Cowboy Culture hats High-End Hatter Custom hat maker Butch Dorer has been called egocentric, an industry rebel and a recluse. He’s also been called the best cowboy hat maker in America.
Story and Photography by Darrell Dodds
atching Butch Dorer shape one of For more than a quarter century, Butch Dorer has been his pure beaver cowboy hats must be a bit focused on—some would say obsessed with—making the like it was watching Michelangelo apply the finest pure beaver hat that money can buy. His first attempts at Wlast dabs of paint to the Sistine Chapel. After resurrecting the long lost art were, by his own admission, rather years of research, hard work and trial-and-error experimen- crude. Today, his crowning achievement is The Silver Beaver, a tation, the New Mexico hat maker approaches the final stages limited-edition, special-order hat that fetches a premium price of his craft by slowly manipulating the steam-warmed felt of $10,000. Diamond-inlaid platinum buckle sets, use of the with deft fingers that move with a memory of their own. rarest furs and a custom-made hatbox can double that.
Using time-honored techniques of the master hatter’s trade, Butch Once the headquarters of the Gould Ranch, this two-room log cabin, built in 1919, is Mecca for cowboys and movie stars in Dorer continues to strive for perfec- search of the finest pure beaver hats. tion in his New Mexico hat shop.
156 WESTERN HORSEMAN | November 2008 November 2008 | WESTERN HORSEMAN 157 For Butch and Phoebe Dorer, family has always come first. “Being able to keep the family here on the ranch and working together is our greatest achievement,” says Butch. From left: Travis Dalzell, Shama (Dorer) Dalzell, and Sandon, Shera, Phoebe, Butch and Shaaf Dorer.
This is astonishing when you consider “I learned a long time ago that it’s easier cleaning hats for pocket change, but I that his first pure beaver hat sold for and more profitable satisfying people who never had a clue that someday I’d be in $100. want the very best than marketing to the the trade.” Today, Dorer’s client list includes masses,” says Dorer. “It doesn’t matter When he was in his early 20s, Butch ranchers, horse trainers, day-wage cow- whether you’re making saddles, boots, met his future wife, Phoebe, and kids boys, bankers and movie stars. A short list hats or selling horses, people who want and careers took center stage. of luminaries that sport Dorer-made hats the best demand quality, and you’ll either “When we got married, we knew two includes Wilford Brimley, Larry Hagman, rise to the occasion or you won’t. things,” says Dorer. “First, we wanted to Tommy Lee Jones, Christi Brinkley, J.D. “Early on, we chose to pursue the high- have a family, and second, we wanted to Yates, Cookie Banuelos, Dr. Glen Blodgett end customer, and we’ve never looked work for ourselves. But since neither of and Clinton Anderson. back.”. us really had a career path in mind, we While Dorer is proud that his hats have weren’t sure how we were going to make attained almost cult status with people Humble Beginnings a living.” who can afford them, he is equally proud As Butch tells it, his obsession with hats As often happens, a chance encounter of the fact that many of his hats are pur- began early. opened the door to opportunity. chased by working cowboys who might “I was born in Michigan, but my par- “I took a German Shepherd to a kennel have to save up for a year or more to own ents moved to Houston, Texas, when I was for obedience training,” says Dorer. “I’d one. On occasion, Butch has been known little,” he says. “I don’t remember when I always liked working with dogs, and after to take a horse or even a cow in trade to got my first cowboy hat, but I was prob- a couple weeks, the kennel’s owner offered help out a good customer. ably 4 or 5. I’m still not sure why, but I was me a job. I worked for him for a year or While he makes the Bar 50, a blend of fascinated with hats . . . perhaps it was all so, training guard dogs and dogs with beaver and Australian hare, to meet the the Western movies I watched. obedience issues. Eventually, Phoebe and Clockwise from top left: Butch’s first pure beaver hat has been retired but remains in a place of honor in the family’s living room. The Bar 50, a blend of beaver and Australian hare, is the only non-pure beaver hat Butch makes. The Silver Beaver, avail- needs of that customer, it is his pure beaver “We didn’t have horses, so I guess I decided to go on our own and began able by special order, is made from the rarest beaver belly fur. Custom three-piece buckle sets, made either from 24-karat gold hat that has become the gold standard of that was as close as I could get to being a raising and training dogs for the security or platinum, can be ordered with nine inlaid 3-point diamonds. The pure beaver hat of today bears little resemblance to the first the cowboy hat-making industry. cowboy. When I got a little older, I started business. beaver hats Butch made more than 25 years ago.
158 WESTERN HORSEMAN | November 2008 November 2008 | WESTERN HORSEMAN 159 Everyone in the shop can perform multiple jobs but each has Shaaf, the youngest of the Dorer family, smoothes the spin- a specialty. Here, Shama uses heat transfer to stamp the ning felt to a silken finish by applying light pressure from owner’s name on a sweatband with 23-karat gold foil. “pouncing” paper.
“Houston was growing like crazy at shared with her his interest in hats and They also had all the equipment neces- the time and had a reputation for having desire to learn the business, and one Sat- sary to make and finish their own hats. one of the highest crime rates per capita urday she called and said she was trying Although that equipment was ancient of any city in the country. At our peak, to sell the store to one of her employees by today’s hat-making standards, every- we were leasing out more than a hundred but the financing had fallen through, and thing worked and Butch and Phoebe took guard dogs to businesses who wanted she was looking for other options. a crash course not only in the manufac- security and individuals who wanted “Phoebe and I met with her over the turing process, but also sourcing quality protection. We had a reputation for weekend, and by Monday the business was hat-making materials. having dogs that were pretty aggres- ours,” says Dorer. “We paid her $100,000, sive, and eventually that caught up with but soon discovered we also owed that Learning the Trade us when one of our dogs bit a guy who much in outstanding debt. “Shortly after taking over the business, sued us and won.” “Initially, the owner was going to stay I knew we were going to have a tough It was about that time that Phoebe on and teach us the trade, but that didn’t time making it if we didn’t come up with became pregnant and the stress of living happen. All of a sudden, we had a business a unique product,” says Butch. “This was in the city became too much for the and little preparation to run it. Although during the Urban Cowboy movie craze, couple. They packed up and moved to it was a 120-mile round-trip to the store, and everyone had jumped on the cowboy the country. we made the trip six days a week, often costume bandwagon. I knew there wasn’t “Even though we were grossing about working 16-hour days until we turned going to be a future in chasing fads.” $30,000 a month—not bad for a young things around.” As his experience in the business grew, couple—we figured it was time to do Fortunately, Lone Star Hatters had a Butch became aware of how little people something else,” says Butch. “Exactly decent inventory, much of it purchased knew about hats—even the ones they what, we weren’t sure.” from a variety of manufacturers, and was were wearing. On weekends, it wouldn’t While running the guard dog business, in a good location with a steady stream be unusual to sell and shape several dozen Dorer became acquainted with a lady who of customers, both local and out-of- felt hats, and with the shaping came con- owned Lone Star Hatters in Austin. He’d towners. versation. People didn’t know one felt
160 WESTERN HORSEMAN | November 2008 Travis Dalzell is in charge of hat “rehabilitation.” Besides making Shera not only does most of the sewing and stitching of liners new hats, the shop restores several hundred hats per month. and sweatbands, she also manages the business Web site. from another, and the whole X-rating beaver fur was processed. Unfortunately, seen, so they looked good to me. They system used by manufacturers was so the process at that time involved “car- were kind of a taupe color, the natural subjective that it couldn’t be relied on roting,” or using a solution of “nitrate blending of gray and brown fur.” to determine quality. of mercury” to roughen the individual Excited to see how they would handle Butch decided he needed to educate hairs, which, in turn, increased the fur’s processing, Butch went to work on them his customers if he was going to be able matting ability. This solution and the immediately. He made one hat for his to sell them a better hat and justify the vapors it produced when heated were wife, one for himself and one to display price. highly toxic, causing the United States in the store, where it stayed until he got “People assumed that the higher Public Health Service to ban the use of a call from Wade Butler, the manager of percentage of beaver fur in a hat body, mercury in the felt industry in December Stelzig’s in Houston. At that time, Stelzig’s the better the hat was, so I decided to 1941. was the cornerstone of Houston’s high- order a pure beaver hat body to see the Once nitrate of mercury was banned, end Western tack and apparel market. difference for myself,” says Dorer. “The other compounds were used to accom- “Mr. Butler said a customer had told next time I ordered hat bodies, I asked plish the same goals, but in the mean- him about the hat in my store, and he our supplier if he could make us a pure time felt hats had fallen out of fashion asked me to show it to him the next time beaver hat body and was surprised when and the pure beaver felting industry had I was in Houston,” recalls Dorer. “Well, we he said, no, he couldn’t, because there fallen along with it. jumped in the car and headed to Houston, would be so much waste it wouldn’t be In spite of the challenges he knew he but when we got there it was pouring. We profitable.” faced, Butch ordered three pure beaver were drenched when we entered the store, Out of stubbornness, Butch contacted bodies and agreed to pay for the waste but I just shook the water off the beaver the Smithsonian Institution to request if necessary. hat and handed it to Wade. He couldn’t information about the pure beaver hat “It took awhile, but I eventually got believe how it shed water and asked his industry that thrived in the 18th and 19th three hat bodies,” says Dorer. “They hat manager to take a look. After exam- centuries. As it turned out, they had quite weren’t that pretty, but they were the first ining it carefully, he said he thought it a bit of documentation on how pure pure beaver cowboy hat bodies I’d ever was the finest hat he’d ever seen.
162 WESTERN HORSEMAN | November 2008 A Fundamental Shift “We soon realized that we needed to in the Midwest and Southeast. At the Along with that success came opportunity, be more restrictive and slowly began Quarter Horse Congress, for example, and in 1989, Butch decided to close the changing our focus from strictly selling Kendall’s owner, Brook Parrish, says the Austin retail store and move his growing wholesale to selling direct. black pure beaver is their number one family and manufacturing business to a “As our kids got older and got more seller. rural area in western New Mexico. involved with the business, and with “We’ve been in business for 18 years As word got out about Butch’s hats, the advent of the Internet, we slowly and have handled Butch’s hats for nearly other retail stores began showing interest eliminated all but a handful of dealers,” that long,” he says. “It is the best pure in carrying them. In the mid-1990s, the continues Dorer, “those that have been beaver hat there is as far as I’m con- list of stores carrying Butch Dorer-made with us a long time and have been com- cerned, and at the Congress, they nearly hats grew exponentially as he concen- mitted to our product.” sell themselves. Most people have never trated on perfecting the manufacturing Ironically, Leddy’s, the store that heard of Butch Dorer, but when they process. Now with four kids in tow, Butch helped put Butch’s name on the hat- try on several different hats, they feel and Phoebe would visit their retailers making map, no longer stocks his hats, the difference in quality. Most of our around the country, but what he discov- although they do accept special orders. customers live in hats, and they don’t ered wasn’t always encouraging Store manager Mark Dunlap readily mind spending the money to get a hat “While some of the stores that carried acknowledges the quality of Dorer’s hats that will fit right, look good and last a our hats were doing a good job selling but says Leddy’s reputation has been lifetime.” them, others weren’t,” says Butch. “In built on featuring a very select line of order to sell a high-end hat, the sales high-quality products and prefers their Meanwhile, staff has to be knowledgeable about the suppliers to be exclusive to their store. Back at the Ranch product. In a lot of cases, they didn’t Today, Kendall’s Western Hats of Far away from the glitter and glamour of know any more than the customer did Pavo, Georgia, is Butch’s largest retailer. the big shows and the big city, Butch and about hats or how they were made. In Although not a brick-and-mortar store, his family continue to evolve as a busi- these situations, people tend to go for they are well-known commercial exhibi- ness. Every member of the family works the cheapest option. tors at the largest Quarter Horse shows side-by-side, literally, in the log cabin
Neighbor Larry Leist is not only a professional bull rider, but is also the foremen of the Red Cone Ranch and a regular customer of Dorer’s.
“Right on the spot, Wade said he’d buy The Big Break natural or three black hats Wilson had every pure beaver hat I could make. On the heels of that disappointment, ordered had sold. He hadn’t sold one. “Well, that really changed the nature Butch got a call from Wilson Franklin, “I asked if he’d been wearing the one of our business. I finally had a guarantee the owner of M.L. Leddy’s in Fort Worth, I’d made for him, and he said he hadn’t,” and could afford to invest in more hat who asked to see the hat that was gener- says Dorer. “As a favor, I asked him to bodies and take the time to perfect the ating a lot of buzz but not much busi- wear it to work for the next month and finishing process.” ness. see if that might help. I told him if they Although Butler had high hopes for “I drove to the Stockyards in Fort didn’t sell, I’d buy them back, but at the the pure beaver hat—they even featured Worth to see him,” remembers Dorer. time that was the last thing in the world it in one of Stelzig’s special anniversary “I showed him what I thought was the I wanted to do. catalogs—they didn’t sell more than half best hat I’d ever made, and he took out “A month later, Wilson called to order a dozen. a newly released Resistol Black Gold more hats and that was the beginning of “At the time, that really baffled me and held them side-by-side. My heart a long and very rewarding relationship. because I thought that Stelzig’s well- sank. At the time, I knew how to make If that deal hadn’t worked, I doubt that heeled clientele wouldn’t balk at paying a good hat, but I didn’t know how my family would be in the hat business a premium price for a pure beaver hat,” to make a really pretty hat, and that today.” says Dorer. “Over time, I came to realize Resistol was absolutely beautiful. But Within a few months, Leddy’s was that there is a certain kind of customer for Wilson thought he had a market for selling a dozen pure beaver hats a month, a pure beaver hat and how much money a pure beaver hat and ordered a half then that number doubled, then tripled. they’ve got in their pocket isn’t the deter- a dozen. At $600 apiece, a price many thought mining factor. “On the drive home, I swore I’d find outrageous at the time, the hat that “First, they have to appreciate the a way to make the finest pure beaver hat carried both Butch Dorer’s and M.L. quality, and second, they really have to in the business.” Leddy’s logo in the sweatband quickly wear hats day in and day out, not just to It was about a month later that Dorer became the favorite of Fort Worth’s the Houston Rodeo once a year.” called Wilson to see if any of the three Western-wearing elite.
164 WESTERN HORSEMAN | November 2008 November 2008 | WESTERN HORSEMAN 165 that served as headquarters for the Gould enough fur from a beaver to make 10 or Ranch, once one of the largest outfits in 12 hats but for our silver beaver hat, we’ll western New Mexico. The cabin, built in use just a narrow strip of belly fur from 1919, consists of two rooms, one for man- maybe eight or nine pelts.” ufacturing and renovations, and the other Being in the middle of New Mexico’s for stitching in liners and hatbands. Other cow country, it isn’t unusual for local than electrical wiring running along the hands to swing by and spend a few hours ceiling, little has been done in the way of telling tales or evaluating the product adding modern conveniences. line. Over the years, many local cowboys, Although each person has a specific job, such as Larry Leist, foreman of neigh- all are experts in all phases of the business. boring Red Cone Ranch, have become Oldest son Sandon serves as shop foreman Butch’s personal research and develop- and designs custom silver buckle sets. His ment department, often to his chagrin younger brother Shaaf smoothes, trims, and amusement. hardens and shapes the lifeless felt into “I don’t claim to be a cowboy,” says hat form. Sisters Shama and Shera apply Dorer, “but we do go to a lot of brand- the finishing touches and handle shipping ings around here at the invitation of our and invoicing. Phoebe helps out where customers. It never ceases to amaze me needed and is the undeniable queen of when I see a cowboy take off a thousand- quality control, a role she’s played from the dollar hat and use it to block the wind very beginning. Butch spends most of his while starting the fire. time dealing with suppliers and sourcing “One of the benefits of using pure the highest quality pelts directly from beaver felt is durability, but even a pure Canadian and American trappers as well beaver hat isn’t indestructible. We’ve had as domestic producers. cowboys bring their hats in for cleaning “Traditionally, the highest quality furs and have removed everything from blood have been sold to the garment industry to mud. So far, the only thing we haven’t and the lesser quality beaver pelts have found a way to remove easily is bull snot, been sold to hatters,” says Butch. “But although we’re working on it. we’ve created relationships with the best “Our hats are good, but they’re not fur suppliers in the business and can get perfect.” anything we are willing to pay for. There are 25 subspecies of beaver in North Darrell Dodds is the publisher of America and having access to the best Western Horseman. Send comments on requires a lot of dealmaking. You can get this story to [email protected].
At the end of a one-mile, one-lane driveway, a simple wood plank sign announces that you’ve arrived at Butch Dorer’s ranch and hat shop.
166 WESTERN HORSEMAN | November 2008