A good fit in cowboy country

Philadelphia haberdasher John Stetson was already well-known when he introduced the “Boss of the Plains” hat at the end of the Civil War.

Stetson probably couldn’t have imagined that 160 years later, his creation would still be thriving. In fact, the cowboy hat has long been the iconic symbol of the west, of the rancher and the American cowboy.

That status was helped along by a steady stream of western movies in the 1940s, ᾿50s and ᾿60s, followed by television mainstays such as “Gunsmoke,” “Bonanza” and “Rawhide.” Boy, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood knew how to wear a cowboy hat.

Periodically, its status would be lifted even higher by phenomena like “Urban Cowboy” and “Yellowstone.” However, the popularity of the cowboy hat doesn’t rely on Hollywood but is cemented in something more basic.

“It is a fashion item,” often adorned with feathers and decorative headbands, admits Brian Sullivan, owner of Sullivan Hat Company in Bosque Farms. “But in reality, it’s a tool — a tool that gets used every day on working ranches.”

Denise Garcia, whose family operates agriculture property in Bosque Farms and a ranch in northern New Mexico, says a cowboy hat is multi-functional. It does more than keep you warm or cool or rejects the sun or rain.

“At the ranch, it actually protects your whole body because you’re crashing through the trees,” Garcia said. “It ends up being kind of like an umbrella, a shield through the trees.”

For Garcia, certain hats can be seasonal.

“I wear a felt hat from Labor Day to Memorial Day,” she said. “Then on Memorial Day, I switch to a straw hat. They’re cooler.”

Back at the ranch, make that the Sullivan Hat Company, the product is “built” specifically for each face and each taste.

“Everybody has their own preference in a hat,” according to Sullivan, who opened his shop with his wife, Jenny, in Bosque Farms almost 10 years ago. “Some people like it stiff; some people like it soft. There’s no two hats just alike,” when made from scratch.

No two heads are exactly alike either. That’s why Sullivan prefers to visit with his customers face to face.

“Every single person I have ever run across, the right side of their head bows out, the left side of their head shoots back,” he said. “We like to shape it to their face.”

No doubt, customers can be picky. For barrel racer Amanda Terrel, of Belen, quality, color and size are paramount.

“When you have a small head like I have” — a size 6 and 3/4 — “it’s really hard to find a hat, a good quality hat, that will fit,” Terrel said.

Terrel points out that in many barrel racing competitions, riders are penalized if their hats come off.

“We either have to pay to get it back or some places will (disqualify) you,” she said.

Terrel also favors a smaller brim.

“If I have a 5-inch brim, it makes me look like I have wings,” she said.

Coordinating color schemes is also something that Terrel and her daughter like to do.

“I have a black felt (hat) that goes with anything. I have a dark gray, which goes with most stuff,” and a mauve hat “that goes with a couple of shirts that looks good on some of my horses,” she explained.

When it comes to price, Terrel says her family will spend up to $700 for a good, quality hat.

Costly hats may not suit everyone’s taste. Cody Harrison proudly calls his straw piece, “the cheapest cowboy hat there is.” As the caretaker at Bosque Farms Rodeo Arena, he wears straw hats year-round.

“As hard as I am on hats, I can’t justify spending” hundreds of dollars, Harrison said.

As proof, he points to his bedraggled hat that looks like it had been stomped by a bull, dragged by a tractor and dumped in a water trough.

“I just wear them every day,” Harrison says of his straw hat, which is about 2 months old. “Sweat, wear and tear. That’s pretty much it.”

When it wears out, Harrison tosses it in the trash.

It may take years for one of Sullivan’s top-of-the-line products to be retired.

“Beaver is your top quality. You can’t get anything better than a pure beaver hat,” Sullivan says, adding that beaver and rabbit fur is shipped from Eastern Europe, adding to the expense.

Sullivan, who says business saw “a humongous bump” because of the television show, “Yellowstone,” has a two-fold philosophy.

“One is good materials — the best materials — and the second is taking your time,” he said. “There are times where you have to let the hat rest. Dry a little bit, tighten up and then go to the next project.”

It all starts from scratch with the raw materials.

“Block them, sand them, flange them, crown-iron them.”

Sullivan said the traditional cattleman’s crown is the most popular style, likely because the hat is easy to grab.

Irvin Barela, a recent Los Lunas High School graduate, helps out in the shop.

“Sometimes, I’ll tell Brian, ‘Dang, this hat turned out real nice,’” Barela says. “You just get excited about it.”

Growing up in the business at the family-owned Sullivan’s Western Wear in Las Cruces, Sullivan learned the trade from his father.

“I didn’t want nothing to do with the storefront, honestly,” Sullivan says about a possible career.

However, he did make hats on the side and, after college and 15 years in pro rodeo, “I finally decided that’s what I wanted to do — settle down and build hats.”

According to veteran cowboys and cowgirls, it’s easy to tell who is wearing a factory-made hat, perhaps caught up in “Yellowstone” or “1883” fever.

Harrison, the arena caretaker, says some may “stick out like a sore thumb,” but he believes, “You don’t have to wear a cowboy hat to be a cowboy. There’s a cowboy in every walk of life.”

Those who are part of the traditional cowboy culture, on a ranch or in a rodeo arena, want to look sharp.

“Every cowgirl I know, every cowboy I know, take pride in wearing a nice, creased hat,” Harrison proclaims. “That’s part of the profession — be professional and look professional.”

Cowboy Country 2024 (VCNB articles)