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  Lone Star Hatters has been in business for 25 years. We started out in the felt hat renovation business and progressed to the building of hats. Our specialty is the ability to "custom fit" a hat to an individual's head. We are able to do this with an old hat making apparatus called a "conformer." We put this on our customer's head and it punches out an outline of the person's head. This is the first step in making a custom hat. After we have the customer's head measurement we then decide on color, crown height, brim width and the trim that will be used on the hat.
 

    Previously customers needed to come to our shop or our booth at an equine event in order to get their heads measured. Today, we have mail out conformer that we send out to the customers. They place it on their head and it makes an outline of their head. Once we receive the conformer back we can calibrate their head shape and size, and when it is time to create the custom fit we can use this tracing in the formillion just the same as if the customer came into the shop to get their head measured.


   The custom head hat stretchers work just like the regular hat stretchers, only they are made in the customer’s head shape rather than just plain long or regular oval. Stretchers are great for customer’s who don’t have easy access to hatters and or who do not wear their hats on a regular basis. Stretchers are made out of wood and have a turn buckle on the inside to expand or contract back to original shape.


   Most of the hats that we build are all beaver. The reason that the beaver makes such a good hat is that it is the only fur that interlocks in the felting process. All other furs stack on top of one another. Therefore, beaver hats have the capability to withstand the bumps, and knocks that are associated with wearing a hat around livestock and work. Beaver hats are also highly water and stain resistant, again because of the tight interlocking of the fur.

 

   The first step in making a hat is "blocking." This is the process of actually creating the crown of the hat. This is done by putting the rough hat body on a wooden block. Then it is steamed and ironed until the desired shape of the crown is achieved. The hat is then put under a "sand flange," which is a bag of 75 pounds of mason sand. The hat body with the block in it is inserted in a flange and put under the sand flange for 14-24 hours. Next the hat body with the block is put on the crown iron and ironed and sanded until the desired finish is achieved. The brim is then sanded, trimmed to the width desired and then fitted for a sweatband. We sew all of our sweatbands in by hand.
  


 
  Next the customer's head shape is made by placing the outline made by the conformer into the "vermillion."

  The vermillion is then put into the customer's hat which is steamed and ironed, put into a flange and then back under the sand flange again.

  

 

    The last steps are to sew the satin liner, which is embroidered with the customer's name, the ribbon on the sweatband, fit the self band and three piece buckle set. We usually wait for the customer to come in before we shape the crown and brim unless we are shipping the hat. In that case we already have discussed with the customer how he wants his hat to be shaped.

Our Western Hats

The Elite: This is a 100% pure beaver hat that finishes very thin and crisp. We created this hat to resemble the quality and look of the hats made in the 1950's and 1960's. We introduced this hat at the 2004 NCHA Futurity. Hat comes with a custom embroidered liner, choice of buckle set, and hat can.

The Pure Beaver: 100% pure beaver hat. Hat comes with a custom embroidered liner, choice of buckle set & hat can.

Beaver Blend: This is a 75% beaver hat, comes with custom embroidered liner, choice of buckle set & hat can.

The 20X: Is a fur felt hat which also comes with the custom embroidered liner, silver three piece buckle set & a hat box.

The 10X: Is a fur felt hat, comes with custom embroidered liner, three piece buckle set & hat box.


  Our goal at Lone Star Hatters is to provide a high quality handmade hat with a custom fit to our customers. We strive to achieve quality, class, comfort and style while maintaining the art and honoring the integrity of the handmade hat industry.

  All of our hats are custom fit to the customer's head size and shape. Available colors are: black, natural, pecan, chocolate, sahara, buckskin, silverbelly and white. Other colors are available by request.

 

 

Lone Star Western Store
Lone Star Hatters
Western Wear & Tack
Custom Handmade Western Hats
Western Hat Renovation


Jim & Jeanine Proctor
11206 Longshore
Big Spring, Texas

817-291-9198
940-727-3025
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