Life & Work with Lil Grizz of Northwestern Kansas

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lil Grizz. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Hats By Grizz: Made By Joy, LLC makes historical fur felt hats using 1800’s (and prior) methods. Lil Grizz has been making hats most of his life (50+ years). He has crisscrossed the country for the last 30 years, building hats for living history participants and on movie sets. He became more at home in his canvas tent by his wood stove or in a bedroll thrown out under the stars than in any building. As a hat maker, he “must know everything,” so he is very well-read and ready to hold forth on any subject from theories of cosmic design to forestry/conservation to US & world history. With a glance and touch of his fingers to your head, he can make you a hat that fits perfectly and will last you the rest of your life unless you leave it in a water-logged barrel for months or run over it with a brush hog! Lil Grizz and I, Mizz Grizz, met on the rendezvous circuit and were married in March of 2013. He is the ultimate guru of hats, and I work beside him, building the unique sweatbands that we use in our hats and learning all the trade steps. I also handle the online/shipping end of our business. We relocated our home and workshop to a new property in New Almelo, in northwest Kansas, in 2014 and went online with the business through our online shop in 2015.

We start with a floppy hat “blank” and soak it in hot water. Next, we stretch it by hand over antique wooden blocks, iron it with old-fashioned, flat irons, and let it dry. Then a coat of stiffener is applied, and the hat must dry slowly and then be ironed again. Next, the hat brim is trimmed, and then Lil Grizz’s signature tight pencil curl is put on edge to strengthen it. An inner sweatband of our unique design and production is then hand-sewn into the hat. Lastly, the crown and brim are shaped to their final design using a steaming kettle.

We can make hats to copy old photos or old favorites that have seen a better day. We can create a new one-of-a-kind hat for your unique rendezvous, civil war, or steampunk costume.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We have transitioned from Lil Grizz’s on-the-road adventures to a thriving online business in the past 8 years. It is going well but has been difficult at times as there were so many unknowns (Mizz Grizz had worked in ministry and education and had no experience with online business models. We have also had to adjust as our business grew beyond what Lil Grizz alone could handle. Thankfully our daughter, Lander Red, chose last year to join our traditional hat business and is preparing to launch her own hat business, focusing more on character/seasonal hats. Our next hurdle is physical space, as we have outgrown our basement hobbit hole shop. We also need to compete for our shop on other platforms than just Etsy (where we started).

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Lil Grizz is the grandfather of traditional hat-making here in the US. He uses only conventional non-mechanized methods of hat making. He can but does not get into hat decor, choosing to focus on creating various styles. (We have over 120 standard types offered in the online shop.) But we go well beyond that in copying old photos, movie costumes, and works of art. We are limited mainly by the size of hat bodies as it is becoming harder to get huge hat bodies. (Modern methods can pull felt much farther than we can by hand.) Through our videos and online presence on YouTube, FB, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok, we have helped a whole new generation of hat makers start on their journeys of creativity. Some students come and learn from us here in our shop, but many have watched and rewatched our videos until they are confident to step out and try themselves. We have one student who watched, built his first tools, and started his business in Malaysia. He has become the premier hat maker in that country!!! Some locals have chided us for creating competitors; however, that is not how we see the matter. Lil Grizz felt he was one of the last truly traditional hat makers to employ old-school non-mechanized techniques. Twenty years ago, he felt the craft was dying; now, like a gardener watching their flowers bloom, we watch with joy the many young craftsmen and women who have started custom hat businesses in the past few years!!!

What matters most to you? Why?
It was passing on traditional skills. Because if they are lost, the whole process loses an essence akin to its soul! A custom-fit because not everyone can find a comfortable fit in standard hat sizes! Living life to the fullest and making others laugh because? Because that is the legendary Lil Grizz!

Pricing:

• Basic Styles start at $165 + $65 s/h
• Standard Styles start at $220 + $65 s/h
• Movie Character Styles start at $240 + $65 s/h
• Legendary Upgrades start at $270 + $65 s/h
• Our high end Top Hats run up to $725 + $65 s/h

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: Etsy.com/shop/HatsByGrizz
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hatsbygrizz
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HatsByGrizzMadeWithJoy
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuLJCgRSHbUMqTdQcuycfFw
• Other: pinterest.com/hatsbygrizzllc , https://www.tiktok.com/@hatsbygrizz