How many hats are custom made?
Sometimes somebody will come in and they’ll find a hat that is perfect and ready to go. But 75 percent of the hats are custom made. It takes about a month for custom orders. Have you worked with a lot of celebrities? We’ve worked with tons of celebrities. It’s fine if stars are wearing your hats, but the ones that are great are the true hat guys. My favorite customer was [the late] John Lee Hooker, the great blues musician. Bernie Mac is a regular, now that he has moved back to Chicago. He loves hats, and we make a lot of hats for Bernie Mac. Andy Garcia is a collector of the Montecristi Panama hats, and we’ve made felt hats for him. Buddy Guy, the great blues guitarist, has tons of our hats and comes in a lot. To me, the cool guys are the ones where the hats become part of their lives, and they’re passionate about their hats. You’ve also made hats for some movies? The most fun was the “Road to Perdition,” with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. We made 82 hats for the movie. They really did a
