How Chicago’s Optimo Hat Company Crafts Fedoras That Last a Lifetime
For Graham Thompson, who has always been drawn to “old-world, well-made things,” watching classic film noir with his dad sparked a fascination with hats. At 16, the Chicago native was introduced to Johnny Tyus, a South Side master hatter whose felt fedora was worn by Robert De Niro in the 1987 movie The Untouchables. After college, Thompson studied under Tyus for seven years, learning the fundamentals of the craft until his mentor retired. Thompson bought Tyus’s equipment, founded Optimo Hat Company in 1996, and now operates his own retail store in downtown Chicago’s Monadnock Building. With the return to timeless dressing, Thompson says that the industry is “busier than it’s been in decades” and the notion that only an older generation would wear anything other than a baseball cap “is disappearing.”
With only seven employees, Optimo does all its manufacturing in a century-old converted firehouse. Creating these hats is a laborious process that requires special machinery from the 1930s and ’40s, which Thompson considers the golden age of his craft. “When the industry began to decline in popularity, there was a severe deterioration in quality and elegance, because they went the way of a clip-on tie,” he explains. “It’s been a treasure hunt to try to get these rare tools and machines to make a quality of hat that had become extinct.”
Optimo stocks a variety of styles, including homburgs, porkpies, straw Panamas, and fedoras, the last of which is seen here. The company offers a bespoke program to accommodate uncommon head shapes or sizes. Clients can also choose made-to-order and select everything from brim width to ribbon style. As a result, Optimo’s handmade hats average $1,500 each and take about six weeks to complete. “A really good felt hat you can wear in the rain or snow,” Thompson says, “they’re utilitarian and last forever.”
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