Dirty Billy’s Hats

If I could give this company negative stars, I surely would because they so badly deserve it. It’s been a few years now, but I once ordered a hat from them and it was the worst single customer service experience I have ever had anywhere. I placed the order in person at their store, paid in advance, and much later they contacted me for more money because apparently the young man who took my order had quoted the wrong amount. I choked that down and thought in the end, it’d be worth it.
When the hat arrived it was an entire numbered size smaller than I’d ordered. I was pretty ticked because I’d waited a very long time for it and paid a lot of money. When I returned it, I put a note in with it that I was returning because it was so much smaller than the order was for. About a week after that, I got the most hate-​filled voice mail of my life from (I assume) the owner. He declared I wasn’t worthy of a hat of any size as I’d had the nerve to return it for a refund. He said my business wasn’t worth it and to never order from him again. All because I returned a hat that was nowhere near the size I’d ordered. He was very lucky that I lived on the other side of the country by then. I played the voice mail for several people at the time because understandably, they thought I must have been making it sound worse than it really was. They were all equally shocked to hear the message.
I’m not kidding when I say that I’ve been on a crusade to steer as many people from this horribly inept company and truly miserable owner, ever since. The irony there is that nobody I’ve ever encountered in re-​enacting or cowboy shooting has ever said my experience was totally out of left field. Almost every response his been shrugging of shoulders and, «Well, that’s just how he is» excuses, even among people who have claimed to know him personally.
Their products are so-​so at best, their customer service is inept, and the owner frankly should NOT be dealing with the public at all. Avoid dealing with this bunch at ALL costs.

If you want an authentic hat, this is the place to go. Period. This is museum quality stuff. My son is a Civil War reenactment her and we have gotten him several hats from here. You’re going to pay top dollar but you are also going to get top-​quality. When costume designers are getting costumes together for movies they go here.

As we say in California … Dirty Billy’s is the BOMB.
My wife and I went to Annapolis and walked into Hats in the Belfry the day before. The sales guy there is as aggressive as F*(@ … mainly due to the crazy prices that they are trying to stick on people.
At Dirty Billy’s … the owner was very polite, and not pushy at all. We started to buy two hats and she recommended a third for my wife. It was as cute as hell and we bought that too. I never buy hats (I have a big melon of a head) and asked to try on one. I looked silly (because of the melon). The owner didn’t push when I didn’t buy it.
Since we were traveling she shipped the hats and not only did it arrive fast but was packed really well.
If you go to as many hat shops around the country like we do, you’ll KNOW the difference DB’s has.
The only question now is when they will get their website up so we can buy more.

I had the privilege of meeting Billy in Illinois and later at the 150^th Gettysburg anniversary. While in Gettysburg, went to the store and have to say it was one of the highlights of my trip. Walking in, is like taking a trip back in time as you pass, row upon row of the most amazing hats you will ever see outside of a museum.
The quality of his work is second to none and I cannot recommend him and his work too highly.

This is a fun little store in the old part of downtown Gettysburg (just off the square). They have a great selection of men’s hats and a decent selection of women’s hats. The prices on the women’s hats were quite reasonable, though clearly most were not made by hand in house. I did get a lovely very wide-​brimmed black and white hat for only $ 35! Though, they did have a case of much fancier and higher quality hats that appeared to be hand made that were extremely lovely, just not my style. We enjoyed looking at the cases with a display of old antique head wear as well! The staff was very friendly.