(The following Associated Press article by Bob Gwizdz was circulated on March 20.)
IRONWOOD, Mich. — There are some seemingly insignificant objects in America that take on a symbolism of mythic proportion, that evoke a sense of time or place and say something about the people.
These objects — Pet Rocks, Hula Hoops, whatever — come and go. But one has endured so well it’s celebrating its centennial birthday, despite all odds against it.
That object? A hat, a simple wool cap that was destined for the scrap heap of haberdashery, but has survived because one ardent fan thought it was too important to die.
It’s the Stormy Kromer, a unique blend of utility and style that has survived everything from fads to synthetic fabrics.
Never heard of it? Well, you don’t get out much, do you? At least, not to the Upper Peninsula, where a Kromer is not only considered the height of fashion but a pretty doggone good hat, to boot.
Says state Rep. Rich Brown, D-Bessemer, whose district includes the Stormy Kromer Mercantile Company: “It’s my favorite winter hat.”
He’s not alone. Kromers have been the winter headgear of choice for generations of Yoopers, who’ve found these hats are the best option for braving those long and brutal winters.
So what’s a Kromer? Let’s go back to the beginning.
George “Stormy” Kromer was a former semipro baseball player and railroad engineer who lived in the north country and was getting tired of having his cap blow off his head from the wind gusting through his locomotive. So in 1903, he grabbed one of his old ball caps and asked his wife Ida to sew some modifications to it, including a movable ear band. A legend was born.
The Kromer Cap Company, headquartered in Milwaukee, went on to make all sorts of cloth caps, including specialty headgear such as welders’ caps. Over time, Stormy’s winter hat, often called the “Original Blizzard Cap,” became a small part of the operation — so small, in fact, that by the turn of the 21st century, Kromer executives had decided to discontinue it.
Enter Bob Jacquart, owner of Jacquart Fabric Products in Ironwood, makers of canvas boat covers, dog beds and cat furniture. Over coffee at the local diner one morning, Jacquart heard that the venerable winter cap would soon be no more. And he just couldn’t let that happen.
Since he’s in the sewing business, Jacquart made inquiries. And by 2001, he was the proud owner of the rights to make the Original Stormy Kromer.
Kromers feature six-panel construction of preshrunk fabric and a short, flexible brim that angles slightly downward to keep the wind from blowing it off. The ear band, which ties in the front, fits snugly against the cap — except, of course, when you pull it down over your ears.
The Kromer has been a boon to Jacquart, who added 10 full-time workers and now sponsors a giant Kromer cap float in north country parades. The company makes 200 hats a day, but expects production to hit 400 to 500 a day soon.
“It’s really been a lot of fun, too,” said Kari Jacquart, Bob’s daughter and manager of the plant where Kromers are made. “We get five to 10 e-mails a day from people all over the country with Kromer stories.”
One was from a Michigan fellow who, after a round of golf, wandered into a pub in Scotland wearing his black Kromer. After he’d declined several offers to buy it, he found someone had pinched it and wouldn’t `fess up — even after the barkeeper offered a round of drinks for the entire house if it were returned to its owner.
In recent years, Kromers have been available in red or black. But now that Stormy Kromer Mercantile, the Jacquart subsidiary that sells the hats, has taken over, almost anything is possible. There are blue ones and tan ones and a smashing charcoal gray number.
There’s a Green Bay green for Packer fans. There’s an Advantage Camo model. And if all goes well, there’ll be a blaze orange model on the market this fall, which should propel the original Stormy Kromer — which retails for $29.95 ($34.95 for camo) — from Sunday-go-to-meeting outerwear to de rigueur deer hunting apparel.
“The problem we’re having is you cannot dye 100 percent wool bright enough to be legal (for hunting),” Kari Jacquart said. “Right now we’re looking at some wool blends to see if we can make them bright enough.”
Stormy Kromer Mercantile has experimented with fleece materials, which can absorb the hunter orange dye, but it wasn’t up to the company’s high performance standards.
“It’s not going to stand up like a wool hat,” Jacquart said. “It’s not the quality hat that we want to make.”
But the company hasn’t totally abandoned the fleece. Soon to hit the market: “My First Kromer,” a Polar Fleece model — in pink or blue, of course — for baby Yoopers.
And that’s not the half of it. There’s a new short-brimmed Kromer, designed specifically for bowhunters, and new brimless Kromers, for the active crowd — skiers, snowboarders, motorcyclists — to wear under their helmets.
“It’s the next generation,” says new products manager Fara Erspamer. “With attitude.”
Kromers are now part of the winter uniform of the Ironwood police and Gogebic County sheriff’s departments. And once known almost exclusively to the western U.P. and northern Wisconsin, Kromer sales are taking off across the country.
Kromers have become so popular there are even knockoffs popping up on the market.
“It’s like a new coffee-table item,” Erspamer said. “People can talk about these hats for hours. “And it’s not just a symbol of dress. It works. It’s a good hat.”