Making a leather hat

Making a leather hat

Everything you've always wanted to know about your favorite hat...

The leather hat is one of those timeless accessories that will always find a place in both women's and men's wardrobes, as it is simply timeless. And the first lovers of this hat are obviously those who still make it today, those who have known, over different generations, how to make it transcend time and eras by allowing it to evolve by playing with shapes, colors, materials... Unisex and authentic, the leather hat is eternal.

The raw material of a leather hat, the first element for successful craftsmanship

The choice of materials greatly influences the final result, as there are indeed several qualities of leather, and not all are equal. Whether it's in the flexibility of the material, its hold, its appearance, its thickness... The selection criteria are numerous to identify if you want to guarantee a finished product of quality and durability. Leather is a material that has always occupied an important place in human life, and this, for more than 5,000 years, since the period of the first clothing creations.

The different types of leather used

• Cowhide, thick and robust, cowhide leather is appreciated for its durability and its ability to develop a patina over time.
• Sheepskin, finer, lighter, and more flexible, is used in the manufacture of more refined leather hats.
• Goat leather falls between cowhide and sheepskin in terms of fineness, and it doesn't fold.
• Pigskin, thick and durable, is much more affordable than those mentioned previously.
• Calfskin, a noble leather, highly appreciated by leather enthusiasts, is both smooth and supple and comes in very different forms depending on the treatment it has received (grained, sueded, more or less thick). It is used by a large number of tanneries.

Leather varieties

• Crust leather undergoes very little chemical treatment, which facilitates its coloration, it absorbs any type of treatment or color.
• Vegetable-tanned leather is tanned using natural materials, ground oak bark has long been used in France.
• Full-grain leather, this is the most noble part of the skin.
• Split-grain leather, to improve the quality of the leather, the dermis is treated and a layer is removed.
• Nubuck, leather is scratched to obtain this soft and downy appearance.
• Suede, also called buckskin, is leather where the flesh side is scratched to make it usable.
• Leather split, the least noble part of the skin located in the lower layer.

The equipment used for making a leather hat, the industrial sewing machine

Once the leather is selected, it must be cut, a delicate step that requires great concentration from the tailors, as leather is an expensive raw material. For this, a pattern is used, generally available in several sizes to meet all demands.

Depending on the hat, more or less resistant and fine threads will be used on the industrial sewing machine used for its manufacture. With a large needle and slow speed, the industrial sewing machine can handle the most resistant leathers to assemble the different parts of the hat.

Elegant or rustic, classic or modern, the traditional leather hat is appreciated for its transformative ability that has delighted men and women for many generations. Which leather hat model will you fall for...