The line of hats made by Quaker Marine Supply have a distinctly American style.
The line of hats made by Quaker Marine Supply, first made and sold by a Coast Guard veteran on the Philadelphia docks, became a favorite of Jackie Kennedy, Ernest Hemingway and John Lennon. They’re still available (and American-made) today.
Quaker Marine Supply was founded in 1949 by Coast Guard veteran Joseph Kadison as a small company selling nautical accessories at the Philadelphia docks. Among the company’s first products were its variety of seafaring hats and caps, which became the startup’s signature items and dwarfed all its other marine products in sales.
Quaker Marine quickly and comfortably settled in as America’s preeminent hatmaker for most all outdoor water activities. Whether it be boating, sailing or fishing, the company has a chapeau to fit the occasion, and they became national nautical favorites in 1961 after author and avid outdoorsman Ernest Hemingway was featured in a Life Magazine cover story with two photos of him wearing his Quaker Marine Oysterman cap. That same cap is recognizable today with its extra long patent leather bill and streamlined crown.
Hemingway’s Quaker Marine hats were manufactured in Pennsylvania and today the same line of hats is still manufactured in America.
“The hats are still made in the U.S but they are made in New York now,” said Quaker Marine Supply Managing Director Ethan Lauer. “We have a couple of good manufacturing partners but we don’t do the manufacturing in-house anymore.
“There is a long history and a lot of people who have collected these hats over the years who know it well. We use the same patterns on a lot of these hats that have been made for decades. We try to stay as true as possible to that original stuff. Ninety-nine-point nine percent of the hats are made in the States.”
The hats, well known for years in nautical and fishing communities for their functionality, have also become an avant-garde fashion statement.
While common sailors and anglers proudly wear them for protection from harmful rays of the sun, they are also favored by many celebrities other than Hemingway.
Jackie Kennedy was often seen on Martha’s Vineyard with her Oysterman hat. John Lennon was photographed aboard a sailboat wearing a Quaker Marine sailing hat, which is similar to the common bucket hat. Actor Jack Nicholson also wore the same sailing hat.
“David Hockney, the British painter who died just a couple of weeks ago, often wore the Oysterman,” said Lauer. “A lot of film directors wear it on set. If you look at behind the scene photos there is a photo of David Lynch wearing it on set. David Mamet wears our hats.
“We’ve done a couple of collaborations with the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum which is up in Livingston Manor, N.Y. It is the American birthplace of fly fishing so they have a lot of photos of old-time anglers and a lot of them are wearing Quaker Marine hats, so they are popular with the fly-fishing crowd.”
Quaker Marine shifted its focus exclusively to hats in 1975 and in 1980 L.L. Bean began selling the nautical headwear. In 1983 the company moved its headquarters and manufacturing to Conshohocken, Pa.
Twenty years later, in 2003, Ned Kitchel, a former L.L. Bean merchandiser who loved the outdoors, bought the company and moved its headquarters to Portland, Maine. But by 2008, ready to retire during a slumping economy, Kitchel shut down production.
In 2011, Kevin McLaughlin, a founder of J. McLaughlin apparel, bought the rights to Quaker Marine Supply but did not ramp up production again until 2018.
Today, Quaker Marine Supply is for the most part a direct-to-consumer online sales concern. The American-made hats can also be found in smaller, specialty stores in coastal cities and towns.
“We do send a print catalog to people’s mailboxes usually about four times a year,” said Lauer. “We have our one store in Brooklyn in Greenpoint, and we wholesale to a few select boutiques.
“We have a store that carries us in Nantucket and in Cape Cod and Montecito and more coastal destination type of places. They are mostly independent shops.”
Quaker Marine Supply contracts with one main manufacturer in New York and a smaller maker in Pennsylvania. for the construction of its line of hats. The patterns for the hats are die-cut off a huge roll of fabric before landing at the sewing stations where the brim is attached and brass grommets are applied.
The finished caps are then sent to Quaker Marine Supply headquarters in Brooklyn, just down the block from the company’s only retail store. The hats are then packaged and shipped from Brooklyn.
In addition to the always popular Oysterman and Swordfish long bill caps, Quaker Marine has had impressive success with its standard sailing hat and the Roll Up Yacht Cap.
“All four of these styles are ones that we have sold since the beginning,” said Lauer. “We have other styles like the Trawler Caps, Harbour Caps, Touring Caps and berets.
“We make about 15 different styles and those are all in multiple different colors and fabrics. We do a lot of cotton hats and we’ll do wool. We do a lot of waxed cotton. The extra element of functionality is really great and we sell wax so you can refinish your hat and keep it well waxed.
“Our wax hats are great in the rain or if you are catching some sea spray. With the waxed cotton, it’s waterproof.”
Lauer describes the Trawler Hat as a more traditional cap with a patch or embroidery on the front that you would typically find at a bait shop.
“Most of our hats are kind of low profile like the Oysterman and Swordfish,” said Lauer. “They have a smaller crown and you can pull it down when you are out on the water and be a little more aerodynamic, but the Trawler is a little more like a classic hat. The Trawler has the rope on the front, which is that classic fishing-style hat.”
When Kevin McLaughlin brought Quaker Marine Supply brand back to life, he added apparel that is sourced from overseas.
But the hats remain strictly American-made.
“We are going to keep these legacy hats that have been made in America since 1949. We are going to keep on making them here,” added Lauer. “The product is excellent, we have a good American partner and we are trying to stay true to the original. It’s a classic American outdoor look.”
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Labeling Note: This story is intended to highlight companies that support American jobs and that make great products in the United States. We rely on the companies listed to provide accurate information regarding their domestic operations and their products. Each company featured is individually responsible for labeling and advertising their products according to applicable standards, such as the Federal Trade Commission’s “Made in USA” standard or California’s “Made in USA” labeling law. We do not review individual products for compliance or claim that because a company is listed in the guide that their products comply with specific labeling or advertising standards. Our focus is on supporting companies that create American jobs.
For more on the Federal Trade Commission’s standards for “Made in USA” claims and California’s “Made in USA” labeling law, please also read this guest post by Dustin Painter and Kristi Wolff of Kelly Drye & Warren, LLP.