20th December 2010
Did you know that last week marked the 161
st birthday of one of the most iconic pieces of British clothing?
Thomas and William Bowler were commissioned by hatters of the Coke brothers - relatives of the Earl of Leicester, to come up with an alternative to the non protective top hat for gamekeepers.
After going through vigorous testing (trampling on the hat), the bowler hat was chosen to replace the top hat which failed to protect the gamekeepers from falling prey, tree branches and poacher sticks.
This status symbol has been adopted by bankers, followed by cowboys and Quechua women in Peru and was featured in films like Charlie Chaplin, James Bond - Goldfinger and Clockwork Orange.
And of course, the art work by
René Magritte is where we got our inspiration for our company logo from.
Read more about
the Bowler hat invention.
