The Hatco Outlet Store in Garland will quickly become your favorite hat store. Even though they mainly sell Resistol, Stetson, and Charlie 1 Horse brand hats made at the factory next door, the variety is amazing at significantly reduced prices.
The factory churns out more than a million hats a year, with about 60% falling in the ranch and rodeo family headwear category. Most are sold for protection from the elements rather than as a fashion statement. Rows of straw hats stacked like oversize Pringles potato chips and stiff felt cowboy hats fill the racks, but there is also a selection of fedoras, homburgs, derbies, and porkpies in a rainbow of colors. Staff members can steam-shape your new bonnet. One corner is dedicated to accessories, but most of the shop is filled with head coverings.
Resistol began in 1927 in Dallas making fedoras favored by the Hollywood elite. Business took off in 1938, when they added Western headgear. President Lyndon Johnson was a big fan, as are the Texas Department of Public Safety troopers.
The Stetson has a history that stretches back to 1865 in Philadelphia. The factory closed in the Seventies, until Hatco bought the brand and re-established making the real deal in Garland.
The Hatco Outlet Store is on the west side of downtown Garland at 721 Marion Dr. The company offers factory tours at 9:30am and 2pm Tuesdays and Thursdays. For info, call 800/288-6579.
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This article appears in January 27 • 2017.
