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How The World鈥檚 Oldest Hat Shop Has Stayed In Business For Nearly 350 Years | Still Standing - YouTube
Channel: Business Insider
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this is one of the only shops in the
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world that still measures every head
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before selling a hat
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lock and co-workers have been designing
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and selling high quality hats for nearly
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350 years making it the oldest hat shop
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in the world it's outfitted british
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royalty and invented iconic headwear
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like charlie chaplin's bowler the shop
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has survived industrialization and two
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world wars but the kovid 19 pandemic was
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the first time it had to close its doors
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we went to the heart of london to see
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how this legendary boutique is still
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standing
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master hatter j vagila greets every
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client as they walk
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you in hat stores don't do custom
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shaping and sizing but at lock and co
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customers don't get off the rack
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treatment spot on 61.
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then jay brings them to the custom
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fitting device called a conformator
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this one is a hundred and fifty years
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old and still in use at lock every day
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jay inserts a piece of paper into the
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conformator and locks the top part in
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place
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it punches dots in the paper that
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outline the exact head shape
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jay uses the paper to calibrate the
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other sizing tool the formula
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he adjusts each of the wooden keys to
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match the cutout
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then he puts this inside the hat
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with light steam and a brush jay adjusts
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the hat until it's soft and takes on the
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perfect shape
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he removes the familian and gives the
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client a final fitting of their
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customized hat great great
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two floors up head designer awan golding
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hand crafts couture pieces for lock's
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women's collection
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owan chooses her materials mixing and
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matching textures and colors
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next she chooses a wooden hat block
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lock and co has a large collection that
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includes vintage ones
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awand softens the fabric over the block
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using water and steam
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she stretches and pulls it allowing the
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material to take shape before pinning it
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in place
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so you're using a lot of heat and
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pressure
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to block
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and it's this is the same process
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in hat blocking with any material you
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use and this is the way that hat making
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has been done forever
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in fact mass-produced hats are made with
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the same principles in mind but with
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hydraulic machines instead of by hand
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a wand makes sure there are no wrinkles
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in the first layer before she repeats
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the process this time with french canvas
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she leaves it for a day to harden and
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hold its shape on the block
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she polishes the dry base with an iron
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that's quite important when you're using
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fabric on the outside because any
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wrinkle will show up
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and carefully removes all the tacks to
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free it from the wooden block
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to make sure that the hat keeps its
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shape she sews wire into the brim
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each hat is a piece of art in itself
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we are not really constrained by
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function
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in hat making
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you really are creating something that
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is
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spectacular it doesn't really have to
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kind of keep you warm it doesn't have to
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clothe your back then it's time to
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decorate it
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for this piece in the winter collection
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she opts for a dark blue satin and a
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white flower
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hats can be anything um they can be kind
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of as large and as crazy as you want or
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as small and demure
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and and subtle as well so i think you
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really cover
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every emotion really with a hat
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going to lock and co feels like stepping
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into a different time
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very little has changed from the layout
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the front of the store
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okay we have electric lights and
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a few different bits we focus on the
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old-fashioned service
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very high quality products
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lock and co keeps the conformator
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patterns for a number of their high
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profile customers
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and the shop has invented some of the
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world's most iconic pieces of headwear
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throughout history
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its most famous style is the cook
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perhaps more commonly known as a bowler
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hat
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charlie chaplin ordered his signature
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hats from the shop
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and the cook even appeared as bond
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villain odd jobs weapon of choice
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winston churchill's trademark styles the
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homburg and the cambridge are also
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staples of locknco's catalog
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british naval hero lord nelson visited
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the shop several times to purchase his
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classic bicorn hats
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including on his last day in london
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about a month before his death at the
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battle of trafalgar
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before going to the front in world war
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one many british soldiers got the
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leather straps and their steel helmets
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fitted here and box hatters helped
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redesign and fit queen elizabeth ii's
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coronation crown
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lock and co is also among the world's
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oldest family businesses
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members of the seventh generation of the
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locke family are still a part of it
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today everybody that works here it's not
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just about selling hats it's not just
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about the knowledge there's a real
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custodianship of the shop throughout its
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long history it has had to adapt to
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changes beyond just fashion trends
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like expanding its export business and
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selling online
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and hats aren't necessarily the easiest
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things
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to buy online everybody knows their shoe
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size but not everybody knows their hat
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size
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and it's even had to weather some major
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disruptions to the business during the
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blitz
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the building was actually bombed the
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bomb came through the roof and all of
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the floors and landed in the basement
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and thankfully didn't explode
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and then more recently obviously the
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global pandemic is the first time we've
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ever had to close our doors
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the shop was closed on and off for
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almost a year forcing lock to rely only
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on its website sales we don't do
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off-site warehousing we don't have
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a fulfillment center everything goes out
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of the green front door
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and so to turn a business that was
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80
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retail to suddenly 100 online was a big
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change and required a lot of effort
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and during the uk's lockdown fashionable
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events where people would wear hats like
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weddings and horse races were cancelled
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now as the country reopens many major
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events are back on the calendar
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so while lock and co strives to keep up
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with the rise and demand it promises to
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face this post-pandemic chapter with the
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same traditions it has kept up for
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centuries
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we are
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old-fashioned in all of the positive
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ways that that can be interpreted i
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think that that's very refreshing uh in
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the days of sort of fast fashion and
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high-paced lifestyles to come into this
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tiny little oasis of like stepping back
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in time
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you
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