The Hat Bar by Kate Kaney brings a hat-designing experience with Western twist to San Luis Obispo 

Cattaneo Bros. CEO Kate Kaney has a thing for hats.

"I want everyone to have hats," Kaney said with a laugh.

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• Photo Courtesy Of The Hat Bar By Kate Kaney
• DIY DESIGN From adding feathers, flowers, or pins to branding your initials or a unique design on your hat, the experience at The Hat Bar by Kate Kaney is one the founder hopes will bring more Old West vibes to her hometown.

So she created the Hat Bar by Kate Kaney, and it's all about DIY hat design. She offers visitors a chance to buy and decorate Western-style hats right next to Kaney's other boutique—The Mercantile—located in downtown San Luis Obispo at 950 Chorro St.

"It's an experience for you to be able to come in and choose a hat—any of the ones we have that you like best—and jazz it up," she said. "Whether it's in a way that's meaningful to you or just leaving the hat plain because you like to keep things simple."

Prospective hat designers have a choice of fabric or leather hat bands with ribbons, pins, dried flowers, and cards alongside the option to use a branding iron to further personalize their hats. Kaney said that most people usually go with their initials, but she has seen people sometimes pick their kids' initials or even a significant date to sear into their hat.

"It helps give it that more ... rustic, vintage feel," she said.

Kaney was partially inspired to open the boutique due to her lifelong obsession with cowboy-style hats.

"I love, love hats," she said laughing. "I took that passion from my mom growing up."

She also credits her travels across California in her role as CEO of Cattaneo Bros., a local company specializing in jerky and other meat products, as a key point of inspiration.

"We would be out traveling for events, and I would find these places that were doing a very similar concept [to Hat Bar] and realized I could bring that to SLO," she said. "I think it's really important to have these kind of experiences in our city—places where you can go and create something that is truly your own."

Hat Bar is open to hosting larger-scale hat-decorating events, according to Kaney.

"We have had companies come in and do team building and also hosted concerts, rodeos, and even wedding pre-parties," she said. "Because we have everything there, it's kind of become this perfect little space for a unique party."

While the traditional audience for a boutique of this nature skews female, Kaney said that she wants all cowboy-hat enjoyers, male or female, to feel welcome at the Hat Bar.

Kaney is also looking to increase the number of hat options the boutique offers, including possibly having someone that could shape hats for people.

"Right now the main brand of hat we carry is Gigi Pip, alongside some other standard name brands," she said. "Our dream goal would be to not only add more Old West style hat brands, styles, and materials but also have someone in the boutique that can shape cowboy felt material to custom fit people's heads to truly give them that personalized feel."

Kaney said that the community feedback thus far has encouraged her to extend the boutique's services to the rest of SLO County.

"One of our more immediate plans is to take the Hat Bar mobile," she said. "We have already done a couple of test pop-ups at places like Elks Rodeo, but we want to take that to the next level and bring it farther out into North and South County."

Ultimately, Kaney is happy to be able to show to people how much fun and how expressive something like a hat can be.

"Say you want to buy a hat and decorate it your way or you already have a hat and simply want to change it a little," she said. "You can do both here, and it's awesome to offer such a unique experience to the city I care so much about."

Fast fact

• The city of San Luis Obispo announced that starting June 1, any SLO County resident who registers their vehicle with the city's Park Local pilot program will receive their first hour of downtown parking for free in the Palm Street parking garage. For more information on the program and how to register, visit slocity.org/parking. Δ

Reach Staff Writer Adrian Vincent Rosas at [email protected].