hatter

A hatter is a craftsman who makes, sells, or repairs hats. The trade has long existed in Europe and the English-speaking world, with hatters often specializing in felt hats made from fur such as beaver or rabbit, as well as straw hats. In many places, hatters worked in small shops or as part of broader millinery traditions.

Traditional hatting involves shaping hat bodies by blocking, heating, and moistening felt or other materials, then trimming and finishing the crown and brim. In earlier centuries, some hatting processes used mercury salts to help color and fuse fur fibers, exposing workers to mercury vapor. Mercury poisoning caused neurological and behavioral symptoms, contributing to the expression “mad as a hatter” long before Lewis Carroll’s stories.

In culture, the term is most famously associated with the Mad Hatter, a character in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The character is depicted as an eccentric hat-maker who hosts a perpetual tea party, and the name reinforces the hatter’s trade in popular imagination. The figure has influenced numerous adaptations and references in literature, film, and media.

Today, professional hatmaking is more commonly referred to as millinery or hat design. The occupation persists as an artisan craft in niche shops and fashion houses, often focused on bespoke, historical, or stylistic hats. While industrial production has reduced the number of traditional hatters, the craft remains part of broader fashion and headwear culture, with some practitioners continuing the historical techniques and innovations of hatmaking.