the valley like mischievous villains.

With snow on the horizon, they did what they knew best — hit the road. Doug turned the key to start the engine and they left Yellowstone in the dust. As they rumbled their way to the Utah desert, the wind blew through their hair with not a worry in the world.