Conceptual scene of a western fur-felt hat on a block in a traditional hatmaker's workshop

An independent Gulf Coast hattery

Made for a lifetime,
not a season.

We’re making heirloom-quality fur-felt hats here in Mobile, Alabama—hats meant to be worn often, age beautifully, and gather a few stories along the way.

See what we’re buildingFollow the first hat
Spring 2027Founders Edition on Kickstarter

Conceptual image · The first Founders Edition hat is currently in development.

Handcrafted on the Gulf Coast.

Made to Last for Generations.

01

Our Story

We’re building something
meant to last.

Hello, friend.

We started Azalea City Hatters with a simple idea: a good hat should take on the character of the person wearing it—and look better for having lived a little.

We’re building a small, independent hattery here in Mobile, Alabama. Our hats begin with genuine fur felt, classic shapes, patient handwork, and an understanding that Gulf Coast life can be hard on anything you wear.

We don’t want to make hats that feel too precious to use. We want to make the one you reach for—the one that travels through weather, work, celebrations, and ordinary days before it’s finally passed along.

We don’t just make hats. We tell stories—and we’d be honored to help you tell yours.

— Mike Murrill, Founder & Hatter

02

The First Twenty-Five

The Founders Edition

The Bienville

The Bienville is where we’re starting, and it will remain at the heart of Azalea City Hatters for years to come.

To mark the opening of our hattery, we’re releasing the first twenty-five as a limited Founders Edition. These inaugural hats will have a special liner and additional finishing treatments created only for this edition.

Once the Founders Edition is sold, The Bienville will remain as our flagship hat—but those edition-only details will be gone with it.

We’ll keep No. 01 here at the hattery. Nos. 02–25 are planned for our Spring 2027 Kickstarter campaign.

03

Built Into Every Hat

The little things
aren’t little to us.

We choose every material and finishing detail for comfort, usefulness, and a long life. If something doesn’t make the hat better, it doesn’t need to be there.

01

Genuine fur felt

We choose it for its resilience, shape, feel, and the way it develops character over time.

02

Two-inch sheepskin

A substantial leather sweatband helps the hat fit comfortably and hold its structure.

03

Branded by the maker

We mark the material, edition, and ownership details with restraint and purpose.

04

A story to keep

Every named Azalea City hat will come with a provenance card telling its story.

04

The Hats Taking Shape

One hattery.
Plenty of stories to tell.

Our full collection is still on the workbench, but we’d like to introduce a few of the hats already taking shape in our Signature Line and future collections.

Signature Line · Founders Edition

The Bienville

Our first hat: a confident Western design that will continue long after the numbered edition is complete.

First build in development

Signature · Gulf Coast Collection

The Grand-Père

A Western fedora reminiscent of the hats my grandfather—and the men of his generation—wore when I was a boy.

Design in development

Signature · Gulf Coast Collection

The Outdoorsman

A Western-weight nutria field hat intended for work, weather, and time outdoors.

Design in development

Town and Country Collection

The Country Gentleman

A refined crossover hat at home with both town tailoring and country wear.

Design in development

Town and Country Collection

The Riverboat Gambler

A dress-minded Western silhouette with a restrained sense of theater.

Design in development

Carnival Collection

The Merry Widow

A women’s Western hat whose story draws from Mobile’s distinctive Carnival tradition.

Working name · In development

Stories & Provenance

Every name carries a story.

We name our hats for a reason. Each one will have a short story connecting its design, materials, or name to the place and ideas that shaped it. We’ll include that story with the finished hat on a physical provenance card.

  • Model and individual build number
  • Felt, color, size, and completion date
  • Edition and owner details where applicable
  • The story behind that particular model

Not simply a receipt of purchase.

A record of where the hat began—and whose story it joined.
05

From Felt to Finished Hat

Come along for the first build.

The Bienville is moving from ideas on paper to a real hat. We’ll share the process here—including what works, what changes, and what we learn along the way.

  1. 01
    Design languageProportions, character, and edition direction established
    Complete
  2. 02
    Materials & componentsFelt, trim, interior, and finishing details
    In progress
  3. 03
    The first physical buildBlocking, shaping, trimming, and fitting
    Next
  4. 04
    Evaluation & final specificationWear, balance, finish, and campaign-ready details
    Ahead

We’ll add the first workbench entry when the physical build begins.