Craft with Future

Stetson Europe. Craft with Future

Where on earth is Hartha? It is located in the heart of Saxony. This is where Stetson manufactures peaked caps made of cashmere, Loden, linen, silk, leather, or pure new wool. Text: Kay Alexander Plonka. Photos: Stetson

How did Stetson, a US brand founded in 1865, end up in Saxony? The answer is really quite simple. Friedrich W. Schneider GmbH, the Cologne-based European licensee of the brand, found extremely rare resources in the region: crafts, skills, and especially craftsmen, who manage to manufacture approximately 35,000 caps per year by hand. Located in the triangle between Dresden, Leipzig, and Chemnitz, Friedrich W. Schneider GmbH has its own production plant in Hartha, which does not only manufacture so-called baker’s boy caps, but also fishermen hats and rain hats, fur chapkas, and deerstalker hats. The latter is better known as Sherlock Holmes’ iconic headgear. “Wherever possible, we prefer to invest in the quality of the product rather than in long transportation routes. We manufacture our knitted hats in Allgäu and the Upper Palatinate. The original cowboy hats come from the US, baseball caps from Asia, and straw hats from Panama. However, we also produce in the Czech Republic and Poland. The transport cost gap is closing, which means that producing in Europe, in favour of better quality and shorter delivery routes, makes a lot more sense than it did a few years ago”, says Klaus Kirschner, the managing director of the Stetson licensee.

Family Tradition The Hartha operation develops new models, produces patterns, and corrects errors made by subcontractors; it is also responsible for testing materials and quality control. In 1992, Anne-Kathrin Heinersdorff, the plant manager, and her husband relocated from Berlin to Hartha to found the hat factory. Her mother-in-law was incidentally a worker in a Berlin-based hat factory. In 1998, the factory was merged with Friedrich W. Schneider GmbH & Co. KG, the largest customer at the time. Over the next few years, the small company developed into a highly specialised manufactory with 25 employees. Today, the third generation of the family has entered the business. “Cap maker is no longer a training profession. Seamstresses and cutters come from the textile industry and learn how to specialise in cap making when they join us. With great attention to detail, skilled craftsmanship, and infinite care, we utilise the high-quality materials and leather to manufacture caps with excellent fits”, Heinersdorff explains.

Specialised and Flexible Hats with a retail price of less than 89 Euros are not produced in Hartha; it would not cover the costs. However, the Hartha plant is very flexible and is capable of implementing repeat orders, unique custom-made models, special sizes, and small batches swiftly. The premium line with elaborate details to commemorate the 150th anniversary and special editions - for the likes of Gasoline Alley in Munich, Burg & Schild in Berlin, and the collaboration with Red Wing Shoes - are but a few examples. Well, swift is a relative term. Making caps by hand requires immense patience. After the materials and lining are cut and sewn, the visor is placed and the seams are smoothed with an old ironing machine from the 1930s. The latter is a production step that is by no means self-evident today. The same applies to the subsequent blocking of the headwear, which is an immensely time, labour, and cost intensive procedure. The hats are moulded in

their exact size and fit by hand utilising hot steam and five-piece wooden moulds. In Asia, such production steps are fully automated, but not nearly as accurate. “This is an essential feature of a well-fitting cap of excellent quality”, Anne-Kathrin Heinerdorff says with pride.

www.stetson-europe.com

Managing director Klaus Kirschner is proud of the products manufactured in Germany, which include the hats to celebrate the brand’s 150th anniversary.