More than 120 years ago, George Kromer—a semi-pro baseball player with a “stormy” temper—made history.
Actually, his wife Ida did. And that history was a hat.
Distinguishable from an ordinary baseball cap by the adjustable (and warm) earband above the brim, Ida’s ingenious invention became known as the Stormy Kromer hat. Its practical origins solved a problem for Ida, whose husband worked on the railroad and kept losing his hat. Like many brilliant ideas, it spread (partly by rail!). Today, it’s a Midwestern icon.
But how did the hat of a railworker from Kaukauna, Wisconsin, become an enduring symbol of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula?
Jacquart Fabric Products (JFP), the family-owned company that now produces the Kromer cap, has been based in Ironwood, Michigan, since the 1950s. But CEO Gina Jacquart Thorsen says the cap’s appeal in the U.P.’s mining communities began even earlier.
“I have pictures of my great-grandfather from the ’40s and he’s wearing a Kromer hat,” she says. “When I was a kid, most older men around here wore a Kromer.”
Even Ironwood’s teenagers would wear them and stick pins from nearby ski hills onto the headband, she remembers.
But when the local stores received word that the Kromer caps were being discontinued, Thorsen’s father, Bob Jacquart, acted fast. He called the Kromer Cap Company (then based in Milwaukee) and pitched his sewing business as a buyer.
“The entire customer base was pretty much within 60 miles of Ironwood,” says Thorsen. Moving the making of Kromer caps up to Ironwood just made sense. Plus, the hat’s Midwestern roots and homegrown origins fit the small-but-mighty family shop perfectly.
“If we were a sewing factory in Florida, we wouldn’t have been driven to save the Stormy Kromer cap,” she says. “There’s a real sense of place in the product and in who we are.”
JFP had never owned a brand before. Most of what they made went to other businesses’ shelves. But the Kromer cap, with its rich history, soon changed that.
“Once we started putting effort into marketing, there were a lot of people just waiting for Stormy Kromer to get more love,” says Thorsen. “People would call with all these stories: ‘I buried my grandfather, and the last thing that went with him was his Kromer cap.’ Super deep stuff.”
JFP added new colors, then ladies’ hats, then kids’ hats. “It just kind of snowballed,” says Thorsen.
What has kept the Kromer cap alive for more than 120 years? “It keeps you warm. It does its job,” says Thorsen. “It also has this unique look, and people like the fact that it’s not just another baseball cap. There’s a little bit of a ‘secret club’ kind of thing.”
“We have a photo board in the building with a whole section of wedding photos with everyone wearing the hat, a whole pet section, et cetera,” says Thorsen. “It’s an honor to take care of this brand that so many people love.”