With a heritage going back over 200 years, we are proud to say that our craftsmen still create hats using the same skills as in 1799.
Patey hard shell hats are hand crafted in the traditional manner using a Goss body, enabling us to shape a hat to your exact requirements and measurements.
Goss is formed from linen coated with coodle, a shellac based paste, which is then left for 5 months to cure.
A wooden block is made to the shape of the hat required. The Goss is cut into strips and ironed by hand onto the block. For a riding cap it takes five hours to apply enough layers to build up the required thickness.
The body is then left for a week to dry and the block removed. At this stage the hat is ready for trimming and finishing.
The flexible nature of Goss, when heated in steam, allows the finished hat to to be moulded to fit your head shape.

To enable a hat to be shaped to the persons head, we need to take a pattern of the head. This is done using a machine call a Conformature. From the print we get, the Conform Block is set to the shape of the head. This is then put inside the hat and it is then steamed. After steaming the hat is cooled down. During this process the hat takes the shape of the head. Once cooled the hat is fitted to the head. Further adjusts can then be made during fitting, to relieve any pressure points on the head.