When George Bollman started a hat company in Adamstown, Pennsylvania in 1868, there were dozens of small hat makers in Lancaster and Berks County Pennsylvania. Production began with men’s black hats in a rented building which was previously used as a distillery. During that first year, sixty people were employed and they produced an average of seven hundred and twenty hats daily. George may not have dreamed that his hat company would out-live his local competitors, let alone actually become America’s oldest hat maker.
Now, one hundred and forty five years and tens of thousands of employees later, Bollman Hat Company is known throughout the world for its industry leading quality and innovation as well as its collection of headwear’s top brands. These brands include Bailey®, Helen Kaminski®, Kangol®, Betmar®, Country Gentleman®, Ignite®, Pantropic®, Eddy Bros® and Plaza Suite®. Since its inception, Bollman has continually created private label designs for the world’s leading apparel brands, outdoor brands and retailers.
Bollman also operates a wool scouring plant in San Angelo, Texas. Showrooms in New York, London, Sydney Australia and Denver Colorado display Bollman’s brands collections. Bollman retails direct to consumers with retail stores in London, Tokyo and Sydney as well as on-line through hats.com, kangolstore.com and helenkaminski.com. Bollman has employees on four continents. During its history, Bollman had thirteen employees who exceeded fifty years of service. The company is employee-owned, establishing an employee stock ownership plan in 1985.
Bollman hats have covered many Hollywood actors from Humphrey Bogart to Fred Astaire and from Samuel L. Jackson to Nicole Kidman; musicians from Run DMC to Eminem and from Pete Townsend to Ne-Yo; athletes from Michael Jordan to Donovan McNabb and from Chi Chi Rodriguez to Jimmy Rollins.
Bollman has launched a heritage collection of women’s hats to commemorate its 145th anniversary. This collection features one hat for each decade from 1860 to present and joins a men’s heritage collection which was created five years ago. Each hat comes with a certificate of authenticity containing information on what was happening at Bollman and in American history as well as a description of the hat. Both the Bollman men’s and women’s collection are available for purchase today at www.bollman1868.com.
