bendingoak
Well-Known Member
I can't believe it's been a whole years since I officially open the doors to THE PENMAN HAT CO. I wanted to thank everyone here for all their support. I wanted to go over everything that took place in the past year and to share with all you guys and dolls what I have planed for year two.
It all started with me having to walk away from the fire department that I was a part of for 7 years. My chronic neck and back pain was to much for me to continue. At that point I had been fooling around with taking hats apart and putting them back together for a little bit with cheap hats that I have owned. Now I had all the free time in the world and decided to make a hat from scratch.
I started with a cheap rabbit hat body and made my first hat. Then I took it apart and re-blocked it and sewn all the parts back in. I did this about a dozen of times. I then went out and got 2 felt bodies. 1 rabbit and 1 beaver from the same place I use now. Made myself a couple of Raiders hats. When I was finished with one I would wear it and work on the other. I did this back and forth with these two hats for a dozen times or so. I then did a non- Indy granite grey felt beaver body to work with another color.
I posted some photo's here and a couple of other forums. I got an overwhelming response from everyone asking to buy or make them a hat. talked with Steve Delk and Marc Kitter of Adventurebilt. With their support I took the plunge. I went out getting everything one would need to make a good polished fedora. I then took all the steps to be a Company. Then I made the announcement of THE PENMAN HAT CO.
At that point I would have been happy selling a few hats but got an overwhelming amount of orders. I already had a built in turn around time of about 2 months. I knew I wasn't going to be happy with just making Raiders hats. I extended myself in making the other movie hats and then branching out to non-Indy hats.
I needed to label these non-Indy hats so I decided to name all my non -Indy hats after people that was special to me and was very close to. The list follows as such.
- the Marlo after my wife's farther who died of cancer at the age of 66. He was a fan of Bogey and seemed right to name this style of hat after him.
- the Eddie after my step father who died of cancer at the age of 52. He wore a hat very much like the hat that I named after him. The first one is being worn by his grandson.
- the Eno after one of my closest of friends who died of cancer at the age of 51. This is a style I thought would look good on my good friend.
- the "SPIRIT of Barney" after who is the closest thing I would ever know as a father. who passed at the age of 91. Barney was a big Spirit fan and wore many different styles of hats.
- the Adele after Barney's wife who one of my favorite of people. She wore a hat very much like this one.
I then wanted very much so replicate the Watchmen hat being a fan of the comic and now the movie. After finding out I already buy felt and ribbon from the same place as the movie hat. The project got off the ground really well.
One of the things that bothered me when I was a hat buyer was you could never get all the products one would want to go with their custom hat. IE: hat brush, hat stand, hat jack, hat box and water protection. This started my search in finding the very best I could that would go along with the quality and standards of the Penman hat co. and I personally wanted a hat/ lapel pin with my logo on it.
A new improved Raiders block and a new CS block
I have reached most of these goals and have come in contact with some good people who care about quality more than they do about making a quick buck. To those people I you.
The one thing out of all of those is the hat jack and that is in the works and it will be the very best hat jack ever made. it will be like no other. My hat stands are being re-worked to improve them and will be re launched very soon.
Then came the Henry from Adventurebilt. Marc came to me about being a resource for the Henry in the US. I had already looked very hard to find a factory hat that I would be proud of to sale but couldn't find anything close to of the quality of the Henry. This way if my turn around times started to get out of control I would have something in play. This took care of this and this joining of Penman hats with Adventurebilt would benefit all people involved. A AB Henry with a very short turn around time.
At this time I want to thank a few people.
First I want to thank John Cooley AKA Johnny fedora for working with me to make the Penman hat logo. I love it very much John. Thanks You.
Brian Kidd for taking some great photo's of my hats, for being a good friend and for all his support. I can't wait for you guys and dolls to see some of the shots he took. Thank you Brian for taking the shots of the Henry for Marc's site. Thanks for all the shots you took of the birth place of the Penman hat co. I may have not made it there but one of my hats did and that was a real kick.
I want to thank Steve and Marc for all their help and support. Without I would not be making the hats I do and I would be sitting on the sofa watching TV all day. You guys have given me more than something I can do with my neck and back problem. You gave me something that I can be proud of and that gives me joy in doing. I don't even know how I can repay you two.
Now, on to year 2. These are only some of the projects I have planed for year 2 of the Penman hat co.
These are projects in the works now.
- I have worked out the details and made a prototype for a club hat that I did for the Fedora Chronicles. I have taken orders for and the hats will go out this fall.
- "the Perfect" hat stand
- A re-worked hat stand to improve on how the hat sits on the stand
- The launch of a re-worked web site that will link up with the Penman hat co. facebook. This way I will have a 360 view of every hat I offer or have made. Making it that much easer for a customer to see what they should expect when buying a hat online from me.
Projects that I hope to get off the ground but remain in the early stages.
- OX Blood red felt run for the Public Enemy
- A distressed Raiders hat called "the Cairo"
I have a couple more projects that I can't talk about but when they start to come out of the idea stage I will post about them here.
It's been a heck of an Adventure and I'm sure the up coming year will be just as fun and exciting.
Thanks for reading and all the support.
John
Be Seeing you
It all started with me having to walk away from the fire department that I was a part of for 7 years. My chronic neck and back pain was to much for me to continue. At that point I had been fooling around with taking hats apart and putting them back together for a little bit with cheap hats that I have owned. Now I had all the free time in the world and decided to make a hat from scratch.
I started with a cheap rabbit hat body and made my first hat. Then I took it apart and re-blocked it and sewn all the parts back in. I did this about a dozen of times. I then went out and got 2 felt bodies. 1 rabbit and 1 beaver from the same place I use now. Made myself a couple of Raiders hats. When I was finished with one I would wear it and work on the other. I did this back and forth with these two hats for a dozen times or so. I then did a non- Indy granite grey felt beaver body to work with another color.
I posted some photo's here and a couple of other forums. I got an overwhelming response from everyone asking to buy or make them a hat. talked with Steve Delk and Marc Kitter of Adventurebilt. With their support I took the plunge. I went out getting everything one would need to make a good polished fedora. I then took all the steps to be a Company. Then I made the announcement of THE PENMAN HAT CO.
At that point I would have been happy selling a few hats but got an overwhelming amount of orders. I already had a built in turn around time of about 2 months. I knew I wasn't going to be happy with just making Raiders hats. I extended myself in making the other movie hats and then branching out to non-Indy hats.
I needed to label these non-Indy hats so I decided to name all my non -Indy hats after people that was special to me and was very close to. The list follows as such.
- the Marlo after my wife's farther who died of cancer at the age of 66. He was a fan of Bogey and seemed right to name this style of hat after him.
- the Eddie after my step father who died of cancer at the age of 52. He wore a hat very much like the hat that I named after him. The first one is being worn by his grandson.
- the Eno after one of my closest of friends who died of cancer at the age of 51. This is a style I thought would look good on my good friend.
- the "SPIRIT of Barney" after who is the closest thing I would ever know as a father. who passed at the age of 91. Barney was a big Spirit fan and wore many different styles of hats.
- the Adele after Barney's wife who one of my favorite of people. She wore a hat very much like this one.
I then wanted very much so replicate the Watchmen hat being a fan of the comic and now the movie. After finding out I already buy felt and ribbon from the same place as the movie hat. The project got off the ground really well.
One of the things that bothered me when I was a hat buyer was you could never get all the products one would want to go with their custom hat. IE: hat brush, hat stand, hat jack, hat box and water protection. This started my search in finding the very best I could that would go along with the quality and standards of the Penman hat co. and I personally wanted a hat/ lapel pin with my logo on it.
A new improved Raiders block and a new CS block
I have reached most of these goals and have come in contact with some good people who care about quality more than they do about making a quick buck. To those people I you.
The one thing out of all of those is the hat jack and that is in the works and it will be the very best hat jack ever made. it will be like no other. My hat stands are being re-worked to improve them and will be re launched very soon.
Then came the Henry from Adventurebilt. Marc came to me about being a resource for the Henry in the US. I had already looked very hard to find a factory hat that I would be proud of to sale but couldn't find anything close to of the quality of the Henry. This way if my turn around times started to get out of control I would have something in play. This took care of this and this joining of Penman hats with Adventurebilt would benefit all people involved. A AB Henry with a very short turn around time.
At this time I want to thank a few people.
First I want to thank John Cooley AKA Johnny fedora for working with me to make the Penman hat logo. I love it very much John. Thanks You.
Brian Kidd for taking some great photo's of my hats, for being a good friend and for all his support. I can't wait for you guys and dolls to see some of the shots he took. Thank you Brian for taking the shots of the Henry for Marc's site. Thanks for all the shots you took of the birth place of the Penman hat co. I may have not made it there but one of my hats did and that was a real kick.
I want to thank Steve and Marc for all their help and support. Without I would not be making the hats I do and I would be sitting on the sofa watching TV all day. You guys have given me more than something I can do with my neck and back problem. You gave me something that I can be proud of and that gives me joy in doing. I don't even know how I can repay you two.
Now, on to year 2. These are only some of the projects I have planed for year 2 of the Penman hat co.
These are projects in the works now.
- I have worked out the details and made a prototype for a club hat that I did for the Fedora Chronicles. I have taken orders for and the hats will go out this fall.
- "the Perfect" hat stand
- A re-worked hat stand to improve on how the hat sits on the stand
- The launch of a re-worked web site that will link up with the Penman hat co. facebook. This way I will have a 360 view of every hat I offer or have made. Making it that much easer for a customer to see what they should expect when buying a hat online from me.
Projects that I hope to get off the ground but remain in the early stages.
- OX Blood red felt run for the Public Enemy
- A distressed Raiders hat called "the Cairo"
I have a couple more projects that I can't talk about but when they start to come out of the idea stage I will post about them here.
It's been a heck of an Adventure and I'm sure the up coming year will be just as fun and exciting.
Thanks for reading and all the support.
John
Be Seeing you
