Every felt and straw hat we sell passes through the Blocking Room – one long bench of beech hat blocks, a steamer that has not been cold in years, and a wall of grosgrain ribbon spools. This page explains what happens there, because the difference between a blocked hat and a pressed one is the whole reason this shop exists.
Steam softens, the block decides
A felt hood arrives as a floppy cone. Steam relaxes the wool fibres until they are willing, and the beech block underneath decides what they become: this crown height, this taper, this line. The maker’s hands work the felt down over the form, smoothing as they go – no two hats take exactly the same number of passes.
Overnight rest, honest shape
A blocked crown rests on its form overnight while the fibres cool and commit. Rushing this step is how mass-market hats lose their shape in the first rain – the felt was never given time to agree. Ours rest, then get their brims cut, sewn and swept.
The band is stitched, never glued
Grosgrain ribbon – the ribbed weave you see across this whole site – is wrapped at the crown base, folded into a flat bow and stitched through. Glue fails in heat and marks the felt; stitches hold for decades and can be replaced when a customer wants a new color. The sweatband goes in the same way.
Brush, box, and the promise
Before boxing, every hat is brushed with the grain, sighted at arm’s length for symmetry, and fitted with its sizing tape. If your hat ever loses its line – crushed in an overhead bin, rained flat, sat on by a relative – send it back. Re-blocking what we made is part of the price you already paid.
