What Do You Mean It All Started As A Joke ?

The first known felt hats were narrow-brimmed affairs worn by ancient Greeks and their gods. J.B. Stetson fashioned the prototype of the cowboy hat to entertain his hunting companions back in the 1860s. By then, wide brims and tall crowns were already the signature look of cattlemen and horsemen from Texas to California. Spanish vaqueros wore sombreros with massive brims and crowns long before Stetson came along. ”Sombrero” is derived from the Spanish word for “shade” or “shadow;” a felt or straw sombrero protected its wearer from a relentless sun. The wide-brimmed and high-crowned hat Stetson fashioned out of fur felt was meant to be a joke, but ol’ J.B. laughed all the way to the bank. His influence was such that any large-brimmed hat smaller than a sombrero was called a Stetson for the next 40 years or more, and it is still the most famous name among hat brands.

Dang, this is a fascinating video.

https://youtu.be/gv2c1n7cxcU

Some more hat history:

If this link below isn’t live, you should be able to copy and paste it into your favorite browser.

http://www.cowboyhatinfo.org/

Below is the jest of that link.