With the launch of our latest collaboration with Wellema Hats, we checked in with founder and master hat maker Cody Wellema from his base in California. The ready-to-wear creation will be available exclusively from our London store, in two colourways: Silverbelly and Charcoal Grey. Cody confided to us about his craft, the DNA of the project and gave us a little of his sartorial wisdom.
“At the foundation, these new hats were made with the style and proportions of a time when most people wore a hat. I originally made Ethan a hat many years ago now that had a base foundation of the one Bogart wore in the Maltese Falcon. We ended up stocking a ready-to-wear version in the Tokyo Brycelands store. From there a few years later in Hong Kong, Kenji took a similar idea but with slightly more western details: thinner trimmings for the hatband and edge binding, along with the "gamblers" bow with tails that extend out - all from inspiration around the 1950s. That is where these hats for London were born.”
The new hats, like all the others I create, are made from beaver fur felt. Beaver fur - from the late 1800s until now - has always been the top tier quality. Naturally water resilient, durable & dense, with a soft hand to them. They only get better with time, wear and weather. A beaver fur felt can be reblocked, and reshaped, much like having good shoes resoled, and so can handle many years of life. I also use the highest quality roan leather sweatbands, rayon liners and new-old-stock or deadstock trimmings. There are probably about 10 hours of work that go into each hat, spread out over a few days as there is a lot of drying involved with hat making. I haven't counted out the steps in a long while, but I would say somewhere around 30 steps in total in the fine details to complete a hat.”
“Brycelands has always been a brand that I have identified with personally. I have worn vintage for most of my adult life. Becoming a hatmaker has led to me having the opportunity to meet amazingly talented makers around the world: from tailors, to bag makers & shoe makers and everything in between. Incorporating the handmade pieces from these makers into a mainly vintage wardrobe ever since feels right to me. Incorporating the best of yesterday with the best of today, if you will. I think Bycelands does just that. While hats aren't worn as much as they used to be in their golden years, it's hard to beat a well tailored suit with a good hat to top it off. Likewise a vintage chambray with some denim & a jaunty western hat is something that has been worn for decades and will always be right.”
“A hat to me is first a tool of function and occasion, secondly when worn well, becomes an iconic stylish accessory. I wear the same hat one day with tailors, and the next casually at a park with my kids in jeans and a rayon shirt. Hats can be limitless with styling - as with most things - so long as you gain the confidence in wearing and make it uniquely your own way of presenting yourself to the world.”
