Re-embracing the San Francisco Hat Company Rocking West collection, inspired by hats of historic Western tradition, redesigned and updated for contemporary lifestyle. 

Sally has been an avid fan of cowboy movies since childhood and taught a class on Western film at San Francisco State. She is particularly fascinated by the transition from the historic old West to early Western movies. 

Many of the cowboy stars of the silent era transitioned from open range to movies, celebrating and demonstrating their cowboy skills on the big screen. Not so William S Hart, older and long a successful theatrical actor, but no less authentic and respectful of Western tradition. Born in late 1864, Hart was in his 50s when silent films came into vogue. Yet he acted and directed and sought to instill an authentic representation of the historic west in his movies. Hart knew Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. His family lived for a while in Dakota Territory and he remembered seeing smoke signals in the sky announcing Custer's Last Stand in 1876. 

Here is a still from his 1915 film called both The Grudge and The Haters (not Hatters!) He is wearing a hat with well worn rolled brim like our Rustic style and his companion is wearing a four dent. 

The Grudge (1915)

"Produced by the New York Motion Picture Company and directed by lead actor William S. Hart, The Grudge is a two-reel Western infused with Hart's typical story elements of brutality and redemption. Having lived the frontier lifestyle, Hart detested the Western films of the time and was determined to create authentic stories and settings, right down to the costumes." [http://noblebandits.asu.edu/Plots/Grudge.html]