CALF_News_June_July_2021

22 CALF News • June | July 2021 • www.calfnews.net Greeley Hat Works Hatmaker for Cowboys, Ranchers and Other Stars While some who wear Greeley Hat Works hats are on Hollywood’s A List or are major world leaders, it’s workin’ folks who made the shop renown. By Burt Rutherford Contributing Editor E ver heard someone mention how good Kevin Cost- ner looks in a cowboy hat? He should. The star of the cable TV show Yellowstone wears one of the best custom-made hats money can buy.While Costner is one of a remarkable list of notable people who wear hats from Greeley Hat Works, those folks are the ice cream on top of a Dutch-oven cobbler, according to Trent Johnson, the fourth hat- maker to own the venerable hat shop in downtown Greeley, Colo. “That feedlot cowboy, cattlemen and women, horse people, that’s my bread and butter,” he says. It’ll last longer, clean up better and hold its shape better, John- son explained. But the cowboy resisted, saying he was really hard on hats. “So my analogy for his was, ‘You ride a horse every day, right?’” Darn right, the cowboy responded. “So you probably have a cheap saddle and cheap boots and cheap spurs.” Of course he didn’t. Being horseback was how he made his living. “So I say, ‘Why would it be different with a hat?’” How It Came to Be There’s a saying that if you do what you love, the money will come. Johnson can relate to that because he loves building hats. In fact, he’s always had a thing for hats, even as a child. “So I’ve never really been normal when it comes to hats. I often joke that I didn’t choose the hat life. It chose me.” Greeley Hat Works was founded in 1909 as Greeley Hat and Shine Parlor. Ben Martinez, a young man working there as a shoeshine boy, bought the business in the mid-‘20s and remained involved for much of the rest of his life. In the early 1980s, Susie Orr bought the business and moved it to the ranch she and her husband, Ed, ran in north- east Colorado. That’s where Johnson got the opportunity to discover his mission in life – building hats. He grew up in Pueblo, Colo., the son of a schoolteacher and stay-at-home mom. He enrolled in the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley with the idea of studying business. But college gives you the opportunity to reinvent yourself, he says. While he didn’t grow up country, he started hanging Greeley Hat Works makes hats for the workin’ man and woman who spend their days and often nights with cattle and horses. But the custom hat shop also makes hats for an A List of celebrities, musicians, athletes and world political leaders, including former President George W. Bush. Trent Johnson sews a hat band into a hat destined for the set of Yellowstone , a cable television series starring Kevin Costner. Greeley Hat Works offers both custom-made hats and handmade hats off the shelf. Pick your color, size and type of felt, and the pros will shape it to your exact liking. “We had a cowboy come in the other day,” he remembers. “This guy had been saving up for two years for a Greeley Hat Works hat. And to me, that’s the honor, that’s my clientele. Those are my people.” For the boots-in-the-stirrups crowd, a hat is more than something to adorn your head, Johnson says. It’s a tool. “He had the money for a very good hat. Then I started to explain to him the difference between what he was buying and a pure beaver.” The advantage of having more beaver in the hat is it makes it thinner, lighter weight, more weather resistant, more durable.