American Hat
Gary Waltrous launched the American Hat Makers company in the early 70’s. With only forty dollars’ worth of leather and leather-working tools to his name, he began crafting belts, wallets, handbags that he would sell right from the back of his station wagon. Around the mid-seventies, it occurred to him to try his hand at crafting a leather hat for his personal use. He ended up liking it so much, he then completely re-oriented his business and made of hat-making his vocation and main artistic outlet. American Hat Makers offers a wide range of hats evoking the western, steampunk and victorian aesthetics, each one of them made unique by the creativity of their finish.