It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that you’ve seen hats crafted by Alberto Hernandez. Over the last decade, the 28-year-old Los Angeles denizen has become one of the most influential hatmakers in America, producing hats for movies, celebrities and countless clients across the world. “I’ll be honest,” Hernandez admitted. “I’ve made over 10,000 hats myself.” Interestingly enough, that incredible number was produced mostly under the radar, stamped with the names of a couple notable California brands. But this summer, Hernandez struck out on his own and founded Meshika, offering both stock and custom hats.
Long before Hernandez had a Rolodex of A-list clients, he was surrounded by a different type of hatmaking. Both his father and grandfather made western cowboy hats and sombreros charros in Guanajuato, Mexico, where Hernandez was born. “It was beautiful growing up around hats in my house,” he said. And though he didn’t initially have any interest in pursuing the craft himself, his feelings changed after watching The Good, the Bad and the Ugly when he was 14. Hernandez was captivated by the worn-in character of the western hats worn by Clint Eastwood. He asked his father about making hats like that in the family workshop but learned it was a near impossibility. “He told me, ‘It’s too difficult, son. All those hats come from the U.S. They’re beaver felt or rabbit felt and it’s very difficult to get for us,’” Hernandez said.
“Right now for me, it’s very important just to inspire young people and be creative,” Hernandez said.
Those western hats continued to fascinate Hernandez, so he immigrated to the United States in 2006 and became an apprentice at Baron Hats in Burbank, a company making modern replica hats for Hollywood movies. It was there, under the tutelage of a master hatter, that Hernandez learned to make hats as he saw in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. “I learned everything that I know now there: the hand shaping, the distressing, the hand blocking, the service, talking with the customer,” Hernandez said. “And [I was] also learning English because I couldn’t speak English back then — I could only speak Spanish.”
The hats that Hernandez made had character. They felt old and worn-in like they had unique stories earned over decades of wear. The hat Johnny Depp wore in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest — that was Hernandez. He also made hats for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and 3:10 to Yuma, among other blockbuster films. Through his apprenticeship, Hernandez learned that hatmaking was about more than just the technique. “I really got that feel, to tell a story on a hat, to get inspired by it and make cool things,” he said. It was this notion of storytelling that Hernandez took with him when he left Baron Hats. He wanted to make hats full of personality — typically only made for big-budget films — available to the public.
