Bollman Hat Company 1900s Bollman Heritage Collection Gibson Girl in Navy

Our founder George Bollman died in 1900. His twenty three year old son, George W. Bollman, purchased the business from his mother soon thereafter. The elder George was born in 1838, founded the hat factory at age thirty and died at age sixty two. There were more than one hundred small hat factories in America and competition was fierce. Hat manufacturing in Adamstown was limited to summer and early fall months during this decade. George W. Bollman decided in 1905 to enter the hosiery manufacturing business to provide employment for the workers during the winter and spring months. In the early 1900s, womens fashion showed a confident and curvy look. The corset of this period removed pressure from the abdomen and created an S-curve silhouette.The Gibson Girl drawings were pen and ink illustrations by Charles Dana Gibson. These illustrations were often considered the first national standard of beauty for women. One of the trends that resulted from the drawings was an affinity for large-cr