Market Moments: Bailey Hats Celebrates Centennial With Special Collection
It was 100 years ago that George S. Bailey opened his hat company in Los Angeles, a boom town whose economy was being driven by the discovery of oil as well as the rise of the movie industry.
In 1923, the motion picture industry accounted for about one-fifth of the annual manufacturing business in California — the majority of it being in Los Angeles — and the George S. Bailey Hat Company dressed the era’s biggest movie stars, including Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant and Gary Cooper.
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Over the years, Bailey offered a variety of models in felt and cloth and in 1951, Earl Young, a factory supervisor, pioneered the idea of inserting wire into the edge of the brim so the hats could be reshaped for each wearer. It was called the Bailey U-Rollit and served to revolutionize the Western hat market. And when Disneyland opened in 1955, Bailey made the “Mouseketeer” hats along with the official Davy Crockett caps.
Although Bailey is best known for its Western hats, the company, now owned by Bollman Hat Co. of Adamstown, Pennsylvania, offers a variety of models including fedoras, pork pies and trilbies.
In anticipation of its centennial, Bailey has rebranded into two businesses: the fashion/contemporary side has been renamed Bailey 1922, and the Western offering is now called simply Bailey.
To commemorate its 100th anniversary, the company has designed six limited-edition models that encompass both sides of the business. The models include two fur felt models, one with a cattleman’s crown and three-inch flat trim and the other with a moldable open crown and 3 1/4-inch hand-curled rim for $450; Panamas with either a 4 1/2-inch raised front teardrop crown and a curled brim, or a 4 1/2-inch twisted front dent crown and 3-inch flat brim for $400; an open weave Western straw hat with a leather band and faux silver buckle set for $400, and a beaver fur hat with a leather sweatband and white and gold foil silk lining and a sterling silver buckle for $1,000.
Each hat will come in a newly designed box and will include a Bailey branded pocketknife made from Damascus steel, along with a matching toothpick. The collection will be sold on the Bailey hats e-commerce site.
