CULTURED COWBOY PRESENTS

Shady Brady Hats - Story

  Let me tell ya...
John Brady started Shady Brady Hat Company back in the days of Hippies and "Flower Power". I ran into him at a trade show and was curious about his hats.  John was a beach kinda guy. Laid back most times with just enough paranoia to keep him attentive & sharp! He had a retail thing in California and began to make his own hats. His forte has always been something with a laid-back look and still hold up in the weather.

This was accomplished with a very special straw, I later found comes from Ecuador, and lots of a special lacquer applied in many multiple layers to get just the right blend of comfy on your head and holding up the look. 

He began with adding simple twisted and braided hatbands on hat bodies made for him. When California celebrities would visit the beaches, they fell in love with the look and comfort. Soon, celebrities were photographed by paparazzi while wearing these hats. Zoom, there it is! They took off! (Shady Brady Hats took off. The celebs were allready celebs!) 

One day at a Denver trade show, John and I shared a showroom together. I was manufacturing fringed leather accessories and trying to market them across the world. Last day of the show, John had had several stores come in and buy all along. I had had several major buyers looking. Last day, last couple hours, Here came all these orders for my products. I was writing as fast as I could. John's eyes got bigger and bigger. John said , "That's the way it goes , man. All of a sudden it just hits & takes off!"

John and I developed a small bond over the years. A mutual respect.  And now that Mr Brady is no longer with us, and his hats have been off the market for lots of years. I wanted to resurrect some of them, as "look alikes", in his honor. But I can't put his label in 'em. That just wouldn't be right to do. ( I'm workin on another "Cool Name" and ya'll can email me some suggestions if ya'll like to.)

I have found the RCA type bodies and we layer multiple coats of hand applied hat lacquers, and board lacquers too, to these bodies. The styles we have are the open woven crowns of the Raffia style, original Shady Brady hats. As time and $$$ allows, I'll expand the line and keep you informed.  I did think I should leave pics of each of his "famous" styles for you to enjoy. You'll enjoy the hats too. (These prices of discontinued styles were effective as of early 1990's. Thot ya might enjoy seeing how much thing change & how much they stay the same!)  

Our "revived hats" have a Comfort Sweat inner lining. They breathe. They hold shape, unlike the "shapeless after it rains" types you see in so many tourist shops. I hope that everytime you wear your hat, you'll imaging my friend John Brady, on the beaches, surfboard in sand. Maybe a drink in hand. You can sort of become your own Jimmy Buffet, as you relax, and dream of the good old days and even better days to come. Take in a deep breath and a deep prayer, knowing dreams do come true. (As long as you work like crazy while yer dreamin!)   

God Bless Ya,   ChuckyT

In this section, I wanted to let you see what was available from Shady Brady's last catalog. Enjoy the nostalgia !

 And now,  The Very Similar hats we have available to customize for you! 

     We start with that hat body which is hand woven by experienced artisans, then goes to Mexico, and a comfort head liner is installed. The basic shape is formed. They apply enough hat body sizing to ship them to Cultured Cowboy. We receive them in Greenwood SC, USA, and begin adding over 10 coats of hat lacquers. We trim any "crazy" sticking out Raffia parts that might be troublesome, then apply more coats.  These hats come to us SM, MED, LG, XL.  However, at this stage we can more accurately define the sizing. For example, for a recent customer, we just finished resizing the XL, which is normally 71/2-7 5/8 into a 7 3/4. (Steam, Time, & Skills)   

Now, we begin adding multiple coats of high quality home "deck lacquers". ALL This is necessary to hold that "body" you like so much! All this keeps your hat from falling all over the place, like similar looking $30.00 hats happen whenever they get damp.

After adjustments with steam, and hand finishing, we begin making the bands. After trying to find precut leathers, we just began to hand cut our own laces from sides of leather. This gives a unique property for each band, making your hat pretty much one of its kind, with a handmade look rather than something machined. We've found the extra steps involved are well worth the completion of your "Shady" look! 

If there is a stampede string, we use enamel covered brass eyelets for the strands to pass through the brim. This prevents immediate tearing out of the raffia, where the chin strap comes through your brim. And, it allows the stampede string to get off you ears better.    You'll see our unique "crossover" adjustment, of leather, which holds your adjustment as you need it.  As you see below, when not in use, just pass the tails over the rear brim of your hat. It maintains the "look" and gets out of your way when you prefer such.      Hand-finished in USA from natural straw fibers & quality leathers.

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