Jason Momoa Makes Ruby’s Dream Come True!

August 28, 2019American Hat Makers Leave a comment

Story time! We’ve been waiting for Silicon Valley Comic Con for so long. Well, more accurately, our lead designer, Ruby Roxanne has been waiting for Silicon Valley Comic Con for so long. Months ago she bought tickets for a meet n’ greet with one of her favorite actors, Jason Momoa. Jason’s bohemian fashion vibes and love for hats has always inspired Ruby, and she wanted to make him a gift to show her appreciation. Ruby set out designing a hat specifically made for Jason, and before it was even done, everyone around the office loved it so much we decided to release it in our 2020 catalog. We’ll get to those details here shortly. Anyways, back to the real story…

Arguably the most important part of a hat is the fit. You can have the coolest hat ever, but if it doesn’t fit then everything is out the window. Designing a hat specially for someone is a daunting task in and of itself, but designing a hat for someone without knowing their head size is a definite risk. Ruby’s husband, Jim, regularly models our hats. Ladies, ladies, I know, he’s married. I’m sorry! Ruby was talking about designing the hat with Jim, and was expressing her concerns about the size, when they decided to brainstorm a bit. Jim wears a 2XL hat, and Jason is about 3 inches taller than Jim, and has a long head of hair. They settled that the best idea was to make the hat in 3XL and cross their fingers because after all, our hats are customizable with the adjustable sized sweatbands.

Fast forward to the big day, and Ruby overlooked the set time that her group was supposed to be in line to meet Jason. She had just got back from a two week vacation and was still jet lagged.

By the time she noticed the set time, she only had 15 minutes to drive an hour and a half to the Silicon Valley Comic Con to get in line and meet Jason! Peeling out of her driveway at speeds that would make Dale Earnhardt’s palms sweat, she slowed down the car just long enough to pick up Leslie and off they went!

They ended up being two hours late to the event, which was absolutely perfect because Jason’s flight to San Jose was delayed. They hopped in line with Ruby carrying the hat, and patiently waited their turn. Around this time, Ruby noticed that there was a huge list of rules to abide by when meeting Jason. No cellphones, no pictures, no personal belongings! Ruby’s heart sank. However, she would not be defeated so easily. Being the rebellious queen that she is, she forked over her wallet and cellphone, but wore Jason’s would-be hat as her own. Even though the hat was entirely too large, she got through security and it was her turn to meet Jason! Ruby had slipped her business card into the sweatliner of the hat, and as she was passing her handmade gift to Jason, it slipped out and fell to the ground. Ruby panicked, as security was rushing everyone through as there was no time for chit-chat, but Jason slowed everyone down and made room to slowly bend down and pick up the business card. Jason then effortlessly flipped the hat onto his head and started to smile. Saying that it fit like a glove would be an understatement. This hat looked like it was made for him, which, well…it was!

Jason looked like he loved it. Although the meet n’ greet lasted only a short while, Ruby was beyond happy that she was able to get Jason his hat. Ruby and Leslie also got a picture with Jason. They high fived each other after they collapsed on the floor and realized the storm they had gone through. Was it worth it, oh hell yes! Starting next year, this hat will be available as the Frontier leather top hat. Ruby hopes to get the opportunity to work with Jason in the future if he is need of design expertise on some handmade leather projects! And also, Jason, if you’re reading this, Ruby forgot the bohemian leather scrunchy she made for you at home! Come stop by and visit our factory if you’re in our neck of the woods!

GBK Gifting Suite: ESPY’s!!

August 4, 2017American Hat Makers Leave a comment

We just got back from the ESPY’s and we had a total blast! For those that don’t know, the ESPY’s are awards currently presented by the American Broadcast Television network ABC, and previously ESPN, to recognize individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-related performances. We met so many amazing, talented and fun individuals! Every GBK event is always so fulfilling, we absolutely love sharing our passion of making hats with everyone we come across! Here’s some pictures from while we were there!

Adam Schefter

Andre Berto

Anna Gasser

Brandon Marshall

Braxton Miller

Britney Young

Carmelita Jeter

Derrick Johnson

Ej Tackett

Jake Miller

Jorge Blanco

Kenny Britt

Lance Kendricks

Lester Speight

Malik Jackson

Marissa Chykirda

Matt Leinhart

Nick Ferguson

Oksana Masters

Omar Bolden

Randall Telfer

Roger Cross

Ronnie Hillman

Russ Weakland

Seth Curry

Stephen Glickman

Su’a Cavens

Sydelle Noel

Tony Hawk

Tony Jefferson

Treach

Walter Thurmond

Stay tuned for more awesome events like this one, and check out our website to find all the beautiful hat styles you see here!

Why choose American Hat Makers?

March 27, 2017American Hat Makers Leave a comment

Are you looking to revitalize your sales with unique, high-quality products? For over 40 years, family owned American Hat Makers has offered superior quality and design across seven product lines. Our hats are proudly cut and sewn by hand in our 17,000 sq. foot facility in Watsonville, California, with attention down to the last detail. We stand confidently behind each and every item we make, and offer a lifetime guarantee on our entire line of products. At American Hat Makers our mission is to provide our customers with distinctive, one-of-a-kind, artisan hats cut and sewn by hand with the finest materials. Above and beyond the creation of superior products, we are dedicated to treating our customers, and employees with compassion, integrity, and a commitment to bettering our community through service, philanthropy, and open-hearted-ness.

American Hat Makers is currently in a period of hyper growth. We recently moved facilities, into a building 3x larger than our previous site. We want to take this opportunity to reach out and make new relationships with retail and wholesale partners, so that everyone may share and benefit from this growth.

All of our hats are assembled in house, allowing for a close eye to be kept on quality and consistency. We offer a lifetime guarantee on any product we manufacture, because they truly do last a lifetime. American Hat Makers offers an unconditional buyback program on any stock not sold, so there is no risk! If some of our hats do not sell, simply let us know and we will buy them back! With no dead inventory, there truly is no risk to buying American Hat Makers.

The world of American Hat Makers is far reaching. Our styles have been seen on the heads of countless celebrities and been featured in major motion pictures. This is a formal invitation for you to take the next leap that will push your business to the next level! We want to help you start selling a significant volume of the worlds highest quality hats with some of the highest margins anywhere!

The Power of Rock N’ Roll!

March 22, 2017American Hat Makers 1 Comment

Hardly a more powerful term has ever been coined. Hearing Rock and Roll can conjure images of leather, pyrotechnics, and powerful motorcycles, however these are not the only things that define Rock and Roll. At its core, Rock and Roll is the spirit and drive that all passionate musicians pour into their music. To be a part of such a free-spirited and rip-roaring genre would require equally powerful musicians.

Steven Tyler wearing an El Dorado w/ SR2 Band

Steven Tyler is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and former television music competition judge, best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, and occasional piano and percussion. He is known as the “Demon of Screamin'” due to his high screams and his wide vocal range. He is also known for his on-stage acrobatics. During his high-energy performances, Tyler usually dresses in bright, colorful outfits with his trademark scarves hanging from his microphone stand.

Alice Cooper wearing an El Dorado w/ Buffalo Band

Alice Cooper is an American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spans over five decades. With his distinctive raspy voice and a stage show that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, deadly snakes, baby dolls, and dueling swords, Cooper is considered by music journalists and peers alike to be “The Godfather of Shock Rock”. He has drawn equally from horror films, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a macabre and theatrical brand of rock designed to shock people.

Vinnie Paul wearing a Storm

Vincent Paul Abbott, also known as Vinnie Paul, is an American professional drummer and producer who is best known for being a former member, and co-founder, of the heavy metal band Pantera. He is currently a member of supergroup Hellyeah. He also co-founded the heavy metal band Damageplan in 2003 with his late younger brother, Dimebag Darrell.

Joe Elliot wearing a Time Port

Joseph Thomas “Joe” Elliott is an English singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the English rock band Def Leppard. He has also been the lead singer of the David Bowie tribute band the Cybernauts and the Mott the Hoople cover band Down ‘n’ Outz. He is one of the two original members of Def Leppard and one of the three to perform on every Def Leppard album.

Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal wearing a limited edition Plainsman.

Ron Blumenthal, better known by his stage name Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, is an American guitarist, songwriter, recording artist and producer. He adopted his nickname from the bacterial infection of the same name, which he learned about while helping his wife study for her veterinary exams. The name went from being just the name of an album, to the name of a record label, to a band name, to eventually his name as a solo artist^. He was one of two lead guitarists in Guns N’ Roses from 2006 until 2014 and performed on their sixth studio album Chinese Democracy.

James Durbin wearing a Time Port

James William Durbin is an American singer and guitarist from Santa Cruz, California who finished in fourth place on the tenth season of American Idol. Durbin is currently the lead singer for the heavy metal band, Quiet Riot. He was the lead singer in a band called Hollywood Scars, where he went by the stage name of Jimmy Levox. Influenced by bands such as Metallica, Pantera, Judas Priest, Dream Theater, Guns N’ Roses, Iron Maiden and Motley Crue, Hollywood Scars drew their inspiration from the glitz, glam, and decadence of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip in the 1980s and early 1990s. The band released a single entitled “Under The Cherry Tree”.

Todd Ogren-Brooks wearing an El Dorado w/ SR2 Band

Todd Ögren-Brooks is the ultra talented keyboardist for the band Rival Sons. Rival Sons is an American rock band from Long Beach, California. Rival Sons was formed in 2009 from the ashes of guitarist Scott Holiday’s previous band Black Summer Crush (which featured Michael Miley on drums and Robin Everhart on bass). The band took shape when singer Jay Buchanan was persuaded to come in as vocalist on the re-recording of Before the Fire. The band currently features bassist Dave Beste after Robin Everhart left in August 2013. They are currently signed to Earache Records. In September 2013 Rival Sons supported Sammy Hagar across the US then played Hard Rock Vegas in December and started the New Year by headlining a street party in their hometown of Long Beach. Rival Sons toured the United Kingdom from March to April 2015 as well as playing the main stage at Download Festival in 2016. In October 2015 they recorded their fifth album Hollow Bones again with Dave Cobb in just three weeks. The album was released July 2016. After the recording they toured with Deep Purple in Europe. In 2016 they toured as main support for the entire Black Sabbath farewell world tour lasting the entire run.

Dave Yaden rocking an El Dorado w/ Eye band

Dave Yaden is a producer, songwriter and actor, he has co-written songs on records by Tyler Hilton, Josh Kelley, Josh Hoge, Curtis Peoples, and Lady Antebellum. Dave cut his teeth in the LA music scene playing in a number of bands while attending USC. He signed a record contract with Atlantic Records alongside singer-songwriter Joe Firstman. With Joe, he toured the country, opening for everyone from Sheryl Crow to Michelle Branch to Willie Nelson. He has recorded and performed with Josh Kelley, cowritten many songs on Josh’s records and played on his hit Amazing, featuring a prominent wurlitzer solo by Dave. He has appeared numerous times on a number of national television shows including Good Morning America, CDUSA, The Ellen Degeneres Show, The Tonight Show, MTVs TRL, and Late night with Carson Daly.

Kenny Kweens wearing an El Dorado w/ Chain Band

Kenny Kweens is an American musician who is best known for his nine-year tenure as bassist in the hard rock band Beautiful Creatures In 2009, Kweens left the group and joined L.A Guns (fronted by Phil Lewis), replacing previous bassist Scott Griffin. However, in 2011, Kweens departed, replaced by Griffin. On September 22, 2014, it was announced that Griffin had once again departed the band, and Kweens rejoined the band. Prior to joining Beautiful Creatures, Kweens was a member of Shake the Faith, No. 9, Diamond Star Halo and Melody Black while in 2008 he formed his own solo project titled Villains of Vaudeville.

Steve Harwell rocking a limited edition Soho

Steven Scott “Steve” Harwell is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist for the band Smash Mouth. Smash Mouth is an American rock band from San Jose, California. The band was formed in 1994, and was originally composed of Steve Harwell (vocals), Kevin Coleman (drums), Greg Camp (guitar), and Paul De Lisle (bass). They are known for songs such as “Walkin’ on the Sun” (1997), “All-Star” (1999), and a cover of The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” (2001), the latter two of which were featured on the soundtrack for the animated film Shrek.

The power of Rock N’ Roll is far reaching and intoxicating! Once you travel down the road of rock, you’ll never look back!

The Extraordinary Doc Phineas!

March 6, 2017American Hat Makers Leave a comment

We’d love to take some time to highlight one of our wonderful hat ambassadors! If the Steampunk world was personified into the body and soul of a single person, that person would be Doc Phineas! There’s hardly a more distinct character than he.

Doc Phineas has an intriguing story for any day of the week! In fact, he’s probably runner-up for Most Interesting Man in the World! Doc is a seasoned world traveler, with experiences in 92 countries around the globe. He is a veteran actor who has starred in 15 Hollywood motion pictures. During his college years in the SF Bay Area he wrote, scored and produced 18 Broadway style shows which were produced at the Grace Church in San Jose, CA where he was Youth Minister. On top of this, he has produced 3 musical CD’s, authored 5 books, and has been teaching for over 45 years.

It seems that since birth, even, Doc Phineas has had an affinity for artistic performance. At the age of 3, he went into full on dance lessons, tap, ballet, gymnastics, singing, violin, piano, and drum lessons. Every weekend his mother took him to do fancy dancing at Buffalo ranch in Akron, Oklahoma. From ages 5 to 8 he appeared as a regular tap dancer on the Pinky Lee Show on television, with appearances on Howdy Doody, the Mickey Mouse Club. He even made guest appearances on The Lone Ranger, Jungle Jim. As he got older his piano skills really developed and he could play old fashioned rinky tink piano tunes. As a young teenager he was dressed up in a bowler and spatz and even a fake moustache, knocking out the tunes at the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas where they filmed Gunsmoke. Doc Phineas claims that he adopted the style known as Steampunk as early as the 1950’s!

He soon landed a full scholarship to attend UC Berkeley and relocated to San Francisco, where he worked 3 jobs and produced broadway style shows for the children at a local church, where he was a youth minister. When he completed his BA degree he got a scholarship to study in India. He then headed off to India where he studied yoga under the tutelage of the great Indian saint Sri Anandamayi Ma. He completed his MCE at Madras University, and headed back to Berkeley to continue work on his Ph.D. He was very thin being 6 ft tall and when he returned from India he weighed only 105 lbs as he had gone through famine there. When he was walking in San Francisco one day in long flowing Indian clothing, the fashion diva Sabina saw him and signed him into her agency as a male model. He became a celebrated male model working for House of Dior in Paris and the house model of I Magnin in San Francisco appearing in GQ magazine and on fashion runways all over the world.

His cousin was on her way to Hollywood to appear on Police Woman and St. Elsewhere so she took him to Hollywood and he ended up with parts on Young and Restless, and was featured in OOKid, Alexa, Out For Blood, Oakbay, Ardvarks, and Batman Forever. He was also working as a set designer and consequently ended up doing designing for Bette Davis, Doris Day, Barbara Streisand, and Michael Jackson for their homes. One night at a party for Wolfgang Puck, he met Tony Curtis. They became such great friends, Tony invited Doc to be on his production team and he worked with him on the last films of his life. He always plays characters that are like Steampunks and old characters in a Western city; the piano player in a bar, the old shop keeper in a western town. Tony asked Doc to move to Las Vegas so they could keep working together . In the year 2000 he had finished his Ph.D. at London University, Shefferton College, so he continued working in productions and teaching in the Las Vegas area. As a member of the Single Action Shooting Society he continued to work on Old Time Movies out at Bonnie Springs Ranch and Calico Ghost Town. Five years ago, he noticed the transformation of some of his students at UNLV to Victorian clothes, top hats, monocles and goggles. He told them he had been wearing that attire since he was a boy. They begged him to sponsor the Steampunk Group at UNLV they told him they couldn’t find one faculty member to back them up, that people laughed at them and they weren’t really welcome at Renaissance Faire…they loved this genre of fiction but they felt sad and alone. He decided it was time to resurrect Dr. Phineas, a character he had once played.

He was named President of the Steampunk Guild and they got organized so that they could have meetings, learn more about garb, enjoy tea and conversation with eachother, work on wonderful inventions, and travel to archeological sites and digs all over the world including Valley of the Kings in Egypt! Without Doc Phineas’ drive and dedication to the fashion subgenre, who knows where the world of Steampunk would be!

The amazingly talented Lindsey Stirling!

February 20, 2017American Hat Makers Leave a comment

Lindsey Stirling is an American violinist, dancer, performance artist, and composer.

She presents choreographed violin performances, both live and in music videos found on her YouTube channel, which she created in 2007. Stirling performs a variety of music styles, from classical to pop and rock to electronic dance music. Aside from original work, her discography contains covers of songs by other musicians and various soundtracks. Her music video, “Crystallize” finished as the eighth-most watched video of 2012, and her cover version of “Radioactive” with Pentatonix won Response of the Year in the first Youtube Music Awards in 2013. Stirling achieved one million singles sold worldwide by August 2014. As of July 2016, her Lindseystomp YouTube channel exceeded 8 million subscribers and over a billion total views. Stirling has been named in Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 In Music: The Class Of 2015. Forbes notes her quarter-finalist position on America’s Got Talent in 2010, a No. 2 position on the Billboard 200 for her second album Shatter Me in 2014, and her 8 million subscribers on YouTube. Stirling’s debut album was a commercial success in Europe, selling 200,000 copies in Germany, winning a platinum certification; three additional certifications were given by Austria, Switzerland and Poland. The debut album was nominated for the 2014 Billboard Music Awards for Top Dance/ Electronic album. Stirling’s second album Shatter Me won the 2015 Billboard Music Awards for Top Dance/Electronic Album. Check out this awesome video, Roundtable Rival, to see just how talented Lindsey is!

Her dancers are always so coordinated and alluring! It’s always such a pleasure watching one of Lindsey’s videos. She’s so obviously passionate about what she does, seeing someone create something so beautiful and genuine is so inspiring!

Lindsey and the Roundtable Rival dancers. The top hat on the left is a Trinket!

Stirling describes her childhood as being raised in a modest household and stated “I would not trade my humble childhood years for anything else. Due to her family’s financial limitations, her parents could only afford to find a violin teacher who would give her half lessons. Told by instructors that “a child isn’t going to learn how to play in 15 minutes a week”, her parents persisted, and at the age of five she began taking violin lessons. You can see where this led!

Lindsey with the Master of Tides dancers. The hats pictured here are the Pipefitter, Kraken, and Trinket!

Nowadays, Lindsey is recording amazing music and stunning crowds with performance pieces like “Master of Tides”. Lindsey partnered with UE Boom to create a live, spontaneous performance piece in a crowded plaza and filmed it with hidden cameras! Check out this one-of-a-kind performance!

Whenever we get the chance to partner with such a unique, creative-minded individual such as Lindsey, we’re reminded of why we do what we do! At American Hat Makers, we strive to create masterful pieces of art, so that artists like Lindsey can achieve their vision and continue to fill the world with captivating and genuine art!

Grammy Award Celebrity Sighting!

February 13, 2017American Hat Makers Leave a comment

This Saturday February 11, 2017 we attended another Pre-Grammy Gifting Suite! This time it was located at the McLaren Auto Gallery in Beverlly Hills. Here are all of the hot celebrities that just fell in love with our hats.