Brooklyn Hat Fashion: Top 6 Places to Buy Elegant, Cool & Everyday Men's Hats

Hats for Fathers Day: Give Dad a Makeover at a Brooklyn Haberdasher

By Ellen Freudenheim

Updated 05/15/17

Part of the fashionable new Brooklyn "look" is a hat. If you want to fit in with the hipster set, you should wear a fedora.

To give yourself, or the guy in your life a quick makeover, start at the top: his hat.

At the following top Brooklyn habersdashers you can find trendy or conservative styles. You can find porkpie hats, fashionable retro hats, fedoras, Rasta headwear, buffs, tams, berets, and of course, baseball caps that look (and fit) better than those sold by street vendors.

Tips for Hat Shopping

  • Skip shopping at department stores, where everyone sells more or less the same thing.
  • For something truly unique, at a few of the shops below, you can order a custom hat, specifying your own style and materials.
  • If you want to give someone a gift of a hat, you can also buy a gift certificate.
  • Prices range, from $45 to several hundred, depending on brand, style, material and craftmanship.
  • You can order online from most of these stores, but hats are very particular fashion items, and...MORE unless you are ordering a known style and size as a replacement, it's smart to visit in person to see what looks best.

Six Best Places to Buy Not Just Any Hat But a Cool Hat, In Brooklyn

Edited Alison Lowenstein

  • 01 of 05

    Bencraft Hats

    Bencraft Hats
    ••• Bencraft Hats

    Bencraft Hats, which lays claim to being the largest distributor of Italian brand Borsolino hats worldwide, has been a Brooklyn family business since right after World War II. With two shops, one in Hasidic Borough Park and the other in Hasidic Williamsburg, they provide "old fashioned customer service," say patrons. There's a huge selection of name brand hats, with more inventory than can be displayed. Brands include: Bailey, Biltmore, Block, Borsalino, Capas, Country Gentleman, Crown Cap, Dobbs, Jonathan Richards, Kangol, Luigi Baroni, New York Hat, Puertofino, Scala, Selentino , Stacy Adams, Stefeno Headwear, Stetson, Tls, Tesi and Wigens.

    Note that stores are closed early on Friday and all day Saturday but are open on Sunday.

    Bencraft Hats
    202 13th Avenue in Boro Park and 236 Broadway in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
    Store Hours: Sunday-Thursday 10am-6pm (est) | Friday 10am-3pm
    Tel: (888)236-2723 (toll free) or (718) 438-9649

  • 02 of 05

    Malchijah Hats

    ••• Malchijah Hats was one of Brooklyn's pioneering indie hat stores. Malchijah Hats was one of Brooklyn's pioneering indie hat stores

    The coolest! In business since 1980, Marcus Malchijah fashions fedoras, newsboys, kepi, ankh and other interesting hats for men and women. If you want something cool, really big, or just fun, try Malchijah Hats..Order online or, better, take a trip to the store.

    Malchijah Hats
    942 Atlantic Avenue, across from St. James Place, in Prospect Heights
    (718) 643-3269
    Noon-8 PM daily; 1-7 PM on Sunday

  • 03 of 05

    The Brooklyn Circus Caps

    ••• Brooklyn Circus' polkadot baseball cap offers a new twist on an old style. Brooklyn Circus' polkadot baseball cap offers a new twist on an old styl
    Brooklyn Circus has a delicious line of men's wear, including of course, hats. If you're looking for something distinctive and tasteful, and also that's designed by Brooklynites, you'll find a selection here.You can find polka dot caps, Donegal tweeds, and more. All would make wonderful gear and wonderful gifts.

    The Brooklyn Circus
    150 Nevins St.in Boerum Hill
    (718) 858-0919
    Closed Monday
    Tuesday-Sunday 12 noon-7PM

  • 04 of 05

    Goorin Bros. Hats

    ••• Goorin Bros. store on 5th Avenue in Park Slope, boasts a retro aesthetic. Goorin Bros. store on 5th Avenue in Park Slope, boasts a retro aesthetic
    Though not exclusively Brooklyn, the hats sold by Goorin Bros., founded in 1895, are wonderfully retro in style and, at least for some shoppers, are in perfect synch with the new Brooklyn aesthetic.

    Goorin sells hats for both men and women: ball caps, bowlers & top hats, cadets, cloche, fascinators & pill boxes, fedoras, flatcaps, floppies, gatsbys, knits, outback & western, schoolboys, straws & panamas, troopers & earflaps and more.

    Dedicated to the revival of the neighborhood hat shop, they've opened up a hat store on 5th Avenue in Park Slope, between Union and Sackett Streets.

    Goorin Bros.
    195B 5th Avenue in Park Slope
    (718) 783-4287
    Sun.-Thu. 11AM-7 PM
    Friday 11 AM-8 PM
    Saturday 11 AM-9 PM

    Continue to 5 of 5 below.
  • 05 of 05

    Street Vendors: Hats Here, There, Everywhere

    ••• Street vendors in Brooklyn sell hats...inexpensive and fashionable. Street vendors in Brooklyn sell hats...inexpensive and sometimes fashionable.

    If you want something fast, and cheap, look for weekend markets such as the famous Brooklyn Flea, and street vendors.

    Street vendors, of course, are semi-professional people watchers, and the best will, like everyman Bill CUnninghams, notice street fashion trends-in-making. So it's no surprise that in hat-loving Brooklyn, you can pick up a trendy hat from street vendors (especially on weekends) at flea markets or along major shopping streets in such neighborhoods as Williamsburg, Fort Greene, and Park Slope.