In 1919, Morris Shumiatcher bought Calgary Hat Works with a $300 bank loan, and Smithbilt Hats was born. Though the company ownership has changed hands many times since the company’s inception, the focus on quality materials and fine craftsmanship has never wavered. Today, Smithbilt has an international reputation for producing premium cowboy hats made by local craftsmen.
The company’s current owners, a civic-minded group of Calgary businessmen, uphold the time-honoured values of hat making. The manufacturing shop and store in the Ramsey neighbourhood is filled with traditional hat-making machinery, with some of its hat-making machines more than a century old. The shop produces more than 25,000 hats per year.
As the official hat supplier of the City of Calgary, Calgary Stampede and AMC’s Hell on Wheels, Smithbilt Hats is country cool. Established in 1919, when Calgarians were required by law to wear cowboy hats (only a slight exaggeration), Smithbilt builds some of the world’s finest chapeaus of many types including cowboy, fedora, porkpie, homburg and derby in various styles and materials.
Founded in 1919, Smithbilt is the city’s premier western hat maker. The shop produces the city’s signature white cowboy hats, which have been gifted to a lengthy list of celebrities and dignitaries over the years. It also makes the official white canvas hat of the Calgary Stampede.