CELEBRATING THE CRAFT

RESPONSIBLE RETAILER

Lock & Co. Hatters continuously strives to be a responsible retailer, both in terms of the environment and within our industry. We want to ensure that the craftsmanship and skills themselves are protected to continue to provide opportunities for people seeking work in the hat-making and complementary trades and to have a positive impact on our community. We are committed to training and developing our people and keeping up to date with environmental legislation.

Lock & Co. Hatters genuinely want to make a difference and have a sincere commitment to improvement. Lock & Co., a small family business, is committed to positive change. We realise that these changes cannot happen overnight. Instead, working with our suppliers, farmers, factories, and partners, we will make incremental progress and address challenges and communicate our progress honestly.

All our employees are aware of our social and environmental commitments and in 2022 we launched our sustainability project – Project FRESH.

LONGEVITY

Lock & Co. Hatters is the oldest hat shop in the world and the oldest shop in London. Our passion for hats is boundless and our knowledge unrivalled. For nearly 350 years, Lock & Co. has worked with the finest felts, tweeds, cloth, and cashmere, sourced exclusively from around the world. Drawing on our unique British heritage and craftsmanship, we create both traditional and contemporary hat designs, with scrupulous attention to quality and fit. Our hat shop was established in 1676, making us the oldest hat shop in the world and the oldest shop in London. Every Lock & Co. hat purchased is carefully and expertly hand-prepared in our London shop by one of our Hatters, before it leaves through our famous green front door at No. 6, St James’s Street.

For centuries we have supplied some of history's best-known figures with hats, including Admiral Lord Nelson and Winston Churchill. We created the world's first bowler hat (known to hat aficionados as the 'coke') and to this day our styles remain fresh, trusted and timeless. Royal Warrants attest to Lock & Co.'s commitment to hat quality that is trusted and respected; everything that you would come to expect from Lock & Co. – the home of hats since 1676.

REPAIRS

Lock & Co.'s hat-grooming guides allow customers to keep a hat in good repair and as stylish as the day you bought it – extending the longevity of the hat. Whatever the fabric, we have recommendations to show how best care for each hat. Lock & Co. Hatters also offers the following repair services:

Steam & Brush – we use a specialist steamer and brush to refresh hats.

Full re-block & Refresh - For misshapen hats, we use a wooden block to restore its natural shape and can follow up with a steam and brush.

Brim re-block - We can restore misshapen brims to their proper shape and follow up with a stream and brush.

Leather Sweatband Replacement - Worn sweatbands can be replaced with a new leather one.

Lining Replacement - Worn linings can be replaced with our signature white lining, complete with either black or gold Lock & Co. logo.

Band & Bow Fitting - We have a small selection of mono and multi-tone bands and bows that we can attach to your hat. Or supply your own band/bows for one of our milliners to fit.

Top Hat Band & Bow - Our milliners can update the band and bow on your Top hat.

Top Hat Lining Replacement - Worn linings can be replaced with our signature white lining, complete with either black or gold Lock & Co. logo.

Vintage Silk Top Hat Full Refurbishment - Our Master Hatter can lovingly restore antique silk toppers, preserving as much of the original composition as possible. If you prefer, we can replace the linings, bands, and leather sweatbands.

Bowler/Coke Full Refurbishment - We will do everything we can to return your Bowler/Coke to its original condition. The lining, bands, and leather sweatbands can all be replaced.
Panama Repair - We will do everything we can to return your Panama to its original condition. If you prefer, we can replace the bands, and sweatbands.

Hard Hat Conform & Polish - If you already own a hard hat and would like to have it fitted correctly, we can do so using the conformateur.

ETHICALLY SOURCED

Wherever possible, we invest in ethical materials without compromising quality, longevity, or the ownership experience. We recognise that there is a balance between 'ethical' and 'sustainable', and we are committed to discovering new new fabrics or manufacturing processes, or to continually improve traditional practices.

Lock & Co. Hatters recognise the importance of operating in accordance with high ethical principles and practices:

We work with manufacturers in Spain, Belgium, and the UK, all of whom we have assessed to make sure that they are ethical factories and good employers, that they have safe working conditions, and that their workers are fairly paid and treated in the workplace. We also ensure that there is no exploitation of workers or child labour connected to our company.

We do have a supplier Code of Conduct that we are continually updating to ensure that suppliers meet our ethical standards.

SOURCING PRINCIPLES

Lock & Co. Hatters recognise the importance of operating to high ethical principles and practices that require animals in our supply chain to be treated with care and respect.

We seek to source materials of animal origin, like leather, felt, wool, and hides from countries and suppliers that have well-established and enforced legislation for animal welfare and trade principles applicable to the capture, maintenance, breeding, raising, transportation, and slaughter of live animals.

All hides used in the production of Lock & Co. Hatters merchandise are by-products of the food industry and our suppliers are asked to produce and maintain evidence to illustrate this.

Most of our wool and cashmere is made/woven or supplied by factories and/or mills based in the UK and Ireland. We are ‘assured’ that the manufacturing process and sourcing of raw materials take place under sustainable practices.

ESCORIAL WOOL

Lock & Co. has been working with Escorial since its first collaboration in 2017. This was our first collaboration with an explicitly sustainable reason. As a business we are always seeking to find materials to work with that are sustainable and ethical. Escorial wool allows us to work with a luxury quality felt that is both natural and sustainable.

Escorial is a rare and luxurious wool, which today can only be found in small numbers in Australia and New Zealand. The Escorial fibre is like a curled spring and when stretched throughout the production processes, its natural memory returns it to the original curled state. It is this characteristic that makes Escorial hats lightweight and resilient.

Escorial Wool Newsboy Cap

Stafford Fedora

Meredith Fedora

THE CAMPAIGN FOR WOOL

Wool is a natural, renewable, biodegradable, resilient, and durable material. For this reason, Lock & Co. Hatters is proud to have joined the Campaign for Wool.

BAGS OF ETHICS

Lock & Co. Hatters has been working with Bags of Ethics from Pondicherry in South India for over a decade to help us achieve our goal of eliminating single-use plastic packaging. Bags of Ethics' reusable design has enabled us to switch to a reusable and natural option.

Bags of Ethics products are sustainable in the following ways:

• A pure cotton bag which has been produced using sustainably farmed cotton.
• Use of a variety of cotton weaves, including a luxurious brushed cotton, and a durable heavy weight canvas, that meet the differing requirements of our hat range.
• Printed using non-toxic, water-based inks, which are REACH compliant.
• Inks and water treated to remove effluents and water recycled for use for gardening.
• Double-stitched handles allowing up to 15kg of weight.
• The bags provide a way to carry your hat and are also a good size to repurpose and take with you when you are out and about.
• Longevity – the bag can be reused 5,000+ times.
• Fully compostable in soil.

Ethical and social responsibility:

• 80% of our workforce are women
• We have one of the lowest worker turnovers in the textile industry with many employees staying for over 15 years with the company.
• Our award-winning factory supports the wider community through a variety of training and craft skills programmes.
• Outside of work, the factory team operate as a supportive family – celebrating life milestones from birth, graduations, weddings, anniversaries, world festivals, and beyond.
• Our factory is designed to be energy efficient.
• Water harvesting takes place at the factory.
• Any waste material is repurposed for trims and other product parts.
  

"Bags of Ethics is delighted to have been a supplier partner to Lock & Co. Hatters in the pledge to eliminate single-use plastic packaging. Protecting our planet requires changes in our daily habits – some can be challenging, and some surprisingly easy."

"Bags of Ethics has been working with Lock & Co. for over a decade on reusable packaging, which is functional, speaks to the brand heritage of Lock & Co., and can be reused by customers for a variety of purposes. The reusable bag has been designed to help you switch from single-use plastic to a reusable, and natural option."

Smruti Sriram, CEO of Supreme Creations & Bags of Ethics

SUSTAINABILITY

Lock & Co. Hatters is on a journey to understand and manage our social and environmental responsibilities. We have set objectives and targets for improving our social and environmental performance and have dedicated resources to help us reach our social and environmental goals.

Every action, no matter how small, is being taken with sustainability in mind. We will improve one small step at a time. Whether it is reducing plastic usage, reducing waste, or lowering our carbon footprint, we are committed to recording where we are now and measuring each improvement, no matter how modest. This will be an ongoing process involving the contributions and ideas of all members of our team.

The business is working towards eliminating single-use plastic and seeking out alternatives, and we are working with key stakeholders to eliminate single-use plastic. For example:

• All our caps our now supplied with canvas cap bags.
• We offer either a card and paper hat box or a recycled cotton bag with all of our hats.
• We are now using compostable paper cups.
• We are now using a paper-based packing tape for all our parcels in our e-commerce department.
  

We work with First Mile which is a company that specialises in recycling waste and monitors our level of recyclable waste.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

We will prioritise social responsibility throughout the supply chain and strive for a focus on people and a positive workplace culture. We will take steps as a company to ensure that those who work directly or indirectly for the business are paid and treated fairly, and we will strive for diversity, equality, and inclusion always.