Recommended links to hat resources

(c) 2012-2016 Brenda Grantland updated 3/28/2016

On-line marketplaces for hats

Hatatorium Emporium: This is our own, brand new website marketplace for vintage hats, clothing and collectibles. If you're tired of wading through 10,000 to 60,000 listings to find high quality items, this is the place to shop.

eBay: On any given day on eBay you will find over 14,000 women's vintage hats, 3,000 vintage men's hats, over 80,000 new women's hats, and over 200,000 new men's hats (predominantly baseball caps).

Etsy: over 60,000 women's hats under the women's accessories/hats category, but only 200 men's hats under the men's/hats category. The vintage accessories/hat category showed about 20,000 listings.

ShopGoodwill.com: Goodwill Industries, the non-profit that operates thrift stores nationwide, has its own online store. You will need to perform a word search under clothing or manually search the listings categories under men's clothing or women's clothing.

Ruby Lane: generally speaking the prices are higher on Ruby Lane than on eBay and Etsy, but the hats are usually higher quality collectibles. Bargains can still be found there.

1st Dibs: a much smaller selection of vintage hats, but they are the cream of the crop. Often the dealer does not list prices and you must contact them to inquire.


Galleries of hat pictures

Slideshow: The Many Hats of Kate Middleton

A Certain Cinema: Not-So-Current Films and Filmmakers, The Milliner's Art - a photo gallery of film stars wearing gorgeous hats

The Hanson Collection - Dianna Hanson has an amazing hat collection, arranged by style, and decade, and the website includes other information highly useful to hat collectors.


Free reference resources on line

Hat Life - Established 1872, sponsor of the annual Hatty Awards. Extensive website with full color directory of head wear wholesalers, milliners, manufacturers, suppliers. Publishes a bi-weekly free eNewsletter on current hat news; website archives past editions. Every two years it publishes a Hat Life book. Hat Life 2012 is a 350 page full-color book providing "the very best and most up-to-date information available in the headwear industry." Download a Sample for free.

Collectors Weekly - has essays on hats of various eras, Top eBay auctions of selected collectible vintage hats, and show and tell where users can post pictures of hats and ask questions about them, which are answered by the general public.

Fashion Era, Hats & Hair - contains decade by decade description of styles of hats and hair styles, documented with vintage illustrations.

Vintage Fashion Guild Label Resource - Contains alphabetical listing of vintage fashion labels, including numerous hat labels.


Blogs about Hats

Hatatorium ebook co-author Mary Robak has the blog "Frou Frou 4 You You"

Norma Shephard, author of 1,000 Hats, has the blog "Mobile Millinery Museum and Costume Archive."

Brianna Dale writes the blog Baubles, Accoutrements and Garb on FB

Jan Wutkowski - Milliner, Wilmington, North Carolina

Pamela Hill Lappin has a blog called Madge's Hat Box

Lee Duncan writes the blog Hatstruck Couture.

Noted California milliner S. Montez Murphy has the blog the Millinery Guild, displaying original designs and an instructional blog with tutorials on hatmaking, Chapeau du Jour.