Rad Hatter
Scott Simontacchi shapes an artistic life of photography, music, and custom hat making
by Jac Valitchka
“My goal was just to make one hat. But if you make one, you’re going to make more,” says Scott Simontacchi, founder of his eponymous line of custom hats, Simontacchi, based in Nashville.
Simontacchi, who is at 105 hats and counting, is a hat maker, by way of being a photographer, by way of being a musician—he sings and plays guitar and mandolin in the bluegrass-rooted group, Sheriff Scott and the Deputies. (He’s easy to spot: he’s the one in the hat.) Simontacchi’s hats are classic, timeless pieces, aesthetically spanning 1940s film noir to Frank Sinatra to Westerns, with offerings of cool-girl, boho-chic, say, but also with a good measure of the mainstream. Pop country singer Jason Aldean, for example, was to wear one of Simontacchi’s hats for a photo shoot but decided against the color at the last minute. It wasn’t a total waste: “I posted about it on Instagram, and this lady in Scotland reached out and said, ‘My husband is a Jason Aldean fan, and I want to buy that hat for him,’” says Simontacchi.
Simontacchi sources the beaver felt for his bespoke hats from a classic felting factory just down the road in Tennessee.
A Simontacchi hat is a custom-made, 100-percent beaver-felt structural work of art. The hat maker (or hatter, just don’t call him a “milliner,” as that term implies a maker of ladies’ hats, and his are unisex), pulls from a collection of vintage ribbons for the grosgrain ribbon band. “I prefer the vintage grosgrain ribbon, a blend of rayon and cotton, and good ribbon is really hard to come by,” says Simontacchi. “I lucked out in 2017—someone was selling a box of 40 spools of ribbon for $70, and now each spool is worth $100, but they’re all from the 1940s and ’50s, and I came upon it at the right time. So that kind of kick-started my ribbon obsession.” And his affinity for hats? He always admired the hats in Westerns (spaghetti and also those more in keeping with the John Wayne oeuvre), and the fact that a felting plant, which manufactures the beaver pelts used in making the hats, was only 90 minutes away in Winchester, Tennessee, piqued his hat making interest. Finally, he drove to the plant, where he spent the day immersed in learning about the craft (this was after many YouTube hours of research into how one makes a hat). To Simontacchi’s great benefit, the gentleman who showed him around kindly opened his Rolodex to foster the first few helpful connections.
The beauty of the hats is the aesthetic, sure, but also in the way the wearer brings them to full form, elevating what could be a mere accessory, in a less-deft hand, to something else entirely. Each handmade piece is imbued with personality and comes in various shapes and styles and hues of camel, bone, and black, but also punchy colors like powder blue, sage green, and mustard yellow. There’s even the Indy, the classic tobacco-toned fedora inspired by, I’m sure you’ve guessed it—Indiana Jones. They are, in a word, cool.
Simontacchi’s music, photography, and hat making are the perfect trifecta for his artistic acumen—and that’s worthy of a hat tip for sure.
Photography by Brooke Stevens
View Scott Simontacchi’s hats on Instagram aT @simontacchi_official.
