Our collections
The machinery collection

Hat Works has a unique collection of hatting machinery. As the fur felt hatting industry began to decline in the 1960s and 70s, curators acquired a range of Victorian-style machinery from hat factories facing closure. After a good hundred years of prosperity for the industry, hats had gone out of fashion. This might have been because hairstyles had become popular, and cars meant that when travelling, one’s head did not get so cold. By 1998 there were no hat factories left in Stockport.

The felt hatting industry had mechanised in a piecemeal fashion from the mid nineteenth to the early twentieth century, with machines gradually replacing each stage of the manual hatting process. The industry retained this one-machine-for-one-process approach until the end. With approximately 45 different processes going into making one hat, the mechanical variety at Hat Works is astounding.

A tour round Hat Works ground floor allows the visitor to see most of the machines in the museum’s collection. They sift and clean fur, shape hats, shrink hats, stiffen and dye hats, bend brims and trim hats. Many of them still work, and demonstrators are on hand to start them up. Also on display is a comprehensive selection of hand tools used for hat making.