Thecowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmedhat best known as the defining piece of attire for theNorth Americancowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated withranch workers in theUnited States,Canada,Mexico,Central America andBrazil,station workers inAustralia andNew Zealand, with manycountry,regional Mexican andsertanejo music[a] performers, and with participants in the North Americanrodeo circuit. It is recognized around the world as part of traditionalOld West apparel.
The cowboy hat as known today has many antecedents to its design, including Mexican hats such as thesombrero, the various designs of wide-brimmed hats worn by farmers and stockmen in theeastern United States, as well as the designs used by theUnited States Cavalry.
The first western model was the open-crowned "Boss of the Plains", and after that came the front-creased Carlsbad, destined to become the most prominent cowboy style.[1] The high-crowned, wide-brimmed, soft-felt western hats that followed are intimately associated with the cowboy image.[2]
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Cowboy hats, like thesombreros of Mexico, were designed in response to the demands of the physical environment. High crowns provide insulation, and wide brims provide shade. Hot and sunny climates inspire such tall-crowned, wide-brimmed designs,[3] and hats with one or both of these features have evolved again and again in history and across cultures. For example, the Greekpetasos of two millennia ago, and thetraditional conical hat widespread in different regions of Asia – and worn into modern times – incorporate such heat-mitigating features.[b] Inclusion in headgear forriders on horseback can be seen at least as far back as theMongolian horsemen of the 13th century.[c]
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It is not clear when the cowboy hat received its name. European-Americans in the Western United States originally had no standard headwear. People moving West wore many styles of hat, includingtop hats,bowlers, Civil War headgear such as cavalry andslouch hats, andsailor hats.[12]
Various styles of American cowboy hats evolved from Mexican hats like the sombrero charro, torro hats and sombreros calentanos. While modern Mexican cowboys adopted the American style cowboy hats and modified it to have smaller brims and higher crowns. According toLucius Beebe, the bowler was the most widely-worn hat in the American West, prompting him to assert, in contradiction to popular belief, that the bowler, not the cowboy hat, was "the hat that won the West".[13] The working cowboy wore wide-brimmed and high-crowned hats. The hats were most likely adopted from Civil-War-era slouch hats that were commonly worn by Confederate soldiers who lacked the official uniform andkepi hat of the Union army; they may have also been influenced by the Mexicanvaqueros before the invention of the modern design.[14]John Batterson Stetson is credited for originating the modern-day American cowboy hat.[15]
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The original "Boss of the Plains", manufactured by Stetson in 1865, was flat-brimmed, had a straight sided crown, with rounded corners.[16] These light-weight, waterproof hats were natural in color, with four-inch crowns and brims.[17] A plain hatband was fitted to adjust head size.[18] The sweatband boreStetson's name.[2][19] There was only one style of hat, but they were made in different qualities ranging from one-grade material at five dollars apiece to purebeaver felt hats for thirty dollars each.[20] J. B. Stetson was the first to market the "Boss of the Plains" to cowboys, and it has remained the universal image of the American West.[21] The charisma of theWest was carried back East when adventurers returned in the expensive "Boss of the Plains"-style hat.[22]
The cowboy hat has been adopted as a regional identifier amongMāori tribes (iwi) living inGisborne District of New Zealand'sNorth Island collectively called "Ngā Kaupoi" ('the cowboys') for their native adoption of horses; one of its resident politicians,Rawiri Waititi, is well known for his hat-donning appearance.[23]Hawaii'spaniolo wearpapale woven frompandanus leaves taken directly from the design of the Mexican sombrero.[24]
Modern cowboy hats are made of fur-basedfelt,straw or, less often,leather. They are sold with a tall, rounded crown and a wide flatbrim. They have a simple sweat band on the inside to stabilize the fit of the head, and usually a small decorative hat band on the outside of the crown. Hats are customized by creasing the crown and rolling the brim. Hats are also sold pre-creased and pre-rolled. Often a more decorative hat band is added. In some places, "stampede strings" or "wind strings" are also attached. Hats can be manufactured in virtually any color, but are most often seen in shades of beige, brown and black. Beginning in the 1940s,pastel colors were introduced, seen often on hats worn by movie cowboys and rodeo riders.[25] "Today's cowboy hat has remained basically unchanged in construction and design since the first one was created in 1865 byJ. B. Stetson."[26]
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The modern cowboy hat has remained basically unchanged inconstruction and underlyingdesign since the Stetson creation.[26]The cowboy hat quickly identified its wearer as someone associated with the West.[27] "Within a decade the name 'John B. Stetson' became synonymous with the word 'hat' in every corner and culture west of theMississippi River."[28] The shape of the hat's crown and brim were often modified by the wearer for fashion and to protect againstweather by being softened in hot steam, shaped, and allowed to dry and cool. Because of the ease of personalization, it was often possible to tell where a cowboy hat was from, right down to whichranch, simply by looking at the crease in the crown.[21] Common modern hat creases include the classic Cattleman crease, Cool Hand Luke, Minick, Brick, and the Gus.[29]
Later as the mystique of theWild West was popularized by entertainers such asBuffalo Bill andwestern films starring actors such asTom Mix, the Cowboy hat came to symbolize theAmerican West.[20]John Wayne christened them "the hat that won the West".[2] The Boss of the Plains design influenced various wide-brimmed hats worn byfarmers andranchers all over the United States. Later designs were customized for law enforcement, military and motion pictures.
The first American law-enforcement agency to adopt Stetson's western hat as part of their uniform was theTexas Rangers.[30] TheTexas Legislature designated the cowboy hat as the official "State Hat of Texas" in 2015.[31]
Some cowboy hats have been called "ten-gallon" hats. The term came into use about 1925.[32] There are multiple theories for how the concept arose.
One theory is that the term "ten-gallon" is a corruption of the Spanish modifiertan galán, which loosely translates as "really handsome"[33] or "so fine". For example, "un sombrero tan galán" translates as "such a fine hat".
Another theory is that the term "ten-gallon" is a corruption of the Spanish termgalón, which means "galloon", a type of narrow braided trim around the crown, possibly a style adapted bySpanish cowboys. When Texas cowboys misunderstood the wordgalón for "gallon", the popular, though incorrect, legend may have been born. According to Reynolds and Rand, "The term ten-gallon did not originally refer to the holding capacity of the hat, but to the width of a Mexicansombrero hatband, and is more closely related to this unit of measurement by the Spanish than to the water-holding capacity of a Stetson."[34]
Early print advertising by Stetson showed a cowboy giving his horse a drink of water from a hat.[35] The Stetson company notes that a "ten-gallon" (38 liters) hat holds only3⁄4 US gallon (2.8 L).[34][36]
TheCalgary White Hat is a white felt cowboy hat which is the symbol of both theCalgary Stampede annual rodeo and the city ofCalgary. Created by Morris Shumiatcher, owner of Smithbilt Hat Company, it was worn for the first time at the 1946 Stampede. In the early 1950s, Mayor of CalgaryDonald Hugh Mackay began presenting the white hat to visiting dignitaries, a tradition that the office of the mayor continues to this day. Thousands of tourists and groups also participate in "white hatting ceremonies" conducted by Tourism Calgary and by volunteer greeters at theCalgary International Airport. In 1983, the Calgary White Hat was incorporated into the design of theflag of Calgary.[37]
The classic Mongol hat was conical ...
... summer hats with wide brims ... sometimes split at the sides, so the front could be worn down as an eye-shade, or the back down to protect the back of the neck.
Travelers, hunters, and others sometimes wore a low, broad-rimmed hat called a petasos; one is often seen on the head of the messenger god Hermes.
According to the Yuan shi, ... the brimmed hat [was] in response to Khubilai complaining that the sun was blinding his soldiers.
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