Hollywood Trender: Block Headwear, American-made swagger and hats for all occasion

By April MacIntyre Feb 7, 2011, 5:11 GMT

American hat maker Block Headwear has been in operation since 2000, but the company\'s street cred and fashion status has been elevated immensely by Hollywood\'s intense love affair with their stylish Trilby, caps, beanies and more styles.

American hat maker Block Headwear has been in operation since 2000, but the company's street cred and fashion status has been elevated immensely by Hollywood's intense love affair with their stylish Trilby, caps, beanies and more styles.

New York City based, Block Headwear is known for their relaxed range of simple, quality headwear for men that are a solid hit with the hipster crowd, and the classic male fashion accessory fan. 

Block hats are seen all over Hollywood, on sets and in films, and are American made with superior design and superb fit, and are reasonably priced.

Founder Ciomi McCabe came to New York from Havana, Cuba and was raised in the  business. McCabe was at Hatmaker Kangol for 15 years.

HAT ADVICE

Wear the correct size. Your hat shouldn't come down over your ears or fall off every time you tilt your head. It shouldn't give you a headache or leave a red mark across your forehead when you remove it.

Tilt your hat. Sun hats are meant to be worn on the back of the head; fedoras should be worn down over the eyebrows. A slouchy beanie should be tilted slightly backward for a trendy, stylish look. If the hat you're trying on doesn't look right, try it at a different angle.

Ciomi launched Block Headwear in May 2000, and in May 2006, Concept One Accessories acquired Block where Ciomi remains as the head designer and creative director of the brand.

The brand name, Block, pays homage to the centuries old art of hat making where material is molded around a piece of wood - a "Block" - to give a hat its shape.

From an interview Ciomi granted Lookbooks.com:

"...I was at Kangol for 15 years; I learned the headwear business there, starting out working in their showrooms and moved on to merchandising, product development and designs, and sales by the time I left. I saw a niche in the headwear market, it was when that whole…metro thing was happening [laughs]. It was just emerging, you could tell the guys were becoming more interested in fashion and the apparel business was creating garments to match that. I didn’t really see it in headwear. Kangol was a dedicated headwear brand, and I didn’t see others out at the time for that fashionable guy."

Ciomi continues, "Will Smith wore one of our beanies in Bad Boys 2  and it just started going from there. I worked with a lot of DJs and just really started to grow. In 2006 I sold the brand to ConceptOne Accessories, a large accessories company, and I'm still head designer and creative director. I sold it because I started Block on my own, and now that it had grown I needed backing, an infrastructure."