Nathaniel Funmaker makes custom hats the on the Square old-fashioned way, using equipment that is more than 100 years old.
“There is newer equipment, but I won’t have it. I don’t like that. I like what I like,” he said. “This was how it was originally done.”
Nathaniel's Custom Hats offers 12 different named styles, like cowboy hats, crossovers and fedoras. Mr. Funmaker also allows clients to customize the height of the crown as well as the width and curl of the brim. Sometimes, the measurements don’t resemble any of his standard styles and are entirely unique.
To measure a customer’s head, Mr. Funmaker places a 140-years-old oval conformateur onto their head. The conformateur looks like a metal top hat and measures the precise contours of the customer’s head using dozens of spring-loaded metal pins. Once the measurement is complete, the pattern of pins is recorded onto a paper head template.
He’s amassed thousands of these head templates over his 31 years of hatmaking. His wife, Kerrie Funmaker, has meticulously organized them in card boxes. She works the retail space at the front of the store and helps customers.
“I love to just be in the backroom building hats,” Mr. Funmaker said.
While there are hats for sale in the store, not all of them are made by him. His wait-list currently has over 300 orders. It has been this way for several years, he said.
“It is a year-long waiting list, so I mean, it scares us too. When somebody’s waiting, the hat better be good when they come pick it up.”
In his studio, Mr. Funmaker starts with a felt hat blank, which is made of compressed rabbit or beaver fur. He explained that felting is a process, not a material.
He places the hat blank onto a 100-year-old blocking machine that steams, stretches and molds the material over a wooden hat block. Then, it is placed in the vintage plater machine, which produces hot steam and sets the brim. Afterward, a crown iron is used to refine the shape and remove any wrinkles, followed by a hand iron, which he uses to shape the hat to fit the customer’s specific head shape. Four different types of sand paper are used to smooth the felt.
A leather sweat band is sewn into the inside of the hat with the customer’s name printed on it in gold. The last step is to steam it again, which softens the felt and allows him to precisely shape it into the perfect form.
“Most people that you meet now who say they're hat makers, what they do is they buy a open crown flat brim hat and they shape it. That’s cool too,” Mr. Funmaker said.
However, he said he believes that doing it the old fashioned way creates a longer-lasting quality product.
Mr. Funmaker’s hats aren’t cheap. They’re priced between $800 and $1,400. As the calligraphy sign in the store reads, “If you’re not a little impulsive, you’ll never own a good hat.”