In 1865 in Colorado, USA, John Batterson Stetson developed a wide-brimmed, high crown, lightweight beaver felt Cowboy Hat. The hat, which he named the ‘Boss of the Plains’, soon became every cowboy’s first choice. Stetson set up a factory in Philadelphia, producing all kinds of men’s hats. At its peak, in the early 20th century, the company was producing 3 million Fedoras, Bowlers, Homburgs, Panamas and cavalry hats per year. However, it struggled during the 1950s and 1960s downturn in hat wearing and eventually, in 1970, production stopped. Nowadays, Stetson Cowboy hats are made in the US by Hatco, which also acquired former competitor Resistol and several other brands. In Europe, the Stetson name survives in a range of straw hats, caps and Trilbys. Meanwhile, for thousands of consumers all over the world, the name ‘Stetson’ simply means any Cowboy Hat.