Lock & Co. marks 350 years with two defining hats

Lock & Co. Hatters has spent its 350th anniversary year returning to the hats that define its reputation, each reimagined as a limited edition that honours both the craft and the house’s singular place in British millinery. Two emerge as particularly vital to the moment: the 350 Fairbanks Trilby and the 350 Estate Hat, each distinct in temperament and material, yet equally assured in their execution.

The Fairbanks Trilby takes its name from Douglas Fairbanks Jr., the actor whose elegant bearing and refined taste made him a natural companion for Lock & Co.’s aesthetic. Crafted from ultrafine wool that catches the light with subtle luminosity, it carries a soft wool sweatband embossed with the anniversary logo, a whispered acknowledgement of the occasion rather than a proclamation. The proportions sit that delicate line between contemporary and timeless, the brim and crown calibrated for the man who understands that a hat is not decoration but a completion of thought.

The Estate Hat pursues an altogether different philosophy. Here the fabric speaks first: beige herringbone tweed, woven with the density and character that marks country craft, paired with a luxurious silk lining that feels like a small rebellion against the coat’s austere exterior. The silhouette is purely rural in its origins, yet rendered with such precision that it reads equally at ease in a London drawing room or across moorland. Herringbone has a weave that catches and releases light in motion, the pattern shifting subtly as the wearer moves through space.

Both hats carry the embossed anniversary logo, a discreet mark of the house’s three and a half centuries of continuous practice. Lock & Co.’s store on St James’s Street holds both styles, where they await those who understand that a proper hat is not chosen but recognised.

Imagery courtesy of Lock & Co. Hatters (@lockhatters).