BAILEY CELEBRATES 100 YEARS WITH LIMITED EDITION ANNIVERSARY HATS

This year iconic hat brand Bailey celebrates 100 years of hat-making. To honor this remarkable milestone, the company has designed and produced six hats, each of which epitomizes founder George S. Bailey’s original vision, “to make the best hat possible.’  Each hat will come with a specially designed hat box, a Bailey-branded pocket knife made from Damascus steel, and a matching Damascus steel toothpick.  The limited-edition hats are available now on baileyhats.com.

The George S. Bailey Hat Company first opened at 716 S. Los Angeles Street in Los Angeles, California, at the height of a local oil boom and a rapidly growing motion picture industry: Bailey Hat Company topped the era’s biggest movie stars from Humphrey Bogart to Cary Grant and Gary Cooper. When Disneyland opened its doors to the public in 1955, Bailey made the “Mouseketeer” hats that were sold on-site and throughout the country, as well as the official Disney Davey Crockett caps.

In 1927 Bailey acquired the Cohn-Asher Hat Company, expanding its felt hat line and later moving into Western cloth hats. In 1951, the Bailey”U-Rollit” was born, revolutionizing the Western hat with a rugged model that would hold up well under any conditions.

In preparation for its next 100 years, Bailey has completed a year-long rebranding process.

“Working on the rebrand of Bailey, a heritage brand with two very distinct audiences and values, meant balancing and connecting the spirit of the past, finding the connective tissue, and looking to the icons and codes of today that allow us to have global brand continuity and tell new stories,” says Paula Calvert, the brand’s global creative director. “This rebrand is not about recreating the old glory days, but about priming and positioning the brand for a new world, a new economy, a new social standard, a new audience, and a new way of dressing.  We believe we have done that.”

The fashion/contemporary side of the brand has been renamed Bailey 1922, adopting the new tagline “Bailey Chosen,” as well as a new logo emphasizing the contemporary quality of its products.  Special luxury anniversary products will be released later this year on baileyhats.com.

The Western side of the business will continue to refer to the brand as simply, Bailey. An etched horse logo designed by American artist Pecos McCool pays homage to the brand’s origins.  A new tagline, “Worn by Integrity,” captures the true nature of its audience and taps into its inner beliefs and cultural mantra.

Bailey has also launched its first Outdoor collection, merging previous Wind River products with a new cut-and-sew line, as well as a new knit group that offers the Bailey man headwear for today’s modern needs.  This is the first collection that will be offered in both the 1922 and Western divisions.  Fedoras have been designed for everyday use, to be worn with t-shirts and jeans, or to update a hoodie look.  Bailey products offer functional features and benefits such as water repellency, sun protection, hidden pockets, and other details.

Bailey and Bailey 1922 are both fully owned by the employee-owned Bollman Hat Company.  Established in 1868 in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, the Bollman Hat Company is the oldest hat maker in America and produces hundreds of thousands of American-made hats each year.