Seattle Press on Line - Madrona and The Hatter: A Good Fit

Madrona and The Hatter: A Good Fit

Alexander Conley III and his invaluable Conform and Familian.

By John Nordstrand

Nov 01, 2000 -- By John Nordstrand

One block north of the playfield, south of Al Larkins Park and east of the elementary school is a lush tree-lined section of 34th Avenue in the venerable Madrona neighborhood. Huge trees shaped like up-blown umbrella canopies hang over this two-block span of diverse entrepreneurship. It's a collection of businesses typical and not so typical: a porcelain shop, a micro-winery, several bistros, a laundromat, deli, barbershop, art gallery, tea shop, guitar shop and more. At the south end of this small enterprise zone, just before returning to the quiet residential street, is the Conley Hat Manufacturing Company.

Alexander Conley III is a cheerful man with the warmth and flavor of Tennessee sipping whiskey.

We began.

"Chattanooga is where I started from," Conley reminisced with his eyes sparkling. He speaks with a rich baritone voice and a soft southern drawl.

Within minutes, we were transported to the "shine parlors" of his boyhood in the early '40s where he learned to become a hatter.

"A shine parlor is where the guys ended up before they went out." Parlors were very busy on Friday nights, Saturdays and Sunday mornings before church. A parlor would usually include a shoe shiner, cleaners for pressing clothes and a hatter. It was the place to go "to get that final polish." There might be a little corn whiskey, and some light gambling in the corner too.

Conley Hat Mfg. Co.
1112 34th Ave. E
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 322 1868
Wednesday and Thursday 11-5
Friday 11-6
Saturday 1-6
www.halcyon.com/hatter
or www.conleyhats.hypermart.net.
E-mail: hatter@halcyon.com

"If the hatter liked you, maybe he'd take you under his wing and teach you a few things. Sometimes you'd have to butter him up a little by cleaning his shop or getting him coffee now and then." Conley continued, "You learn a little bit each day, and pretty soon he's letting you make your maiden voyage on making a hat all by yourself. There's not a school in America that teaches this stuff, you know. You have to learn it from someone who is already doing it."

Eventually, Conley went on to get his education in engineering. Boeing brought him to Seattle in 1958. He stayed with Boeing for a few years and then moved to an engineering consulting company. Ultimately, he realized engineering was not for him.

"One day," he said, "I got up from my desk and said 'That's it!' and I left my slide rule and all my tools and never went back."

He became a mailman.

So what brought him back into the hatter's trade?

"I was having problems getting my hats cleaned," Conley explained. "I took my hats to a place and they said, 'Well, we have to send them to California.' And I'd done that before and they'd come back a different shape and sometimes a different color, all mashed up in a box. That's when I decided to open this shop."

The Conley Hat Manufacturing Company opened in May of 1986.

As he speaks, Alexander Conley is sitting at his work bench. Water is percolating in a steam iron. There is a shoe shine chair in the corner that he bought because it summons fond memories of his Tennessee childhood. Classical music fills the one-man shop. It is brimming with tools, hat material and wooden crown and flange blocks used for shaping.

Perhaps his most valuable tools are the Conform and the Familian. They provide Conley with the ability to fit a hat perfectly to an individual's head, a fit that Conley says you can't get anywhere else in the Northwest.

"You've probably seen somebody put their hat on and tug it down. Well, they're making the hat conform to their head. But when you've got your own head shape in the hat you don't have to pull it down. You just touch it and it's in place because it's YOUR hat and it's got YOUR head shape in it."

The Conform (pronounced CON-form) is a sophisticated system of moveable measuring stops that is placed on the hat-buyer's head. The stops are moved to touch the head all around. The Conform transfers this shape in a reduced size onto an easily stored 3x5 card. The shape is cut out from the card and placed in the Familian, which expands the shape back to the hat-buyer's head size. From there, the hat making begins with the perfect head shape as a guide.

Conley's French-made Conform is over 100 years old. It is no longer being made. "If there are 20 of them in America, I'd be surprised," he said.

He gets a lot of repeat business because of the fit.

A typical Conform fitted custom hat costs $200.00 at the Conley Hat Mfg. Co. According to Conley, that's considerably less than you would pay downtown for a name brand hat with only a generalized elliptical fit.

The hats are made out of various mixtures of beaver and rabbit felt, which Conley buys from a dealer in Winchester, Tennessee. The higher the beaver content in the blend, the sturdier (and more expensive) the hat. A regularly worn quality beaver/rabbit hat can last 25 years or more. It can be cleaned over and over again. A wool felt hat may last only five years and won't stand up to repeated cleanings. Wool fibers are hollow, Conley explained, and felt made from it is much less stable. He doesn't work with wool felt at all.

Alexander Conley is schooled in millinery techniques as well. In fact, he says, he really enjoys designing women's hats because there's a lot more "foo-foo" material with which to work.

When asked if he'd ever considered moving his hat company out of Madrona to a busier area, Conley said he'd thought about it but conceded, "Maybe I'm spoiled, you know, I'm laid back over here. This is easy and comfortable."

Besides, he might miss the jazz musician next door and the Russian from across the street who comes over to practice his English. He'd certainly miss the easy Madrona neighborhood pace that gives him the chance to sing a little opera by himself while making the best fitting hats in town.

Reader Comments

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Norman Danielson	Nov 09, 2000	seattle, wa	master gardener/artist
Thank you very much for your article on the Conley hat company. It was not that long ago that there was a hatmaker in the Pike Place Market with the type of Conform's that he uses. I feel glad to know that Conley exists and look forward to meeting with him and talking hats. There's nothing like xxx beaver. Thanks again, you do a great job.


H. McLelland	Nov 10, 2004	Ajax, Ont. Canada	Domestic Engineer
Thank you for this great article on Conley the Hatter. My grade 3 daughter is studying pioneer days, and has a project on the Hatter. (Each child in the class is researching a different trade or occupation of that time.) It was very difficult finding anything more than the fact that they made hats. This article was very helpful!