OUR COWBOY HATS
TELL YOUR STORY IN STYLE
At Bar M, we believe that your cowboy hat should tell your story. Each custom hat is hand-shaped in New Zealand, designed to not only look great but to make you feel and ride at your best. Whether you're in the arena or out on the ranch, our hats are built with grit, grace, and precision, offering a custom fit and design that reflects your unique style. With Bar M, you're not just wearing a hat; you're wearing a piece of wearable art crafted for those who live the cowboy way. Look good. Feel good. Ride good.
WHAT ARE FELT HATS MADE OF?
Each fur has a set of unique features that can be exploited to suit your needs. It's important to understand these characteristics to know what fur would best benefit you. Fur ranges in density, length, color and feel based on the type as well as where it's sourced. Natural fur has warmth, breathability, and allure that simply can't be matched by synthetic materials; not to mention real fur takes much less of a toll on the environment. Here's some information that can help you learn more about each type of fur and what they have to offer.
THE X'S
The difficulty in using the “X” quality to determine a hat’s quality is, there is no industry standard for an “X” value. The “X” can be whatever the manufacturer or the custom hatter choose to assign to the hat’s “X” value.
The “X” rating was invented by the hat factory to assist customers in determining hat qualities and to increase sales. Companies would rate their poor hats without an “X” and up to as many “Xs” the merchant felt appropriate for the better quality hats or would best assist sales.
In the beginning each “X” represented 10% beaver fur. A 10-X hat once represented 100% beaver fur was used to construct the hat body. However today some hat shops and hatters have changed the scale again by listing their hats as 200-X, 500-X, 1,000-X and up to 2500-X. The “X” rating only has value when it is known what the value of “X” represents for the amount of beaver fur used.
At Bar M, we offer a range of X's from 2x (a lower quality wool felt hat) up to 100x which is 100% beaver fur in the brand we supply.
In the Rodeo King felt hats we supply, the X's meant the following:
7x = 5-7% beaver felt, 93-95% wild hare felt
10x = 10-12% beaver felt, 88-90% wild hare felt
30x = 30-35% beaver felt, 65-70% wild hare felt
60x = 60-65% beaver felt, 35-40% wild hare felt
100x = 100% beaver felt
500x = 100% beaver BELLY felt
BEAVER FELT
Beavers are found in North America, Russia and northern Europe. The highest quality beaver fur is sourced from Canada and the Northern United States. Natural beaver fur has long, shiny guard hairs and soft, thick under fur. Beavers have some of the densest fur in the animal kingdom with 10,000 hairs per square cm. Un-dyed beaver fur can range from deep black to brown. They're aquatic animals, so naturally their fur is water resistant. Their sleek guard hair and dense underfur help to keep water from getting to the skin. Water repellency and extraordinary warmth are two qualities that make beaver fur a choice material when producing hat’s.
WILD HARE FELT
Wild hare fur can be felted fairly tight and is more commonly available than Beaver fur. Using wild hare fur for a hat body makes the hat more affordable and is still soft to the touch. Wild hare also adds body and strength to the hat body. Some say there is no such thing as a 100% Beaver felt because wild have needs to be added for the binding and strengthening of the felt.
BEAVER + RABBIT/WILD HARE BLEND
When a hat is stated to be any percentage of beaver, the other percentage will be wild hare or rabbit fur. Example 50% Beaver 50% Wild hare and rabbit blend . Blends present an affordable hat body with good weather resistance properties. The blend combines the softness of wild hare but the stiffness of beaver. Combining beaver and rabbit fur produces a more affordable alternative to 100% Beaver.
WOOL FELT
Wool felt is from sheep but it is shorn making it more readily available and renewable. It is not nearly as durable as Fur Felt and Beaver with a much shorter lifespan. When it comes to keeping your head warm the porous nature of wool is amazing. Those pores absorb the heat from your head. You will notice that your head warms up rather quickly when you put it on. But that also allows moisture to penetrate the felt causing it to loose it’s shape more quickly that the fur felted hats. Great for a starter hat that will not be used for everyday work wear.