New downtown SLO shop offers custom hat shaping, high-end Western wear
Just five years ago, Christian Salinas had never shaped a hat, much less owned multiple businesses.
Salinas had only recently opened his Santa Maria store, Salinas Charreria & Western wear, when customers flocked to his shop, hats in hands, asking him to reshape them.
“To be honest, I didn’t even know what the term hat shaping meant,” Salinas said.
But after two weeks of daily requests for hat shaping, Salinas decided to try his hand, purchasing a cheap $80 steamer on Amazon and teaching himself how to subtly shape a hat to its wearer’s liking.
Five years later, Salinas and his business partner Austin Perkins celebrated the opening of their third store after a pair of successful openings in Santa Maria — this time, on Higuera Street in San Luis Obispo.
Salinas said he was inspired to open his latest store by a combination of factors: constant requests from San Luis Obispo County customers, the draw of the Downtown Farmers’ Market and a business boom kicked off by the annual Cal Poly Rodeo.
“I think just last year, I had a student from Cal Poly who was in rodeo, and he walked in our shop after he found that we do custom hat shaping,” Salinas said. “I did a hat for him, and he spread the word around with everybody in Cal Poly, so the next rodeo or next event they had, I had a line outside of store, just of kids from Cal Poly trying to get a hat, trying to get exotic boots.”
Custom hat shaping a hot commodity in SLO
Since opening his doors at 716 Higuera St., Salinas has been “slammed” with customers almost every day.
At the business’ grand opening on Jan. 3, lines of hopeful customers could be seen snaking around the block in both directions as early as 3 a.m., all hoping to get a hat shaped, which can take more than an hour, he said.
Hat shaping is a highly customizable process, which starts with a customer picking a combination of materials, color and starting shape from large racks of hats that line the shop’s walls.
From there, Salinas measures his customers’ heads and tests the hat’s fit, determined to get the fitting right the first time — in no small part due to the high price of the hats from the American Hat Company, which often cost several hundred dollars depending on the materials and quality.
Once a fit has been chosen, Salinas goes through a process of heating the felt of the hat using a high-end $5,500 steam machine — a far cry from his original $80 steamer — which makes the material pliable.
Salinas then hand-shapes the hats, shaping its brim and crown to his customer’s liking, often going through multiple passes until it looks just right.
With the hat’s shape finished, customers can pick out a pair of patches or brands that can be applied for free, with additional decoration adding some cost.
Salinas said many customers opt to have their initials seared with a blowtorch-heated brand on the underside of the brim at the back of the hat, and will choose other decorations for the crown and top of the brim.
The final hat is then presented to the customer with a storage box, and can be reshaped through a similar process if it loses its shape with time down the line, Salinas said.
“When it comes to hats, and you go to other Western stores, you take the hat the way it is on the shelf,” Salinas said. “With us, you get it completely custom from the shape to branding your initials or an important date, so that makes us a really unique shop.”
High-end Western wear also available
On top of the shop’s signature hat shaping, Salinas Charreria & Western Wear also offers high-end Western clothing and accessories off the rack.
Salinas said despite a prevalent ranch and farming culture across the Central Coast, there are relatively few shops that deal in the higher-end Western wear favored for both work and style.
Customers can find boots in a wide range of material, from leathers to Caiman alligator skin, and belts and jackets of all cuts, colors and material types, he said.
“I could dress a whole family — we got kids’ boots, kids’ Wranglers, jeans, hats, straw hats,” Salinas said. “We have it all.”
Salinas said he’s enjoyed seeing his store packed with customers during the weekly Downtown Farmers’ Market, just as he envisioned it years ago.
“My first time I was here, just seeing all that foot traffic, I was like, ‘Higuera’s a spot,’” Salinas said. “’If I’m ever gonna open up a location in downtown SLO, it’s gonna be Higuera Street.’”
