Calvin Klein, Reeboks and BMWs have been status symbols for a generation of yuppies, but for today`s jeans, boots and pickup truck crowd, the gotta-have gear is likely to include a custom-made cowboy hat.
But not just any custom cowboy hat. The Charlie 1 Horse hat, adorned with its firebranded C-1 logo, is fast becoming a mark of distinction in the country and western world.
Charlie 1 Horse makes darn good-looking cowboy hats.
Here`s how owner and president Gordon Moore describes the beginning of his company, with the legend of Indian Charlie 1 Horse:
”It begins way back in the `70s when a couple of us went down to Taos, N.M., to go skiing, and we were in a bar in the middle of the mountains. There was an old Indian fella wearing this great-looking hat with some neat critter parts on it. We got to talking to the guy, and he took us back to his place in the mountains and showed us how he used critter parts to make these ornamentations on the hats and some other tricks. He said it would be great if we would honor him by going back and starting up a company and naming it after him. His name was Charlie 1 Horse. We like to give Charlie all the credit.”
That`s a pretty good yarn, but the credit actually should go to the fella telling the story.
The Charlie 1 Horse Hat Co., based in Batavia, manufactures 75 to 400 designer cowboy hats a day, designer meaning one-of-a-kind. The 20-page catalog, made available only to retailers, shows hats ranging from a basic $50 cowboy hat to an Old West style, complete with sweatstains, trail dust and bullet holes, to a fancy dress-style, decorated with triple rattlesnake heads and ermine tails.
But that`s only the beginning. The Charlie 1 Horse Limited Edition hat, which is registered and numbered, is made of pure beaver and features a 14-karat gold rope band, a $5 gold piece from the 1800s and a solid gold C-1 logo pin with seven diamonds. And it`s yours for only $3,500.
Why not? You can be just like Larry Hagman of ”Dallas” TV fame. He owns the first one ever made.
Celebrating his 10th anniversary in September as sole owner of Charlie 1 Horse, Moore labels his company as a survivor.
”The company really got off the ground in the late `70s when (the film)
`Urban Cowboy` created a craze in the life of western wear,” said Moore, who started the company with two partners who have since dropped out. ”It lasted about a year and a half and fell off the end of the Earth about as fast as it got started. A lot of people in western wear hurt real bad in the early `80s and there was a huge shakeup in the industry. Major players eventually declared bankruptcy. Our business today is far beyond what we did in the
`Urban Cowboy` days. The industry in general is extremely healthy and a lot leaner with fewer manufacturers and better retailers.”
Moore, his wife, Jodi, and their 3-year-old son Jaymes have slipped comfortably into a country and western lifestyle. Their sprawling 5-acre country place in rural Hampshire, complete with horses, has been Moore`s dream since he was a kid.
”The country-western lifestyle is in,” said Moore. ”It`s a more casual lifestyle. We talk a lot in the industry about lifestyle marketing, and western wear is a lifestyle. It`s jeans, boots and comfortable shirts. It is much more relaxed than yuppiedom. People are driving pickup trucks instead of BMWs. How you dress gives you a mindset and a lot of stress. I like doing things in life that are more relaxing whether it is taking a twilight ride on a horse, stacking hay or filling the water trough.”
Factory manager Robbie Robinson says people are always asking him why Charlie 1 Horse isn`t based in a more dusty clime like Texas.
”Being here in Batavia is a little bit different for a hat manufacturer, especially a western wear hat designer,” Robinson said. ”Right now we ship to five countries in Europe and Australia, Japan, the Philippines, Canada, South America, Central America and all 50 states. We had a friend tell us he was walking the Great Wall in China and he saw one of our hats.”
The company`s 20-page color catalog exhibits more than 100 hats, each with the C-1 logo applied with a branding iron, which, according to Moore, points out what makes Charlie 1 Horse hats different from the rest of the hat world: Moore has done most of the designing himself. He has researched old photographs and templates from the 1800s in order to add authenticity.
”We look at the designs and decorations that were on the hats of the old cowboys and we try to modernize them a bit,” said Robinson. ”They made them the same way we do now. They kill a snake and take the skin and wrap it around their hat. They would get critter bones and stick them on with a little glue. They would get feathers and buy beads, turquoise, silver and gold from Indians and put it on their hat to make it more attractive. We are taking something new and making it look like something back then.”
Moore`s dedication goes far beyond his day-to-day office obligations and trips to more than 12 major trade shows a year. Charlie 1 Horse is the sponsor of 35 country and western dance events throughout the United States and Canada and one in England and will be participating in the first world championship, scheduled for 1993 in Nashville.
”You would be amazed at the number of people interested in country-western dance clubs,” said Moore. ”It`s not like a disco bar where you are afraid to approach somebody. Everyone is friendly. It`s more of a family atmosphere. I think that is a part of the energy behind the country-western dance movement.”
On Saturday nights one can experience what Moore is talking about at the Cadillac Ranch in Bartlett. It`s worth the price of admission to witness the energy and style people bring to this country and western dance mecca. Most everyone is dressed the part: jeans, boots, rhinestones, fringe and plenty of cowboy hats. General manager Randy Wolter owns three Charlie 1 Horse hats and has incorporated the hats into the employee uniform.
”I called Charlie 1 Horse and told them I have a bunch of employees here who want to wear your hats,” said Wolter. ”Gordon came out himself with brochures and books, and they each ordered what they wanted. I got a bartender who asked for a hat with all different kinds of pheasant feathers, bones and rattlesnake rattlers. Charlie 1 Horse sells a totally different style than Stetson or any other cowboy hat. It is the kind of company that will make anything you want, and I am sure that is why they are as popular as they are getting.”
The hat-building process, done in the factory, begins with a simple hat body made of felt or straw. It is then taken to the shaping department where it is steamed to make the felt or straw pliable in order to shape the crowns and brims. The catalog offers about 25 crown shapes and 18 different brims. After shaping, the hats go to the hat builders, who look at a description card specifying the ornamentation that is to be applied to the hat.
”It could be anything from the catalog that the customer sees or we can create something especially for them,” said Robinson. ”We handle about 20 different kinds of snake and exotic birds. We have everything from a golden pheasant to a Reeves pheasant to a silver pheasant to guinea hens. We use 500 to 600 bird feather pelts a year. We use individual feathers taken off the bird pelt one at a time and use them for different applications. We also cut our own snake skin.”
On one wall of the neat and clean factory are boxes of bones and
”critter parts” used for ornamentation with labels such as ”Big Ugly Claws,” which are freeze-dried deer hooves, and ”Arkansas Toothpicks,”
which are raccoon penis bones like those used by the old frontiersmen as toothpicks, then stuck in their hats.
”We use an assortment of bones from different parts of the animal`s bodies like ribs, legs and shoulder blades. We have jaw bones from about six or eight different small critters and skulls from rabbits, muskrats and minks,” said Robinson. ”And yes, they are real. None are manufactured anywhere.”
The assorted skeletal remnants, snakeskins and feathers are supplied by taxidermists and bird farms across the country. The bones go through a sanitizing and bleaching process before they are shipped to the factory.
Importation laws in certain states prohibit the sale of specific bones, fur and skins of animals.
”California has the strictest (laws),” said Robinson. ”We have to use a particular type of water snake, a Chinese Flower snake, and you can`t send them raccoon fur, but you can send badger fur. We can`t send the ribs of a western diamondback rattler, but we can send the parts of an eastern diamondback.”
Moore`s office doubles as the hat Hall of Fame, displaying autographed hats and celebrity photographs. He has successfully cultivated a roster of celebrities who wear Charlie 1 Horse hats. That all began with a visit to Gilley`s in Houston during the filming of ”Urban Cowboy.” (Gilley`s has since burned down.)
”We went down there because it was a famous place and we wanted to see what was happening. We made hats for Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee,” said Moore. ”They had no idea they were destined for stardom. In fact, when
(country and western singer) Johnny Lee married Charlene Tilton (of
”Dallas” TV fame), the Dallas papers read `married in a hat made by Indian Charlie 1 Horse.”`
Moore appreciates his celebrity clientele but tends to downplay publicity out of respect for their privacy. The endorsement relationships are anything but formal. In most cases, the deal is closed with a handshake. Race car legend Richard Petty, for instance, endorses Charlie 1 Horse simply because he likes the product: ”A day doesn`t go by that I don`t have a Charlie 1 Horse hat on my head.”
Petty is featured in the catalog wearing a hat with 13 gold nuggets and diamonds; the C-1 logo is 14-karat gold with seven diamonds. It retails for $4,800.
”For almost 12 years, Richard has given us a tremendous amount of promotional and public relations,” Moore said. ”He does it out of the goodness and kindness of his heart. At this point, our hats have become his personal image. We make 10 to 12 hats for Richard every year. A lot of times he will autograph them, and they will be auctioned off for charity events.”
Larry Hagman, who is an avid hat collector, is also in the Charlie 1 Horse catalog wearing a bleached pure beaver fur hat with a 14-karat gold braid band and that devious ”J.R.” smile.
”I think Larry has something like 2,500 hats in his personal collection and for him to choose to wear one of our hats when he is off camera is very flattering,” Moore said. ”Larry has more than six of our hats now.”
Charlie 1 Horse currently has endorsement relationships with several celebrity entertainers including the Bellamy Brothers; The Boys From Indiana; ”Animal,” the lead singer from Hank Williams Jr.`s band; Eddy Raven; and the Marshall Tucker Band.
”Our connection with these guys works out really good,” said Marshall Tucker lead singer Doug Gray. ”We`ve done things with people before and this is one we have a real friendly relationship with. We don`t have a contract, we are just friends. It`s an old time way of doing business.” Gray, himself, does not wear hats, but the other members of the band do.
According to Robinson, so loyal are many customers that after wearing a hat for 10 or 12 years they`ll send it back to have it refurbished.
Charlie 1 Horse hats are sold at western wear retail stores throughout the Chicago area. Those who buy one should get ready to be asked: ”Hey, is that a Charlie 1 Horse you`re wearing?”
