The Hat Whisperer emerges from the deep burrough where straw hats are stored. What does this mean? Spring and Summer are closer than they seem. Hang in there, America. This winter has to die eventually.

Spring and Summer can’t be that far away.

Honestly.

Otherwise we wouldn’t already be changing over our store with straw hats!

Our work has only just begun, but we are already boxing up some of the wool and fur felt. Better yet, we’re bringing up the straw and linen.

Best of all, new models of summer hats are starting to arrive from Stetson, Biltmore and Dobbs. Some of them are already on display in the store, if you can swing by to see. If the internet is as close as you can get to us, check back regularly because we soon will be adding them online!

Until then, think warm thoughts. This winter has to end eventually.

The new Stetson Belfast is one of the fastest selling hats at Hats Plus. High fashion at an affordable price helps to pave the way for its grand success.

The Stetson Belfast is fast becoming one of the most popular new hats in Hats Plus.

Why?

Well? What’s not to love?

The Belfast features Stetson’s classic, top-notch design and construction with its teardrop crown and snap brim that can be adjusted to be worn up or down to best suit your style. The handsome self band also catches the eye with its two-tone design.

Equally impressive is that this traditional man’s hat has an entry-level price that is much more affordable than other Stetson hats.

This pricing is made possible by Stetson’s use of a wool-fur felt blend that still looks fantastic without sacrificing quality. In fact, the wool used in this fedora helps to make the hat water repellant.

Is it any wonder why this hat is selling so quickly?

Hats Plus is making the glorious transition from summer to winter hats. Stop by the store or visit online to see all of the latest new hats and caps.

This season there is a lot of excitement in the air, as we are introducing a ton of great new hats and caps.

As we’ve already mentioned, we now carry a complete line of women’s hats by Betmar.

We also have three great new hats coming in from Stetson. The Belfast fedora is already selling rapidly. The Stetson Belfast offers great style and Stetson quality all at an extremely affordable price. The Stetson Emmett is another hat bound for great popularity, as it blends urban fedora design with a classic western leather hat band that is ruggedly handsome from Tulsa to L.A. Listen, mate, if you want a Stetson cowboy hat with rugged Australian styling, you will love the new Stetson Spencer. It is crushable, water repellent and very affordable. Perfect for wrangling kangaroos or any outdoor activity.

If Kangol hats are more your speed, be sure to check out the new leather Kangol Galaxy! The Galaxy delivers all of Kangol’s style into a supple leather newsboy cap. Women should be sure to check out the Kangol Diva for an edge, feminine fashion statement.

More winter hats are on their way. Be sure to comeback again soon to see what hats and caps are new in store at Hats Plus this fall.

Recently some of our customers have agreed to let us take pictures of them to share their favorite finds after a fun day in the shop. Here they are.

One customer shows off his new Biltmore Milan Pork Pie hat.

The Twangdogs, a local country and rock group who first met at the Old Town School of Music, get some new hats for their next gig. You can watch them perform on YouTube.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This dashing duo shows off their New York Tweed Spitfire cap and Goorin Eric B fedora.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Four buddies show off their favorite finds one weekday afternoon. Their hats from left to right are the Goorin Topper, Stetson Bridger, Goorin Erwin and Dynafelt Fedora.

Hard plastic hat cases are a good way to travel with a prized hat that you don't want damaged in transit. A crushable fedora by Bailey is another good option for packing a hat without damaging it. Our hat cases come in large and small sizes. The mid-size one in this photo is really a large that has a tier removed to make it more photogenic.

A reader recently asked us to address the issue of traveling with hats. Yes, yes. No doubt there are some glib readers out there already firing up the comments section ready to deliver the punchline answer to today’s title…”with it on my head.”

However, serious hat-wearing travelers know that packing a favorite topper on a vacation or business trip can be fraught with peril. Crowns are easily crushed. Brims are easily distorted. Excessive sunshine, heat and moisture will shrink and warp your chapeau. Even a quick pit stop to fill the gas tank and check the oil might accidently transfer grease and grime from your car to your hat with one forgetful touch.

So, just how do you travel with a hat and keep it safe?

It all depends on the hat. The easiest thing to do might be to get a hat designed to be packed in luggage or a coat pocket. Guerra’s Falbatravel is a nice fur felt fedora that is specifically designed to be broken down and rolled up to fit in a coat pocket or suitcase. As soon as you need to wear it again, you can unroll it and pop it back into shape in fewer than 30 seconds. If you are a summer traveller who prefers a straw hat, Bailey’s Roll Up does the same thing.

Many of our Bailey wool felt hats are designed to be “crushable.” All you do is gently crush the hat from side to side. (Do not crush it from up and down because that will ruin it.) Then you can carefully place it in a suitcase. As with the Guerra, these hats pop right back into shape. As an added bonus, Bailey wool felt hats are almost all equiped with a rain repellent finish that that helps you to fearlessly brave a light rain or snow.

That said, if you have a favorite fur felt Stetson or sisol straw Borsalino you want to take with you—never, ever put it in a suitcase or duffle bag. These hats are best traveled with the original cardboard box in which it came. Hats Plus also sells special hat travel and storage cases. These sturdy, hard plastic cases with steel latches come in two sizes. One is a single hat case, that can sometimes hold two hats, depending on the height of their crowns and the large case holds up to 6 hats.

Packing a hat in one of these boxes or cases is fairly straight forward. If your hat has a snap brim, be sure to put it in the up position. This helps to minimize any warping of the brim while it is in storage. If you are stacking hats in the cases, they will likely all be the same hat size and can be placed gently one on top of the other. It is preferable if you have a 2” or 3” cardboard or styrofoam ring around the base of the crown to keep the hats from getting stuck together and/or crushing each other. If you are taking several different size hats, put the smaller hat sizes on the bottom and put them in ascending order. Think of the Russian nesting dolls; it will help keep all of the hats fitting together nicely.

The single hat case costs $50 and the large hat cases cost $125.

Okay. So you have limited space in your car or for luggage on a flight, and you still want to bring a nice hat that isn’t crushable, what do you do? First of all, never put it in an overhead compartment of an airplane because it will get smashed. If you are on a flight, just snap up the brim and keep it on your lap. If you are taking a cross-country roadtrip and don’t want to risk crushing it in the trunk, keep the brim up and lay it flat on an empty passenger seat. Try to keep it out of the sun and heat for long periods, especially if you’ve left the car parked with all of the windows up. That type of intense heat will eventually shrink your hat and possibly warp the brim. Bring it into your hotel room at night or wear it to the diner at lunch. If you drive a convertible with the top down, the wind might buffet the hat and send it flying, but if you have a conventional hardtop and AC, you’ll be fine.

I hope this helps with your hat traveling concerns. I love hearing from our readers, and if you have any other suggestions or topics you would like to see written, please send us a comment. Thanks!

The Stetson Rockport is a classic mens' summer straw fedora. Perfect for work or play, the brim snaps up or down to suit your mood and style.

The snap brim is a dapper number you can wear up or down to best suit your style.

Inside it is nicely protected by a leather sweatband.

Best of all, it is one of Stetson’s most affordable summer hats.

Gardening is a breeze with the plentiful shade delivered by the Stetson Rustic. Even lifeguards will love how this straw hat's brim is so wide.

Spring means the start of gardening season, and even in March and April you should protect yourself from the sun’s harsh rays.

Stetson’s brand new “Rustic” straw hat is the best friend of gardners, lifeguards and anybody else who spends a lot of time outdoors. This summer straw is made from thick palm leaves that help block the sun’s powerful UV rays. It has a very wide 3 3/4-inch downturn brim, which provides about as much shade coverage as any hat we carry.

As a summer hat, it is fairly light weight. The crown has vents on each side to help vent the heat from your head and allow breezes to help cool you.

Great for both men and women, this straw hat has an elastic headband to provide the best possible fit. Windy days are no trouble at all with the attached chin strap.

Gardening, lawn work and the great outdoors have never been more rewarding than with the comfortable protection of shade from a Stetson Rustic.

Stetson's Rick LaPorte visits Hats Plus with next fall's hat samples. He's wearing the all new Stetson Emmett, which will likely be one of our most popular new hats of the autumn. It is a fur felt fedora with an especially handsome braided leather hat band.

As the snow melts, the songbirds return and the buds start forming on the trees, it can mean only one thing. It is time to think about next winter.

Well, only in the hat business. Hatters are always manufacturing in the opposite season. That means we get a sneak peek at this coming autumn’s hottest new hats!

So far this week we’ve had visits from Kangol, Bailey, Dobbs and Stetson. There’s nothing that stirs a hat lover’s soul with anticipation like seeing those big, black tubes of hat samples coming through the door.

Today’s visit by Stetson’s Rick LaPorte showcased many intriguing new models of fedoras and headwear innovations.

“We’ve come out with a new wool-fur felt blend hat line,” LaPorte said. “It has exciting colors and band treatments, which are made in our Garland, Texas, hat facility.”

What are some of the advantages of a blended wool and fur felt? It is much softer than a wool hat and holds its color better, too. It is more affordable than a fur felt hat, and it is a little more water repellent.

We got a preview of the Stetson Belfast, which was one of their most appealing wool-fur felt fedoras. Thick, soft and warm, it offers a more popular short snap brim with a lower profile crown. The two-tone hat band uses a primary self band with a gently contrasting grosgrain band peeking out from below it.

One of this fall’s potentially biggest winners will be the fur felt Stetson Emmett. It has a teardrop crown accentuated by a braided leather hat band. The soft brim snaps up or down according to your preference. It will come in classic black and a handsome walnut.

Wanna sneak peek of your own. Rick’s wearing one in the photo.

Stay tuned and we’ll bring you more updates about next season’s hats as we learn more!

Stetson's Andover gets a new two-tone color design this summer. Made of Milan straw, it is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

The straw hats are coming out from hibernation. Better, yet, the new arrivals are coming in, and we have some handsome devils to be proud of.

The ever-popular and charismatic Stetson Andover is coming in new two-tone color combinations, such as the black and cream milan straw beauty in the photo. Next to him is an all black, all straw Stetson Stratoliner! The best-selling felt hat now has a summer companion! For those who absolutely have to keep the sun off of them in the summer, the Stetson Rustic is made of thick palm leaves and ideal for blocking the sun’s harshest rays.

Dobbs has already sent us two new beauties for the summer, as well. These great hats are called the Dobbs Caruth, which is quite dapper, and the Dobbs Baroni, which is very colorful and exciting to wear.

Next comes the most resplendent of our early summer straw hat merchandise. It is the very thin, elegant and sporty Borsalino Sisol Pork Pie. When you wear it, you can’t help but look like a million bucks!

Lushly set in 1949, the number one thing you can count on is the phenomenal wardrobe loaded with hats. If you especially like teardrop crowns for your fedoras, this movie will really trip your trigger.

Brolin leads the way for the good guys, and he’s as square jawed as Dick Tracy in the comic books. His hat of choice, however, is not banana yellow. His is a classic teardrop crown design where the crown is highest at the pinch and swoops down in the back as the teardrop rounds out. The Biltmore Ark hats that we carry are the same cut, if not color of Brolin’s topper. If you want the color and don’t mind a more general teardrop crown design, Biltmore’s Eleganza in “butterscotch” is a close match.

The police detective played by Ryan Gosling seems to have a new hat for every suit he wears in the film. Yet, the hat he probably wears most is a grey Stetson Downs. It has a narrower hat band and a teardrop crown.

Critics agree that Sean Penn as the villainous mob boss Mickey Cohen is truly sinister. His hat of choice in the film is a grey one with a center dent crown. The brim is worn up, which was done more frequently in the 1940s than it seems to be done today. Our best contender for that hat is the Stetson Temple, with its center dent crown and snap brim.

Breaking with the more formal wear hat designs is the character played by Robert Patrick. His hat is still a fedora, but it borrows a touch from the western tradition. Far from a cowboy hat, its skinny leather hat band and overall design plays a little more ruggedly and rural. A match for his hat is the Stetson Roadster. The Roadster’s snap brim might be a little smaller, but the walnut colored fur felt, skinny leather hat band and overall design is a pretty close match.

If there are other hats you want to match from the movies or TV, always feel free to write to us and ask.

In the meantime, see you at the movies.