Hat Plait

Luton was the centre of straw hat industry and still is the centre of the British hat industry. During the 1800s people living in the surrounding villages would have spent their lives plaiting straw to supply the local hat manufacturers. The industry of making hats is multi-faceted. Farm workers prepared the straw for the plaiters. When it was finished it was sold to dealers. They sold it onto the manufacturers who made the plait into hats. Within the hat manufacturing industry there were also many trades supporting the hat companies: Bleachers and Dyers, Block makers, Blockers and many more smaller trades. Hat trimmers were supplied crown tips, hat linings, hat bands, ribbons, feathers, artificial flowers by a number of companies in town. These weren’t all the companies involved in making a hat. There were gelatine works supplying the hat stiffening, box manufacturers producing the hat boxes. Luton was a hive of industry employing tens of thousands of people.