Wisconsin Life

>> It's the last thing you put on, but it's the first thing people see. >> Hats are sculptures that we just choose to wear, and that really signify personality. >> We're the Brass Rooster Hat Company. We are traditional hatters here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee hasn't had a hatter in over 15 years. I made my first hat when I was a junior in high school. My husband was always a hat guy. He had been wearing hats ever since he found his grandfather's. >> When a hat-lover marries a hat-maker, she makes the hat-lover into a hat-maker. And we open up this place. >> What we started seeing was in media, in film, in entertainment, in print, hats wear coming back in vogue. >> We saw the need, and we're stepping up, because people want them. We know the quality of what used to be made. That's what we're making right here. When you make something by hand it takes a little piece of you with it. It's got that extra bit of care that's given to it. If you want something that's extremely high-quality, it's always made by hand, because we're better than any machine will ever be. To me it's being able to continue something that was almost lost. It's like saving an endangered animal. >> Every piece of equipment we find is golden to us because the equipment has become so rare. Our line of hats is two-fold. We have our Stand-Out which is the more contemporary side. Our Look Shape are the hats in our line that are all taken from real traditional styling of men's hats. >> With every hat that I make it's a sense of pride. It's art that somebody gets to use every day. >> There's the term called cock of the walk. When men leave the hat store wearing their hat they've got a strut, they've got a movement about them. >> This country used to make great things and we can make great things again. This country was built by small companies that were husbands and wives, and brothers and friends that knew that they could make something that was fantastic. >> The most natural thing for our progression is to go from making custom hats to presenting and designing a line of hats that we are so proud of, of being American-made, of continuing a hat craft. >> Every cent that we've made, every hour that we've spent in here, we've put into this shop because we believe it's worthwhile, we believe it's something that we can pass on to our kids. And we believe it's a craft worth saving.