Stampede Hat Collection Online Store browse and buy ...
Welcome to Vertigo Hats' complete hat collection. Vertigo Hats offers the finest and widest selection of high quality hats and caps from the world's leading headwear manufacturers as well as our own hats. We specialize in unique shaped, painted and decorated cowboy hats and cowgirl hats. We are located in downtown Austin.
Because we care what you look like in your hat, and because it may not be available for us to spend time with you in the store trying on hats finding the right fit and type or style for your noggin, here is a suggestion. Email a photo of yourself, face front and profile, along with your head measurement, (not just hat size which varies from each hat maker) to vertigohats@att.net
Let us know what you like or prefer and we will help select the right hat! Many of you think you are just not a hat person but you like hats. Why else would you be looking at our site? The truth is you should be able to wear at least three different types of hat. Once we establish your hat types, you should stick to those throughout your lifetime. You know as well as we do the wrong hat will ALWAYS make you look goofy or plain stupid. We do not idolize the hat. We believe it serves a purpose as a garment and should look and fit right.
If known, please include your ethnic descent. Your cranium is much like your ancestors. Over the years, we have developed knowledge of types of noggins by the region from which your people came. An example would be German descent, the head tends to be angular and tall, on some men up to four inches above the ear which can cause you to “top out” in the crown of some hats (Hit your head on the top). You may have French ancestry who often have a slight protrusion about an inch over your brow line. This can add an eighth of a inch to what you think is your size which can lead to a slightly too tight fit. Our Oriental friends have more rounded heads all around and cannot wear a European long oval hat, which many hats are. If your ancestry is Welsh or Polish, well we need to talk! You get the point. We have not had experience with all head types but we continue to learn more.
It is not easy buying a hat on the Internet. Confidence in the fit is low which we do not want interfering with our work. We want you to want to wear your hat, not think “I paid sixty bucks for that (blank, blank) hat and it never fit right.” If you do not look good, then we look like the idiots that sold you the wrong hat!
You'll find a Texas size collection of hat styles, hat colors, and hat accessories, in our online hat store and photo galleries.
No order is too big or too small for us. We ship anywhere in the USA and Worldwide.
We have been in business 30 years and carry the widest selection of hats in Texas! Our brands include Kangol, Dorfman-Pacific, Shady Brady, Scala, New York Hat, Beaver Brand, Broner, Goorin, Physician Endorsed, Indiana Jones.
Some folks just look good in hats! It has to be the RIGHT hat! Our hats just make you look good. If you don't look good, we don't look good. If you are looking for something special, let us know.
The Wrangler is the same hat wranglers in Texas have been wearing for 80 years to bring in the cows! We steam and shape them into what we call the “Drifter” shape. With the crown standing it is very “rodeo” and formal, we reduce the height of the crown by installing a “mule kick” and change the look to a “Drifter” or “Outlaw”. The customer can order the wrangler shape with or without the mule kick. For the cowboy or girl shorter in stature we often recommend the mule kick.
We use the Wrangler as a blank to accommodate our many exclusive finishes. The possibilities are unlimited. We can tattoo company or band logos, school mascots, etc. Just supply the digital artwork in tiff or jpeg format.
The Hank is the same cowboy hat shape worn by our 36th president LBJ. After we are through with it we believe it to be more in the style of Hank Williams. More “honky tonk” and the favorite among Austin musicians especially with dirt added, (see below).
You will notice both cowboy hats are very stiff when new. The protective laminate makes them rain proof. The small dip over the cowboy’s eyebrow line is actually a rain gully preventing the rain from cascading down in sheets encumbering vision. This protective coating will break down with wear and handling. The hat becomes soft, this is when the romance between hat and the cowboy really begins and they are NEVER seen without their hat. Some Texans only take them off to sleep and ALL Texans are very protective about their cowboy hats. Note Lyle Lovett’s lyrics, “You can take my girl, but don’t touch my HAT”!
To speed up this romance Vertigo Hats has aged the Hank and Wrangler by applying a secret mixture of Texas dirt and charcoal from the barbecue pit, using only charcoal burned to char beef of course! Only we know the “secret ingredient” but we will say it stabilizes the dirt and prevents a muddy mess! We then reseal the hat and offer them as our “Dirt Hank or Dirt Wrangler”.
Now a little information about the shapes we have developed. First, I want to let you know the sides are turned up for a reason. If you find yourself in an actual stampede, perhaps in a blinding rainstorm, and it’s your responsibility not to lose one head of cattle, the last thing you want to have to concern yourself with is losing your hat! The taco or crescent shape to the sides is actually an aerodynamic feature. If you are headlong into the wind the air travels along the sides whereby pushing the hat down on the head and not off in the wind! The leather or rope features in some cowboy hats are “stampede strings” to keep the hat on your back if you do lose it from your head. You may not ever be in a stampede situation (except maybe at the mall) and we recommend this feature on cowboy hats worn in boats or convertible cars.
The back of the brim can be styled many different ways, in times past the shape of the cowboy hat would signify what region of the country you were from. We devised the “Rockabilly Rake”. It looks really cool and prevents the sun from beating down on the wearer’s neck. “Redneck” is not just an attitude; it is a pre cancerous condition. 95% of most basal cell skin melanoma starts on the nose, top of the ear and back of the neck. All remedied by wearing our hat! Finally, the ultimate turn down allows the wearer to wear their hat when driving their pickup truck! If this feature is not in place you can hit your hat on the back windshield and tip your cowboy hat over your line of vision causing havoc on the freeway!
Your visit is appreciated. Please bookmark our site and stop by regularly.
To order or for additional information:
Vertigo Hats
115 E. 6th St.,Suite T
Austin, Texas 78701
(512) 476-1203
Fax: (801) 760-2271
Email: info@vertigohatsaustin.com
Open 7 days a week
Store Hours (Monday - Thursday): 11:30am to 6:00pm
Store Hours (Friday - Saturday): 11:30am to 7:00pm
Store Hours (Sunday): 1:00pm to 6:00pm