Mad Hatter Day

Did Hatter go mad because of Alice?  No, it wasn’t Alice (but it may have been the mouse in his teapot)!  The expression “mad as a hatter”, actually refers to the hat-making industry and mercury poisoning which caused workers to develop a variety of physical and mental ailments in the 18th and 19th centuries.  However, by the time the International Hat Company was founded in 1917, improvements had been made to hat making processes and factory workers were not exposed to toxic mercury.  Known for their harvest hats, the International (Harvest) Hat Company was one of the largest hat manufacturers in the world for a time.  W.M. Rodger’s patent for the Harvest Hat (US Pat. No. 2,252,207) provided hats with a sweat pad and ventilation for farm workers worldwide.   So, hats off to all the milliners as we celebrate Mad Hatter Day!