Goorin Bros. Hat History & Heritage
The Story of Goorin Bros
1895A cart full of hats
Cassel Goorin started on the streets of Pittsburgh with a horse-drawn cart and a stack of handmade hats. No storefront yet — just craft, a route, and the idea that what sat on a man’s head should be built to last. That cart is still the origin story the company tells. Year one for a family that hasn’t put the name down since.
1900s–1930sBuilt for work and the lake
Hats sat on every head in America — factory floor, ballroom, Sunday street. Cassel’s sons Al and Ted grew up in the trade and in the outdoors: fishing, hunting, days on the water. Goorin cut everyday wear that worked on the job and on the lake. Through the Depression the hat stayed a daily essential — practical, presentable, and still worth making well.
1947Headed out West
Al Goorin set up shop in San Francisco at 2nd and Mission. On April 15, 1947, Goorin Brothers became a California corporation — coast to coast under one family name. Postwar prosperity pulled the line wider: Grenadier sporting goods, fishing gear, gloves. Hats first. Lifestyle close behind.
1960Official on the mountain
Goorin was the official headwear licensee of the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley. Ski fashion was taking off, and the family leaned in — knits, accessories, and Raindri, a water-repellent finish that turned an everyday hat into something you could wear in the snow. The formula stayed in the family. The slopes kept buying.
1990s–2006Animal Farm and the parlor shop
Fourth-generation Ben Goorin pointed the brand at San Francisco’s edge — beanies and truckers for skate and snowboard shops, including Thrasher. In 2003 he started sewing animal patches onto truckers: pig, beaver, rooster, goat, donkey. Animal Farm took off. In 2006 he opened a North Beach hat shop — the first Goorin storefront in over fifty years — more hatter’s parlor than chain store. More than thirty neighborhood shops followed.
TodayFitted in Fayetteville
Still family-run out of San Francisco. Felt classics, fashion shapes, and the Animal Farm truckers people collect and argue over. We carry Goorin Bros. at Moon Ridge in Fayetteville — try the fit in person at the hat bar, or shop the line online and we’ll ship it to your door.
