Skip to main content

A Crowning Achievement

A CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT

MUNICH’S BAVARIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM PRESENTS
THE RICH HISTORY OF HEADWEAR—WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM STETSON

This fall, European audiences will get the opportunity to get up close with Stetson’s storied past and present thanks to a starring role in “Heads Up: Hats, Hoods, Hip Hop Caps,” a new exhibition on the history of headwear at the Bavarian National Museum in Munich.

A total of nine Stetson hats will be displayed, including a post-World War II-era Western hat, an ‘80s baseball cap, and a modern Stratoliner. These styles will sit alongside advertisements from the brand’s archives, all presented to contextualize Stetson’s role in the greater story of Western headwear. The display will be part of a larger 250-piece assortment, including 6th-century Egyptian hairnets and 14th-century sculpture, hats that once belonged to King Ludwig II and Otto von Bismarck, and even a teddy bear-studded hat from 1988 that once belonged to a German princess.

“I have the feeling that men in the States were maybe a little more daring than in Europe. I thought that was rather extraordinary.”

— Curator Dr. Johannes Pietsch

  • WESTERN HAT, 1945

  • FEDORA ROYAL DELUXE, 1950S

  • SCHWARZER TRILBY 1950-1960S

  • BRUANER TRILBY, 1970

  • FEDORA ROYAL DELUXE, 1980-1990S

  • BASEBALL CAP 1990S

  • BEANIE WOODY WITH BIRD MOTIF, 2004

  • STRATOLINER, 2000

  • TRAVELLER, 2018

Stetsons throughout the years, on display as part of the exhibition.

For Dr. Johannes Pietsch, who curated the exhibition, one personal highlight is a ‘50s-era Stetson fedora with an unexpected finishing touch: a colorful feather. “My idea was that in the 1950s, everyone was a little conservative. And boring,” he says. Instead, this hat is “really exciting. I wonder if that was something special or regular fashion at the time. I have the feeling that men in the States were maybe a little more daring than in Europe. I thought that was rather extraordinary.”

  • DSC_8031

  • DSC_8364

  • DSC_8035

  • DSC_8030

  • DSC_8081

Heads Up: Hats, Hoods, Hip Hop Caps runs through April 30, 2023
at the Bavarian National Museum in Munich.

The relationship between Stetson and its European fans goes back to 1881 when the brand began exporting its Hüte to fashionable Deutschman. Before the French Revolution, Dr. Pietsch says, hats were “symbols of power and status” in Europe, and there were strict rules around who could wear what. Afterward, things became more nebulous, which meant that a more democratic hatmaker like Stetson could outfit workers and aristocrats.

In the exhibition, Stetson hats also help showcase the craft of millinery. “Stetson is known for the quality of its products,” Dr. Pietsch says. “That’s why we wanted to work together. This exhibition, with the pieces lent to us by Stetson, shows the tradition and the craftsmanship of hat making.”

If you don’t have a planned trip to Munich over the next six months, don’t worry—Stetson is offering a chance to win one for you and a companion to see the exhibition in person. The prize includes round-trip airfare from the airports below, one night at Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski, a private guided tour of the exhibition, a 6-course meal at the MUSEUM restaurant, and two modern Stetson hats of your choice (subject to availability).

To enter, follow these steps:

  1. Follow @stetsonusa & @stetsoneurope, and tag your travel partner.
  2. Head to stetson-europe.com/raffle to enter your email.
  3. Winner will be announced in early 2023.

ELIGIBLE AIRPORTS:

USA: Newark, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles; Germany: Munich & Frankfurt; UK: London; Spain: Barcelona; Italy: Milan; France: Paris; The Netherlands: Amsterdam; Denmark: Copenhagen; Sweden: Stockholm; Russia: Moscow

Continue reading

Sage to Saddle

SAGE TO SADDLE

How a South Dakota nonprofit is elevating
the lives of Lakota Ogala youth through horsemanship

By Bill Roden
Photography by Wray Sinclair

Down rutted dirt roads, over jarring cattle grates, then a hard right into the native grasslands of the Great Plains lies the Lakota Oglala nation. The hauntingly beautiful terrain, roughly the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined, is home to Sage to Saddle. The non-profit native youth horse training school for kids 8 to 18 is rooted in a deep connection to ancestral lands, a second-nature relationship with horses, and the preservation of Lakota rituals and rites of passage.

LOKOTA MEMBERS JOE FASTHORSE (RIGHT) & MARIA ROSE. FASTHORSE HAS BEEN WITH SAGE TO SADDLE SINCE ITS FOUNDING IN 2018, AND COMPETES REGULARLY ON THE INDIAN RELAY CIRCUIT.

Sage to Saddle is the noble work of two personalities: Stan Brewer, a rancher and stoic legend in the Pine Ridge community who brought up the most athletic and aggressive relay champions in modern history; and Nate Bressler, an archeologist-turned-professional photographer who has found a new calling on the Great Plains. Stan and Nate were introduced during a feature story for Outside magazine on Hermis Tall, the Michael Jordan of Indian Relay, whose untimely death in 2017 shook a nation. While the article went on to critical acclaim, Nate, who had spent decades volunteering with Native youth programs, felt a calling to his true life’s work. Both he and Stan grew up on horseback and witnessed firsthand the positive influence caring for horses has on young minds.

COFOUNDER OF SAGE TO SADDLE, NATE BRESSLER (PICTURED LEFT), AND JOE FASTHORSE WORK TO MAINTAIN THE MILES OF FENCELINE ON THE SAGE TO SADDLE PROPERTY IN SOUTH DAKOTA.

While the youth of Pine Ridge Reservation kept busy riding horses in the summer months or racing around the country, they remained unable to train throughout the long, brutal winters and were abandoned to their own devices. Nate and Stan set out to find a long-lasting solution to this problem by opening an indoor riding arena available to all youth of all riding levels.

Sage to Saddle isn’t an easy program, yet everyone is welcome, and they’re glad you’re here. Stan Brewer trains and coaches with the hardscrabble demeanor of a boxing cornerman and the big heart of a Texas high-school football coach who turns young girls and boys into women and men through commitment and sacrifice. And he doesn’t dole out second chances easily. Nate is a whirlwind of infectious energy whose built a rapport in the community of all ages and backgrounds over the years. Stan and Nate combined their complementary skillsets and built Sage to Saddle from the ground up with their bare hands and personal money.

NATE BRESSLER SECURES THE HALTER ON HIS HORSE BEFORE HEADING OUT FOR AN AFTERNOON RIDE WITH JOE FASTHORSE & MARIA ROSE.

“You know if a horse is sad, happy, pissed off, sick, hurt, or mad. Unlike people, horses don’t lie.”

The program teaches more than critical horsemanship and technical skills for ranching and racing. Sage to Saddle is in the business of dignity. As Nate stated on our way to the arena, “Living in chaotic, desperate situations deprives the young mind of positive reinforcement and motivation.” The self-assurance and self-confidence kids gain through the trials of elite horsemanship can be a potent introduction to their true selves. Under the watchful eyes of Stan and Nate, these kids come into their own through shared hardship, fellowship, a renewed passion for their horse culture—and, for some, a newfound passion for racing. I asked Stan what makes this grassroots program so successful, “Easy. Here, horses are absolute truth in a community where everyone is historically on the lookout for an unspoken angle or hidden agenda. Horses are sensitive, 1,200-pound creatures that can feel your heartbeat—even a tiny fly on their leg. Horses are always open. They show you how they feel. You know if a horse is sad, happy, pissed off, sick, hurt, or mad you’re late because they want to tear around the track. Unlike people, horses don’t lie.” In the Sage to Saddle program, a horse isn’t a tool, showpiece, or racecar that only comes out on sunny days. Horse and rider become one, like their ancestors who came into their own through the very same trials on these very lands.

While Stan and Nate raised additional funds for more equipment, trailers, food for the kids, uniforms, and the horses that require continual investment and upkeep, every dollar earned goes straight back into the program. When not traveling the country for races, updating the books, ordering supplies, organizing group rides, fundraising, or instructing, Stan and Nate bale hay, push cattle to help neighboring ranches, train and sell horses to fund the program, fix miles of fence line, and trailer horses to distant vet appointments without a single day off.

Sage to Saddle doesn’t host fancy fundraising dinners and celebrity auctions or ship free tote bags with every donation. Program growth comes with dirt under the fingernails, a started mile horse, a consistent month of healthy food, an extra water jug, and a full cooler on the tailgate. “We’re mostly on our own—a ground-up non-profit built for Natives by Natives,” Nate said. “While we are lucky to receive donations from outside supporters, these talented Lakota Oglala kids are taught that their community is tighter than most, but in the end, only they can save themselves. We let them prove to themselves that they have what it takes when facing life’s hard-knock truths but in a safe and supportive environment for a change. They’re digging into their ancestral strengths to forge a sustainable future.”

To learn more about Sage to Saddle or to donate, visit sagetosaddle.com.

Continue reading

Little Difficulties: Carrying the Legacy of Adirondack Guide Boats

Little Difficulties:

Carrying the Legacy of
Adirondack Guide Boats

Story by Steven Schwartz
Photography by Maaike Bernstrom

“There’s a part of the boat we call the ‘six-bay,’” Ian Martin said without hesitation. “It’s the last bay of the boat that’s underneath the decks and there’s no tool you can get inside. You’re in there with 60-grit sandpaper breaking rough epoxy and, by the time you’re done, you don’t really feel like you have any fingertips left. That’s a discouraging five hours.”

Ian’s describing his least favorite part of making an Adirondack Guide Boat, just a small part of a 450-hour process. Other steps include sourcing spruce from Maine for ribs and steam-bending them to form the ribs of the vessel, cutting western red cedar strips for the siding, applying a fiberglass coating on the exterior, and sanding the entire hull. Of course, that’s skipping a step or two or thirty. It’s a painstaking process, one filled with highs, lows, and bloody knuckles.

Ian and his brother Justin Martin are co-owners of Adirondack Guide Boats, a small-scale operation in Western Vermont that produces these boats, each of them a product steeped in legacy, craftsmanship, and hard-nosed determination. After starting their careers at Mad River Canoe, they came to work for then-owners Steve Kaulback and Dave Rosen, eventually buying the business in 2012 with just a little bit more than a handshake, as Justin puts it. 

While building a guide boat may be a painstaking process, it’s also a process that ends with a work of art designed to glide across lakes, rivers, and inland waters with unmatched ease, stability, and style. It’s a striking boat with roots back to the 1800s, when guides would cut the boat ribs from tree stumps and match them to patterns for the hull. They were designed for efficiency and utility, carrying the hunters and anglers of the day with a low draft in the water and effortless rowing for the guides themselves. Now, these boats serve outdoorsmen in both form and function. Justin and Ian Martin have sold them to enthusiasts from across the country, to those who need a beautifully crafted masterpiece that can last for generations. For these two brothers, though, it simply started as a much better alternative to the job market in Vermont.

“Honestly, it was cool to be able to go build boats rather than do your average jobs—mowing the lawns, working on houses. We always went to the water and, if we could build a boat in the middle of Vermont, we gravitated towards that as well. It’s demanding. But, every time you pull a boat out of the mold, even though we’ve done it 5,000 times, it’s still rewarding,”
— Justin said.

The boats themselves are wholly unique, somewhere in between a canoe and a traditional rowboat, made either out of wood or kevlar. Both brothers admitted that their kevlar guide boats outperform their wooden boats in nearly every way, but there’s still something about the latter that keeps drawing people to their workshop. Maybe it’s the romance of an antiquated design, or maybe they harken to a time when boatmen had an evolving relationship with their tool, which required care and attention. Beyond passengers, these boats carry the legacy of anyone who’s stepped over its gunwales.


“The old boats, they went through entire families. If you find an old boat that was built in the 1800s, there may be markings on them. You can almost follow the history of the boat by what was written on it,”

Justin said and pointed out that they’ve restored historic boats for clients, including the Rockefellers, whose boat is on display at a museum in Massachusetts.

The Martin brothers’ craft is one wrapped up in history and legacy. It’s a time-tested product, but one that’s still at risk of being forgotten by time nonetheless. Both of them said that the greatest threat to their profession is not due to lack of demand or materials or even a globe-spanning pandemic, but simply a lack of people willing to learn and pursue the work of building these beautiful boats. To many, they’re less efficient, more expensive, and more difficult to care for than modern boats, which prompts a question: Why should we still be building them?


“Why? I don’t know,” Justin pondered. “We need these skills, not just to get by in life, but to enjoy life, and to lose them is terrible on any level. Hopefully, we get the chance to pass this down to someone, whether it’s to our children or someone who comes in and wants to do it. We sell every boat we make. Anyone that buys one of our boats loves it and it brings a lot of joy. To not have these boats around anymore, would be a shame.”

Shop: Hat · Shirt

Shop: Hat

At a certain level, we value difficulty in our culture. People run marathons simply because they’re difficult. They break a horse because it needs to be tamed. But, when it comes to the products we buy, we want them to serve us when we need them and fade into the ether when we don’t. But, it hasn’t always been that way. In the 1800s, people needed these guide boats for their living and survival and cared for them as such.

Ian pointed out that guides would sink their boats to the bottom of a lake during the winter season so the wood could swell with moisture, preserving it until the waters thawed during the spring, ready to carry hardy adventurers to their next destination. It was a cyclical relationship that evolved—use, repair, restore, repeat—and it’s hard to ignore that these boats seem to be in the winter of their existence. 


But, in our modern era, maybe we need these products in a different way, as a reminder to value the things we buy and appreciate the little difficulties that come with them, and with life. It’s less about survival in general and more about the survival of our souls. Justin and Ian believe that their customers understand this, and they see it every single day. They want the struggle; they embrace it, along with the relationships that are formed along the way.

  Shop: Hat · Jacket

  Shop: Hat · Jacket

“We work hard for our customers and people want to see our company going. Recently, a guy ordered a boat from us. He’s been waiting a long time for it and I thought I was just going to get yelled at, to be quite honest. But, he told me, ‘Life is tough right now. I want you to take a scrap board and I want you and your brother to sign it. Charge me anything you want for that board to help support your company.’ We have a lot of customers like that, who support our company because they believe our craft needs to go on just as much as we do.”

Shop: Hat (left)

So, for now, the Martin brothers continue to build and their list of clients continues to grow, and they’ll continue to hope for someone to carry the torch. While society may look for comfort and convenience, they’ll keep embracing the little difficulties. They’ll keep sanding, steaming, coating, bending, sanding more, and rowing these works of art through the cool, dark waters of Vermont. On the surface, the legacy of Adirondack Guide Boats may seem like it’s in jeopardy, but if the people building and rowing these boats are of any indication, they’re not going anywhere. Their spring is coming.


Continue reading

The Story of John B. Stetson

MAN OF MANY HATS

THE STORY OF JOHN B. STETSON

It was summer 1862. Storms were brewing over the Colorado Rockies. And when the rain hit, John B. Stetson and his colleagues went scrambling for shelter.

Thinking quickly, they fashioned coverage from the animals they had shot for food. First, a tent, which Stetson created using the felting process he had learned from his father’s business. Then, a hat. Wide-brimmed and tall-crowned, it featured a silhouette familiar today, but back then, the shape was so unusual that the other members of his party gave him grief for it. That is until a passing bullwhacker bought it from Stetson for a five-dollar gold piece.

IT WAS THE FIRST HAT
JOHN B. STETSON EVER SOLD.

Nearly 200 years after his birth, John B. Stetson, and the company he founded, are synonymous with innovation, independence, and handcrafted American headwear. His name appears in novels by Hemingway and Steinbeck, in iconic folk songs like “Stagger Lee,” and in more recent tunes by such varied artists as Steely Dan, The Roots, and Lyle Lovett, who sang that “My John B. Stetson was my only friend” in his classic, “Don’t Touch My Hat.

Clint Eastwood wearing a Stetson
style hat in the 1960s Western trilogy ‘The Man with No Name’.

The son of a hatter, born in 1830, the seventh of 12 children, Stetson grew up in the family business until he was diagnosed with tuberculosis while in his 20s. Seeking relief—and perhaps a bit of adventure—he headed West. He first landed in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he worked his way up the ranks of a local brickyard, becoming an owner before the factory, and his fortune washed away in a river flood. From there, he fell in with the gold rushers and cowboys of the era, making frequent expeditions to Pike’s Peak in Colorado in search of gold, which led him to that fateful Colorado rainstorm.

While in the Rockies, Stetson had noticed the shortcomings of the coonskin caps Westerners often wore. They were prone to fleas, they didn’t provide much shade from the sun, and they didn’t hold up in the rain. His invention fixed all that, and as news of this new breed of headwear took hold, Stetson headed back east to Philadelphia, launching his business in a one-room workshop with $60 he borrowed from his sister.

There, he developed The Boss of the Plains, based on his Pike’s Peak creation, a lightweight and all-weather fur felt hat with a high, creased four-inch crown and a wide four-inch brim. Instantly iconic, the hat sold far and wide, equally renowned for its quality and practicality. Working with different shapes and materials, he created hats for city and country, eventually selling millions of hats per year in the half-century that followed, including many styles that we still make today.

Stetson’s entrepreneurial skills were matched by his passion for the well-being of his workers. In an era of meager workers’ rights, Stetson, a devout Baptist, paid good wages and offered extensive benefits to the thousands of people who made a Stetson a Stetson. He provided a robust profit-sharing program, created a building and loan that helped countless workers become homeowners, and built and operated a hospital for employees and the community. He even had an intramural softball league that played during working hours on Wednesday afternoons, among other athletic opportunities. Stetson also helped find the YMCA in Philadelphia and was an early benefactor of Florida’s Deland University, renamed John B. Stetson University in 1889. Its School of Business Administration and College of Law, founded in 1897 and 1900, respectively, were the first of their kind in the state.


Stetson died in Deland in 1906, but his legacy endures. Throughout the 20th Century and on into the 21st, the Stetson has remained an icon of purpose-driven American style, from the dusty ranches of West Texas to the sidewalks of New York. It’s no wonder everyone from the silent film star Tom Mix (who has a hat named after him) to presidents from Truman and LBJ to Ronald Reagan to countless actors, musicians, entrepreneurs, and other modern pioneers have made a Stetson their signature.

They come from all walks of life, but all are bound by a shared appreciation for the quality, character, and a spirit of adventure—and one man’s ingenuity during a fateful Colorado rainstorm more than 150 years ago.

Lon Megaree’s 1922 painting, “The Last Drop from His Stetson,” embodies the cowboy ethos of compassion, integrity, and respect at the heart of every hat we produce today—many featuring a liner adorned with Megaree’s iconic artwork.

Continue reading

Cowboy State of Mind

Cowboy State of Mind

How a new life on the range in Wyoming—and the loyal companionship of a paint horse named Toby—helped Chance Gilliland get back in the saddle after a debilitating injury.

By Samuel Martin

“Flesh and blood need flesh and blood, and you’re the one I need.” 

— Johnny Cash 

Most cowboys can relate to stories of broken bones. When you’re working with horses, cattle, and large equipment, it’s not a question of if you’ll get hurt but when.

For Chance Gilliland, the fateful moment occurred on a late spring day in 2019 at home in central Missouri. A storm was rolling in, but he just couldn’t fight the urge to ride. “I had gone to the local rodeo the night before and had the itch to be on a horse. When I started to saddle up and mount [my horse], I got thrown and broke my back. I had to be air-evaced to St. Louis, where I had to undergo an emergency spinal fusion.”



The aftermath of his accident was a stark disentanglement from horses and the way of life he knew. Gilliland’s parents, George and Julie, both raced and competed in rodeo and horse shows throughout Chance’s childhood, and he spent his youth riding horses and working with his father. No matter how far he wandered away from home later in life, horses were a constant. Until that day in 2019.

Chance spent the next year and a half in recovery, and for the first time in his life, he experienced anxiety and depression. He spent six months in a brace as he learned how to walk again, and struggled with sleeping and constant pain after returning home from the hospital. He was forbidden to lift anything, so he focused on walkinggoing a little farther each day.

After a year of grueling recovery, it was time for a change. “I grew up watching cowboy movies about the American west and always had this dream of riding my horse through that same open and vast landscape,” recalls Chance, who knew that this was the time to act on that dream. So he pulled up stakes and moved to Wyoming, taking a job as a wrangler on a ranch near the Colorado border, hoping that living and working in the Cowboy State would rekindle his love for riding.

“I’ve never been scared of horses, but after the accident, I was terrified to even be around them. I was fragile. I had lost a lot of confidence, and I didn’t feel like myself,” he says. “As the saying goes, Get back on the horse, but I’ll tell you it’s not easy after an accident like that. You can’t help but consider the possibility of it happening again, and maybe I won’t be as lucky this time.”

Chance wears the BLUE & ORANGE JAC-SHIRT, the SIGNATURE “S” MODERN CUT SHIRT, and the EL PRESIDENTE 100X PREMIER COWBOY HAT.

“I’ve never been scared of horses, but after the accident, I was terrified to even be around them.”

When Chance arrived at the ranch, he was paired with a large red horse from the wrangler herd. As he tried to throw a blanket on him, he bolted off across the ring. Chance knew this wasn’t the one. A few days later, he heard rumors about a horse named Toby—a hidden gem within the wrangler herd that hadn’t been ridden in a few seasons. 

“The next morning in the dusty air of the stampede, my friend leaned in and said, ‘Thats him,’ and I saw him: white, black, and brown. A galloping paint coming up from the meadow. We met outside the corral and he gave me a nudge.”

Besides their unique coat patterns, paint horses are known for their friendliness, intelligence, and calm demeanor, and Chance’s confidence started to return the moment he climbed onto the saddle. “I saddled him up and went on our first ride and it was just smooth sailing. I felt like myself again, he recalls.

Toby liked to be at the front of the pack and have a strong presence with the other horses, a dynamic that allowed Chance to give Toby the lead while he relearned the lessons of his youth. The two quickly became familiar with one another and spent the summer riding the 30,000 acres across the ranch.

“Toby was there for me when I needed to learn how to ride a horse again,” Chance says. “He helped me lope and trot againall basic stuff, but in a way that was comfortable and safe. A rider and a horse should work together because they’re coworkers, trying to get the job done.

Chance wears the BLACK & TAN JAC-SHIRT.

Chance wears the CLASSIC SUEDE JACKET.

For Chance, the definition of job is an ever expanding one. He recently added “actor” to his résumé following an appearance in the Yellowstone spinoff series 1883, and when not on set, he spends his time at home in Missouri or working on the ranch in Wyoming, riding the open range with Toby.

After an eventful few years, does he have any advice for the rest of us? “Everyone out there can find that horse for you if you look for it, and put the effort into building the relationship.

Continue reading

How to Determine Your Hat Size

The Size Guide

How to Determine Your Hat Size

Finding the right hat starts with choosing the right style and color to fit your face shape, taste, and lifestyle, but it ends with the perfect fit. Too small, and your hat will sit awkwardly high on you head or feel uncomfortably tight. Too large, and it’ll sit too low, with visible extra space around the edges—not the look you’re going for.

As a rule of thumb, your Stetson should be reasonably snug so that a light wind can’t blow it off your head, but not be so tight as to cause discomfort or distraction.

Follow the steps below to ensure your new hat feels as good as it looks.

1

Using a tape measure, measure around your head about 1/8th of an inch above your ear, pressing firmly (but not too tight).


2

Translate your measurement into your hat size using the conversion chart below.

X-Small – Medium

Large – 3XL


3

If your measurement falls between sizes, order the next largest size. You can always add a bit of padding behind the sweatband to achieve just the right level of snugness—and keep that proverbial gust of wind from doing any damage.

Still Need Help?

And if you have any trouble with a hat you’ve received, our Customer Service team is here to help. Drop them a note at: help@stetson.com

Find Your Stetson

Shop Now

Continue reading