Editor’s letter #97 | May 2023


For the article about aluminium blocks on page 46, we visited the two last remaining aluminium foundries for the hat industry in Europe. Talking to Boon & Lane in the UK and Gerardi Hatblocks in Italy, it is clear that both companies are very dedicated to making sure that this craftsmanship that is so important for the hat industry will survive in the future. Preservation – not just regarding skills and knowledge – is an important topic in the millinery and hat world anyway. In the past year, we attended several hat events where milliners at the end of their career, or their offspring, were selling tools and materials that had been collected over a lifetime. These items included vintage materials of high quality that are not made anymore and therefore very precious to fellow milliners. It shows once again that milliners are very sustainable for all the right reasons. Materials that are already available and made to last far longer than just the latest fashion should never get lost. They may get passed on several times before they finally end up in a hat, but they will never get thrown away, because they haven’t found the right milliner to work with it yet. To make sure that these precious items keep bringing joy to the next generation, every milliner with a substantial collection of tools and materials might want to consider making a ‘millinery will’, a note in which you tell your close ones who to contact for advice about what to do with your collection in case you pass away unexpectedly. This way you can avoid the prospect of these tools and materials that are invaluable and unreplaceable for people in the trade being thrown away by others as ‘old junk nobody is interested in’.


Elly Stemerdink


Meet The Hat Magazine team


Elly Stemerdink Editor-in-chief


Lauren Ritchie Editor and content creator


Greg Commons Content editor


Katy Mackenzie Ad sales manager


Susan Gleijm Graphic designer


may 2023 | 5


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