Tour Time: Catalena Hatters

Hello again Houston… errr actually Bryan Texas. See we Steven drove us all over while we were town & another cool place we stopped was Catalena Hatters. I had never been in an actual hat store or seen a cowboy hat made before, it was pretty cool.

 

Anything that is custom is cool. While we were there we went through the hat making steps & Tina had her lovely head fitted & had an awesome hat made – glamour shots of that hat later. But back to the tour; starting in the front of the store are you hats in every brim size, head size & style. You see, a straw hat does not have to be boring! You pick out the hat you want & from there all of the fun stuff happens.

 

 

Walk with me now to the back of the store & let’s go into the shop where the hats are made.
After Tina picked out her straw hat we came in the back to pick out the ribbons for the hat brim & the hat band. As you can see, other orders go here & wait for the appropriate trimmings.

 

This is where a cowboy hat goes through the many steps of becoming shaped into a gorgeous hat!

 

This hat was about to get trimmed.

 

 A lot of the machines that help make & shape the hats are old – why? Because hats have been being made this way for years with the same expertise & precision.

 

A variety of hat sizes.

 

Hat steamers.

Now please note, I’m not going through the whole process in order with you, I’m just highlighting some of the equipment & steps so you can get an idea of what goes into making a hat.

 

After your hat is made one of the last steps is shaping it with these steamers. You have probably seen that done before at of saddle shops & westerns stores.

 

Just so you can get an idea of how many different hats Catalena Hatters carries….

 

And for those of you who love fancy hats check out the Diamante Collection.

That is all for now, stay tuned for part two later with the photos of Tina’s finished hat.

And if you are loving the Texas posts make sure you read Davis Boots, Ranch Snap Shots, & the Pinto Ranch tour.