Selecting Custom Hats

Custom hats can be a very personal and visual statement of a person’s life experience. Many custom hats are worn at rodeos where observers know their favorite rider by the hat that they wear. While all of the hats at a rodeo look like plain cowboy hats, most are custom hats that have been specially designed for the individual wearing it.

Custom hats are designed for the individual wearing them and fit and size are as important as what the hat looks like to observers. When a hat does not fit a rider appropriately it will usually fall off early in competition and be damaged beyond repair by livestock trampling it or riders falling on it.

Custom hats, while more expensive than off the rack hats, withstand wear and tear much better because they are created with the use of the user in mind. If a person is getting a custom hat that will be worn only for special events, it will have more intricate and delicate detail included in its construction than a cowboy hat that will be used heavily on a daily basis.

When selecting custom hats it is important to keep in mind the primary use of the hat. If the person selecting the hat is going to have a sponsor and wants an emblem included on the hat, the custom hats design must be adjusted to accommodate that emblem.

If the custom hats primary purpose will be for rodeo or other heavy activities, then it must be designed in a heavier fabric or leather that will withstand not only the damage that occurs from animals and humans, but also environmental damage from the sun, sweat, and rain.

Top hats made in the 1940s and 50s were often custom hats created specifically for the wearer and were kept safeguarded by family long after the wearer was deceased. The hat reflected the life of the wearer and reminded family members of the activities and events that the wearer of the hat enjoyed most.