{"id":451411,"date":"2025-12-16T18:06:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T18:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/451411\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T18:06:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T18:06:17","slug":"how-stetson-built-its-legacy-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/451411\/","title":{"rendered":"How Stetson Built Its Legacy in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNews<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The 160-year-old brand may be synonymous with the West, but it was originally born here \u2014 in a one-room workshop at 7th and Callowhill streets.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Stetson\"<\/p>\n

Stetson\u2019s former store on Sansom Street, in 1914 \/ Photograph courtesy of Stetson<\/p>\n

Looking at a Stetson hat, it\u2019s impossible to not think of the West. The very silhouette of the brand\u2019s archetypal cowboy hat<\/a> calls to mind the region\u2019s rugged topography, its crown pinched and creased like the craggy peaks of mountains, its undulating brim as wide as the plains. It\u2019s an enduring symbol of the Wild West, inextricably linked to Hollywood Westerns and rope- and rifle-wielding stars like Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, and John Wayne. And yet the Stetson hat was born here in Philadelphia \u2014 in a one-room workshop at 7th and Callowhill streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cStetson is closely associated with the West, but we see ourselves first and foremost as an American brand,\u201d says Stetson CEO Robert Dundon, himself a Philly-area native and Temple grad. \u201cGiven that, it\u2019s only fitting that an iconic American brand like Stetson would be founded in a city known as the birthplace of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s 160-year history, celebrated with Rizzoli\u2019s recently released tome Stetson: American Icon<\/a>, begins thusly: In the 1850s, John B. Stetson, the son of a New Jersey hatmaker, traveled west seeking fortune, adventure, and a cure for his tuberculosis in the clear, dry mountain air. While prospecting for gold in the Colorado Rockies, Stetson noticed the poorly made hats of his fellow pioneers and fashioned a wide-brimmed, waterproof hat from felted animal furs, which he sold to a passing bullwhacker for a five-dollar gold coin.<\/p>\n

In 1865, Stetson returned east and opened his namesake business. He soon launched his \u201cBoss of the Plains\u201d design \u2014 a flat-brimmed topper with a high, rounded crown inspired by the sombreros worn by vaqueros (the Mexican and Spanish horseback cattle herders who were the predecessors of the American cowboy). The hat catapulted him to success, and within 10 years, his company had moved to a nine-acre campus on the outskirts of Kensington. (This campus would eventually include a hospital, free dispensary, and lending library for its 5,000 workers, who enjoyed Stetson\u2019s progressive benefits \u2014 health care, education programs, and profit sharing.)<\/p>\n

\"Stetson\"<\/p>\n

Bruno Mars for his 2024 collaboration with the brand \/ Photograph by Daniel Ramos<\/p>\n

Though the factory is no longer there \u2014 manufacturing moved to Missouri in 1977, then to Garland, Texas, where the company is currently headquartered, in 1986 \u2014 Stetson\u2019s Philly legacy lives on through retailers like Alfonso Aramburo, who sells the cowboy hats in Viejo Oeste Western Wear #2<\/a>, his Italian Market shop. (You might know it by the eight-foot-tall fiberglass cowboy boot stationed out front.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the most recognized brand of hats in the U.S. and worldwide,\u201d Aramburo says. \u201cThere are so many different profiles, shapes, and materials.\u201d But it\u2019s his own family history with the brand that resonates the most: \u201cMy grandfather and my dad wore those hats all the time.\u201d (The brand is also carried locally at Center City\u2019s Les Richards Menswear<\/a>, Boot Barn<\/a> in Cherry Hill and North Wales, and Leo\u2019s Apparel<\/a> in North Philly; Aramburo carries Stetson\u2019s cowboy and dress hats at his Delaware outpost.)<\/p>\n

But even as Stetson has steadily risen to stratospheric fame, the company hasn\u2019t forgotten its Philly roots. \u201cOur signature hats are now made in Texas, but we still live by the values John B. Stetson established during his early days in\u00a0Philadelphia,\u201d says Dundon. Stetson unveiled a limited-edition beaver-fur dress hat called \u201cthe Philadelphia 160th Edition\u201d as a tribute to the city it first called home. A five-dollar gold coin emblem glints on the hat band, symbolizing John B. Stetson\u2019s first sale, a happy harbinger of things to come.<\/p>\n

The Stetson Story\"founder<\/p>\n

Founder John B. Stetson \/ Photograph courtesy of Stetson<\/p>\n

1862:<\/strong> John B. Stetson designs and sells his first hat.<\/p>\n

1865:<\/strong> Stetson borrows $60 from his sister to found his company.<\/p>\n

1874:<\/strong> Production moves to a factory on the outskirts of Kensington.<\/p>\n

1906:<\/strong> John B. Stetson dies; he gives most of his fortune to charity before his death.<\/p>\n

1911:<\/strong> Fresh off winning the World Series, the Philadelphia Athletics are featured in a Stetson hat marketing campaign.<\/p>\n

1932:<\/strong> The company begins producing hats for women.<\/p>\n

1977:<\/strong> Stetson moves its manufacturing to Missouri, then to Garland, Texas, in 1986.<\/p>\n

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Photograph by Blair Caldwell<\/p>\n

2024:<\/strong> Beyonc\u00e9 wears a Stetson hat on the cover of her Cowboy Carter album.<\/p>\n

2025:<\/strong> Stetson celebrates 160 years in business.<\/p>\n

Published as \u201cCity Slicker\u201d in the December 2025\/January 2026 issue of Philadelphia magazine.<\/p>\n