Bollman Industries Inc. Key Customer for the U.S. Wool Industry

By BECKY TALLEY
Sheep Industry News Associate Editor

(December 1, 2008)  Hats have been a popular wardrobe accessory for centuries, and for many in the agriculture world, hats have been a necessary part of everyday life because they shield the wearer from the sun, weather and wind. However, they are also a part of identity, with many a person proudly wearing a cowboy hat (or many other styles) to declare where they come from and what they stand for.

“Hats are fashionable and can update your wardrobe and spirits. They perform a functional as well as fashionable purpose,” says Don Rongione, president and chief executive officer of Bollman Hat Co., parent of Bollman Industries Inc.

He should know. Bollman’s products have been sitting atop people’s heads for 140 years, and it continues that tradition today, constructing many of its hats out of the finest material available – American wool.

Bollman and the Wool Industry
Bollman might be best known in the U.S. sheep industry as a commission scourer in San Angelo, Texas; however, its roots are in hat making.

Bollman buys around 300,000 pounds of greasy domestic wool every year to make its wool-felt products, and 75 percent of all wool used by the company in a year comes from American producers.

This domestic wool is mainly coming out of Rambouillet flocks in Texas that produce 21-micron wool or finer and are shorn twice a year, as the shorter length wool is better for felting.

“The Texas wool is fine and is superior (to imported wool) for our purposes,” says Rongione.

The 21-micron and finer wool is preferred as it goes through the finishing process better, creating a smoother hand that is less grainy, thus producing a better quality hat product.

To create the highest-quality wool-felt product it can, Bollman’s wool buyers are particular about the wool they buy, and producers who have the best wool are rewarded.

Gordon Glass, department head of carding and maintenance, says that wool with excessive vegetable matter, especially cockle-burrs, and any amount of polypropylene is not likely to make the cut. Another major issue, he points to is the use of paint on wool.

“We won’t buy it if it has paint on it,” Rongione adds.

In addition to buying wool for the hat trade, Bollman’s commission scouring mill also provides a valuable service to the U.S. wool industry.

The plant is the only one that scours wool for major woolen mills in the nation, including Pendleton, Woolrich and Crescent, says Glass, who oversees the plant.
Like many of the other domestic scouring companies, Bollman has seen its share of change. In addition to scouring, it once offered carbonizing services, but these were discontinued as the cost of maintaining equipment and waste processing made it unprofitable.

According to Rongione, he is doing his best to keep the scouring operation up and running, as it is important for the U.S. wool industry. Bollman is looking at options to pick up business and recently received a grant from the American Sheep and Goat Center to conduct U.S. wool scouring and blending trials.

As the only commission scour mill in the nation, Bollman is crucial to the issue military items, which require the use of U.S. produced wool and domestic processing under the Berry Amendment.

“Bollman has a long history of scouring in the United States, and they play a key role in helping the United States maintain its military business and compliance with the Berry Amendment by providing domestic scouring,” says Rita Kourlis Samuelson, American Sheep Industry Association’s wool marketing director. “We support them and look forward to working with them as the only commission scourer in the United States.”

Trends in the Hat Market
Sixty years ago, says Rongione, everyone wore hats, but as fashion trends and social attitudes have changed over the years, the industry has seen a lower demand.

“The most significant challenge is convincing people to put a hat on their heads,” Rongione relates.

Currently, Rongione says that the Bollman Hat Co. has seen a strong fashion trend in styles like fedoras and trilby hats, while the western styles and women’s hats have seen a decline. The trends in the hat business, however, are ever changing, hard to predict and subject to many influences, like the motion picture industry, for example.

When the movie Urban Cowboy came out, it created a rush on western style hats from 1979 to 1981.

“We were working 50 hours a week, and it wasn’t enough,” says Gary Craley, vice president of manufacturing.

The trend ended just as fast as it started. According to Craley, in October of 1981, they were working overtime to produce hats for the demand and just a few months later they were laying off a shift because the demand had stopped.

“It is extremely difficult to see when the trends are going to start and when they are going to stop,” Rongione says.

In addition, another challenge for Bollman is the rising costs of production and the competition from foreign products.

Rising production costs, caused by everything from higher fuel prices to higher material costs, are taking a toll because the cost has to be passed onto the customer. Retailers can especially be touchy in price matters, because if the cost of a hat is too high, they will buy from a cheaper source, such as Chinese manufacturers, or buy another accessory item to take its place.

The Chinese competition is also an issue, because overseas manufacturers
do not have to adhere to the strict environmental and labor laws that U.S. companies must, at a significant cost, allowing foreign companies to sell their products much cheaper. This has significantly changed the hat making industry in the United States.

In fact, Bollman is one of only a handful of domestic hat producers left in the United States and is only producing a third of what it did just six years ago.

“Competing with Chinese producers creates an extremely unlevel playing field. It’s a triple black diamond ski slope, really,” Rongione relates.

To combat these issues, Bollman Hats have gone to international production of some of their products. Rongione says that the move was not by choice but rather a necessity to stay in business, which is of utmost importance as the company is employee owned.

“Our preference would be to produce 100-percent domestic,” he says.

In addition, Bollman has diversified, acquired and created a number of different brands that are well known in the top-end retail markets.

“We think we have the best collection of brands in the hat industry and world,” he says.

The Bailey brand of western style hats, is probably one of the better known brands in the sheep industry, and is owned by Bollman. Other brands include Betmar, Kangol, Country Gentleman, Pantropic and Helen Kaminski to name a few. The styles of these brands range from wool-felt hats to knit caps and everything in between.

With its brand profile and wide variety of hat products, Rongione is hoping to see more domestic production of hats and a continued rise in the popularity of hats with the younger generations.

“We are trying to reach out with more fashionable styles and capture hat enthusiasts at a young age. If we can reach out and grab that audience then we can keep going,” he says.

And of course, this is a goal that the sheep industry can rally behind, because more hat production means more wool bought from American producers – a group that Rongione enjoys working with and offers this sage advice:
“Keep producing good wool and buy hats.”

 Are you a hat aficionado?
Check out www.bollman140.com, to see a special anniversary collection of hats that Bollman Hat Co. has produced. This collection includes one hat style for every decade of the 140 years Bollman has been in business!