International Hat Company, formerly named the International Harvest Hat Company, was a St. Louis, Missouri, manufacturer of commercial hats and military helmets. The company was one of the largest hat manufacturers in the United States and, at one time, the largest manufacturer of harvest hats in the world. It is best remembered for its design and mass production of tropical shaped, pressed fiber military sun helmets for service members of the United States Army, Marines, and Navy during and after World War II. Additionally, the American owned company was a major producer of harvest hats, straw hats, fiber sun hats, enameled dress hats, baseball caps, and earmuffs throughout most of the 20th century. However, it is the International Hat military sun helmets that have become the most notable collector's items.
Established in 1917 as a private corporation, the company began with a single product line of harvest straw hats. By the late 1930s, the company had expanded into fiber pressed sun hats and leather harvest hats. During World War II, International Hat developed and produced several models of military sun helmets, including a model with rudimentary ventilation. After the war, the company became interested in plastic molding injection, moving increasingly away from pressed fiber. In the 1950s, General Fibre Company, a subsidiary of International Hat, changed its name to General Moulding Company to reflect these production changes in basic materials. By the 1960s, International Hat was mostly producing baseball caps, straw hats, earmuffs, plastic helmets, and plastic sun hats. During this era of expansion, the company had a proclivity for building its factories in small rural cities, often becoming the largest employer and economic backbone of those communities. On several occasions, International Hat donated land or facility equipment for the creation of municipal parks located adjacent to one of its factories, namely for the purpose of benefiting employees, their families, and the local community.
After sixty-one years of business, the company was sold in 1978 to Interco, Inc., where it continued operating as a subsidiary. In 1988, Interco was the target of a hostile takeover bid. Consequently, International Hat was divested the following year to Paramount Cap Company, as part of a debt restructuring plan instituted by the parent company. However, Interco subsequently went bankrupt in 1991, after selling 16 of its 20 subsidiaries. Although International Hat was liquidated, several of its original factories are still in operation by other hat companies in Southeastern Missouri. Additionally, one of International Hat's warehouses in the historic district of Soulard, Missouri has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.National Register of Historical Places (2016) Brown Shoe Company's Homes-Take Factory United States Federal Park Services. Retrieved March 15, 2016 International Hat operated the historical building from 1954 to 1976. It is presently used as a senior and disabled living facility.
History
First location and early company history
The company was founded by Isaac Apple on August 17, 1917, as International Harvest Hat Company. The prominent St. Louis families of Apple and Tilles incorporated International Harvest Hat during the turbulence of World War I. The Apple family had previously founded the Apple Hat Company, which was based in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Among the co-founders of International Harvest Hat was George Tilles, Sr., whose sister Hannah, was married to Isaac Apple. However, the elderly Tilles left operational management of the company to his brother-in-law Isaac Apple. The other original minority shareholders at the time of incorporation included Alexander E. Rosenthal, Harry J. Talbot, and John C. Talbot. Rosenthal, who had previously been at the Apple Hat Company, was appointed as the first general manager of International Harvest Hat. However, in 1918, he was arrested in Galveston, Texas on charges of embezzlement for the unauthorized sale of nineteen bales of harvest straw hats.
The original business model of the company was commercial hat production of harvest straw hats. On the micro-economic level, St. Louis had become a center of hat manufacturing during the Second Industrial Revolution. In 1900, 129 businesses in St. Louis were producing custom hats for women, with approximately 600 employees in the industry. Within the decade, St. Louis was the fifth largest producer of fur felt hats. International Harvest Hat proposed to do the same thing for straw harvest hats, by ramping up production capacity and challenging the manufacturing centers in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. The timing of market entry was favorable to the company's goals, as the organization was established at the peak decade of the commercial hat apparel market. In 1910, over 42 million hats were produced in the United States, an all-time record for domestic production.
On the macroeconomic level, the company was founded at a time of ascendance for the United States. In 1916, the United States economic output, for the first time in history, was greater than that of the British Empire, establishing the United States as the world's largest economic superpower. From World War I to the beginnings of the Great Depression, it was under these economic environmental conditions that the company originally produced a product line of harvest hats. Such hats of the period were a staple of farmers and field hands across the US. By the 1920s, St. Louis replaced New England as the world's dominant manufacturing center for harvest hats. International Harvest Hat was a major contributor to this regional shift in industrialization. By the early 1920s, the company had become the largest industrial producer of harvest hats in the world. In 1928, the company produced over 36,000 per day and approximately 9.4 million harvest hats per year.
With the rise of the automobile, fashions began to change by the 1930s. In 1931, the company expanded into men's straw dress hats to adopt to evolving fashion trends. In 1938, the company name was changed to International Hat Company to better reflect the growing diversity of its product lines. In 1940, the product lines were further expanded when International Hat began production of military sun helmets for the US military. The war effort led to a realignment of production geared towards military apparel.
With the death of Isaac Apple in 1935, his nephew George Tilles, Jr., was promoted to president of the company. Tilles served as president until his retirement in 1956 and as chairman of the board until his death in 1958. Through the depression of the 1930s, Tilles managed the expansion of the company's facilities from a modest 5,000 square foot factory to a modernized 150,000 square foot factory. Under Tilles, International Hat saw increasing growth during World War II. By 1942, the company's operations had grown to include its main factory facility, several warehouses, two buying offices in Mexico, and a sales office in New York City. The company was also importing goods from a dozen countries.
New markets and expansion
Following World War II, the International Hat Company entered an expansionist period with new markets, facilities, product lines, and basic materials. Frank Pellegrino served as vice president under George Tilles, Jr., becoming president of International Hat from 1956 until 1971 and chairman until his death in 1975. Tilles placed Pellegrino in charge of opening a second factory. In 1946, a new facility was constructed and operational in Oran, Missouri, becoming the largest employer in the city.
Pellegrino managed International Hat into a company of over 1,500 employees with six domestic factories. During the 1950s and 1960s, International Hat expanded from its factory in St. Louis to include five other factories located in Southeast Missouri. A number of these locations became one factory towns. Additionally, a sixth plant was opened in Texas. Reflecting this period of expansion into foreign markets, the company headquarters was also moved from St. Louis to New York City. During this era, the company continued producing military helmets and straw hats. However, the company expanded its products lines into plastic hats and helmets, as an early entrant into this new consumer market. As press fiber waned, plastic allowed for more automated production and lighter materials, without the ventilation issues of pressed fiber trapping heat. Throughout the 1960s, the company began shifting into the baseball cap market. In 1967, International Hat began its first consumer focused advertising campaign, to expand its reach in the retail sector, with advertising agency Stemmler, Bartram, Fisher & Payne. In the 1970s, the company expanded into the winter apparel market, selling earmuffs manufactured by VIP Industries.
Under Pellegrino, this would later prove as the height of the expansion of the company in terms of size, productivity, and financial success.
Sale, decline, and liquidation Jean S. Goodson became president of International Hat in 1971, following Pellegrino's retirement. That same year Pellegrino was elected chairman of the board, which he retained until his death in 1975. Goodson began cutting down on the company's imports from the New York office and limiting the production of dress hats to focus on other product lines. Unsatisfied with his performance, the board of directors requested Frank G. Pellegrino, Sr., minority shareholder and son of Frank P. Pellegrino, represent International Hat in pursuing the sale of the company. At that time, Pellegrino was president of General Moulding Company, a subsidiary of International Hat, in the production of plastic molds for the parent company's hats and helmets. In 1977, Pellegrino initiated the sale of the company to Interco, Incorporated, a conglomerate of furniture, apparel, and shoe companies (now known as Furniture Brands International). On March 31, 1978, a special meeting of the stockholders was held to consider the terms by which Interco offered International Hat. The stockholders accepted the deal and International Hat was officially sold to Interco by the end of the day. The original shareholders were bought out and Jean Goodson continued on as a member of the Interco board of directors from 1978 until his retirement in 1985. The company was purchased for 166,667 shares of Interco common stock.
As a subsidiary, International Hat continued operation until June 14, 1989. The domestic hat apparel market had undergone a steady increase in global competition since the 1970s during a time of record sales of hats in the US. The company was pressured by changing market conditions, particularly the US loss of market share from cheaper imports coming in from Brazil, Spain, Taiwan, and China. In 1984, China alone exported 2.98 million dozens of hats to the United States. By 1989, 6.5 million dozens of hats were being imported from China, representing 31 percent of the total market share of the hat apparel industry. Demand for hats actually increased during this period, whereas the US market share of hats decreased from 27.1 percent to 22.2 percent from 1984 to 1989.