The Making of Cowboy Hats (Pg. 4)

First, the highest quality straw is selected for preparation. The straw is washed and scraped, then checked for imperfections. When the straw is completely dry, the fibers are separated mechanically and starched together to make workable strands up to four feet long. It takes thousands of these strands to make just one hood which will eventually be turned into a straw cowboy hat.

Blocking, or shaping, can be done by hand or with a machine. If a cowboy hat is hand-blocked, wooden forms are used. These forms are what the hat maker uses to turn the hood into the desired cowboy hat shape. A new cowboy hat shape would have to be blocked by hand the first time in order to make a pan to later be used in a blocking machine. Just like wooden blocks, pans serve the same purpose of shaping cowboy hats. No matter how a cowboy hat is blocked, it will be steamed, shaped, and cooled several times until it is exactly the right shape. To complete the blocking process, millinery wire is sewn onto the edge of the brim to provide its shape.

The newly formed cowboy hat now goes to the machining department. Here, the wire on the cowboy hat’s brim is overlapped and sewn all the way around, trapping the wire inside, and excess material is cut off. Next, the cowboy hat gets a sweatband on the inside to ensure proper fit and comfort. Most of this work is done by a machine, but it is very tricky and takes a skilled worker to sew this three-dimensional piece.