History of the Cowboy

From about 1870 until the late 1930s, one style of hat reigned supreme on the Mexican border—the Sugarloaf Sombrero—named for the crown’s resemblance to the way sugar is sometimes packaged in Mexcio (a sugarloaf is sold in small, hardened cones). The reason for the hat’s popularity had less to do with style than function. Hatmaker Dave Johnson, of D Bar J Hatmakers, claims the super-tall crowns “acted as a cooling tower. The shorter the crown, the hotter the head.” Obviously, in t