News

I went to Rotman's Hat Shop on Spadina Avenue in Toronto to buy a new Biltmore Panama the other day -- something my great-grandfather might have done some ancient April eons ago -- and was delighted to find the door open and the venerable haberdasher behind it still lively, if not spry, after another hard winter in a hatless age.

But Mr. Rotman's stock of Biltmore Panamas was sadly diminished -- nothing but a pile of Bogie-style fedoras with over-dramatic snap brims lying on the floor. The classic porkpie I coveted had been unavailable, he said, ever since Guelph, Ont.-based Biltmore Hats Inc. went bankrupt.

So what's new? Another venerable Canadian manufacturer disappears. It's an old story now. But I scarcely had time to absorb it before Rotman told me that Biltmore was struggling back into business under the stewardship of an African-American entrepreneur from Kentucky, of all places. And the 2006 Biltmore catalogue he had obtained in advance of any new products showed the most stylish collection of high-quality men's hats I had ever seen.

As reconceived by self-confessed "hat buff" Eric Lynes, Biltmore still makes Canada's best hats, as it has since 1917. But in addition to bringing new capital to the ailing enterprise, the new owner has administered a shock dose of contemporary culture, based on an intriguing and largely accidental mélange of U.S. black, South American and Frank Sinatra influences.

The hat that epitomizes the new look is the opposite of the old-style fedoras piled on Rotman's floor. Like a porkpie, it has a "stingy brim" less than two inches in width, but with a less rounded form and a low, diamond-shaped crown. Rather than simply old-fashioned, it is brilliantly retro.

"It's just a fresher look -- a more youthful and urban look," Lynes says, adding that people go wild when they see it. "They say, 'Wow, this is something different.' But actually, it's just a couple of new styles and a few fresh tweaks."

The quest that eventually landed Lynes in Guelph began in the local culture of his native Kentucky. "Hats have never gone out of style in the black community," he says, "and then being from the Louisville area, with the Kentucky Derby, it's even more of a hat thing. Everybody has to have a hat on Derby day."

But it took three research trips to Ecuador, actual home of the fair-weather headwear that first gained popularity during construction of the Panama Canal, before Lynes found his vocation, hat-wise.

"The native Indians at the co-ops were weaving wider brim hats for the Europeans and Americans, but they were wearing smaller brims themselves," Lynes recalls. In local museums, he saw the same style going back generations. Inspired, he decided to bring it north, forming the Stingy Brim Hat Company and casting around for manufacturers to make hats to the new design.

Stateside hat makers told him that only Biltmore could achieve the quality he wanted, according to Lynes, so he travelled farther north. But by the time his new Stingy Brim Panamas were ready for production in Guelph, Biltmore was bankrupt.

About a year later, after another bidder failed to close a deal to buy it, the southern upstart became president of one of the longest-established, high-quality hat companies on the continent. This week, he was in Toronto selling Stetsons to police officers -- but predicting huge things for the new stingy-brim style that has recently inflected Biltmore's line.

"It's happening -- the excitement over hats," he insists. "It's just a matter of breaking the trend and being able to set a new trend. . . . You've just got to put a hat on -- the right hat -- and wear it with confidence."

If only the right hat were available now. Lynes says they'll be shipped to stores by Derby day (next Saturday), so get your name on the waiting list now. For the best selection of styles and sizes, try the factory outlet on Morris Street in Guelph.

To find a Biltmore retailer neat you, call 1-800-265-8382 or visit http://www.biltmorehats.com.