Old West hats, open and preshaped Crowns

Old West hats,
Open Crown Cowboy hats
Miller Hat’s Old West Cowboy hat collection includes a variety of styles and choices. The open crown hat affords a customer the ability to shape and mold his hat to his taste. Our 418 Townsend hat allows you to personalize and modify your hat to fit your needs. In the early decades of the 20th century it was common for hats to be sold with uncreased crowns. A cowboy spent hours personalizing his hat by adding creases to the crown and molding the brim.

Tombstone movie,
Open Crown Cowboy hats
Other cowboys chose to wear their hat with the open crown, as seen in many movies, including Tombstone.

Old West hats,
pre-shaped Crown Cowboy hats
For those customers not familiar with the shaping procedures, Miller Hats Old West hats collection includes a variety of pre-shaped hats.

We have done the work for you and have custom designed a line of hats made popular during the old west era. All hats are shaped by hand, by our hat experts. Your hat arrives at your door shaped and ready to wear. In the old west a cowboy prized his hat above all things, since it often cost him a month or two's wages. Miller Hats takes pride in providing customers with the finest quality hats.

Our Old West hats are made from some of the finest fur felt available. Most of our Old West hats are 8X and 10X quality.

Cowboy Hat Traditions
In the old west it was said the shape of the crown of your hat indicated your political views. If you wore a flat top crown you favored conservative (republican) law-and-order, or Monarchist views. If you wore a rounded crown you favored democracy (Liberal/Democrat), individual freedoms, etc. This of course is not practiced today. Choosing a hat is no longer a political statement.

Traditional cowboys never cleaned their Cowboy hats, other than a simple slap with their hand, or slap against their leg as they picked themselves up. A typical rinsing was something rain or snow provided,,,, and a hat got a shower when its owner did. An old west cowboy simply let his hat age gracefully with time. Today we provide simple steps you can take to extend the life of your hat, with proper hat care.

In the old west cowboys never tipped their hats to other men. A nod among men was a common greeting when not shaking hands, and tipping a hat was a courtesy given to ladies when outdoors.