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Need a Derby Hat? Stockton Company has Your Head Covered

Need a Kentucky Derby Hat? Stockton, California Company has Your Head Covered - KTXL

STOCKTON—

As the horses and jockeys prepare for the 138^th Kentucky Derby, hat sellers are cashing in; including Dorfman Pacific in Stockton.

The annual event at Churchill Downs happens Saturday afternoon, and fans of horse racing and fans of fashion will be hosting Derby-watching parties across the country.

Dorfman Pacific has been selling hats in the official Kentucky Derby Museum store for several years. But California Derby fans can get a fashionable hat a little closer to home.

“For women, the bigger the better. The flashier they can be, the happier they (the women) seem to be,” Douglas Highsmith, CEO of Dorfman Pacific told FOX40 from their Stockton storefront.

He also said they have been selling a lot of fascinators, which are not quite a hat, but more of a headband, or pin with feathers, veils or fabric attached.

 The company’s creations range in price from $24 to $200.

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Derby fashion: First step: Select a hat

http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/derby-fashion-first-step-select-hat

Derby weekend is no mere sporting occasion — although the action on the track is thrilling — it’s one of the great social gatherings of the year and the people who attend dress accordingly in all their finery, especially hats.

Headwear company Dorfman Pacific has been selling hats in the Kentucky Derby Museum store at Churchill Downs for years. It’s become a year-round business there, as more visitors seek hats for special occasions or as souvenirs.

On Derby weekend, business is like a tidal flow, said the company’s vice president of sales, Debra Highsmith. One moment the store is overflowing with shoppers. The next, virtually everyone disappears to the stands in time for the next race, and the store is deserted. Once the race is over, back they come.

The formal Derby weekend crowd buys a different, much dressier type of hat, than year-round visitors to Churchill Downs. In response to this, an elegant and eye-catching assortment of women’s sinamay hats and fascinators were created.
Styling elements include a variety of high fashion colors and shapes, adorned with stunning and extravagant confections of ribbon and feather. These hats generally range from $70 to $150, with fascinators ranging from $24 to $200.

 “Last year’s royal wedding inspired women to try fascinator headwear instead of traditional hat silhouettes, as they are easier to wear and are a flattering accessory for many occasions. Younger women are wearing them to proms and clubs in order to make a unique fashion statement. Wedding parties are enjoying them, too,” Highsmith said.

Kentucky Derby Hats Made In Stockton

STOCKTON, Calif. (KCRA) -- Dorfman Pacific in Stockton has designed a special collection of hats for the Kentucky Derby.

Kentucky Derby Hats Made In Stockton - Video - KCRA Sacramento
Photos From The Field: Stockton Company Designs Derby Hats

Dorfman Pacific CEO Douglas Highsmith says many of the colorful and fancy hats worn at the Kentucky Derby are designed and manufactured by the Stockton-based company and the hats are expected to sell like hotcakes at the Churchill Downs stores.

Hats range in price from about $100 to $300.

Thousands of hats are sold year-round by the Stockton company.

Its manufacturing and distribution center on Boeing Way is 300,000 square feet.

Highsmith told KCRA 3 that his inventory has become more popular after the Royal Wedding last year.

Dorfman Pacific said the Kentucky Derby is great for business because without a hat, people feel naked at the prestigious horse races.

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120429/A_BIZ/204290306
http://youtu.be/Ndzjp8WFHFA

Hats off to Dorfman Pacific

Warehouse in Stockton has millions

 

STOCKTON - There was a touch of reverence in John Callanan's tone as he held up a fine crocheted raffia hat. 

"People don't understand the amount of work that goes into a hat," said Callanan, the vice president of design at Dorfman Pacific in Stockton. 

"The palm tree grows in Madagascar. It's harvested," he said, explaining the long journey that led to the hat's $150 price tag. "The palm leaf is dried and pulled apart to the finest centimeter, and then it's hand-crocheted."

The hat is one of millions at Dorfman Pacific's wholesale distribution center in Stockton - some elaborate, with

flowers and bright ribbons, and others more simple, like a cadet cap that sells for roughly $4.

Dorfman Pacific has about 20 brands in total, including Scala, Stetson, Tropical Trends and DPC.

When President and Chief Executive Douglas Highsmith took over, the company catered primarily to Northern California. It has showrooms across the United States and exports to international locations like Japan, China, Australia, South America and Europe.

Highsmith started out as a salesman in 1973, working his way up the ladder and eventually buying the business.

"It's been my life. It's my only job," he said. "We have more hats in this warehouse than anybody else in the world."

Even as he sorted through stacks of hats to decide what would be added to the 2013 spring/summer line and what would be discontinued, Callanan was already thinking of the possibilities for the following autumn.

"You have classic shapes. It's really the trims that change a lot," he said. "I'm definitely seeing a lot more fashion trims at the moment, and a lot more color."

He finds inspiration in everything from bracelets and hair accessories to popular television programs like AMC's "Mad Men."

"To me, a line is never really finished. I'm always thinking. I'm walking around and looking," he said.

Design Vice President John Callanan displays a couple of hats at Dorfman Pacific in Stockton, site of the firm's large warehouse.

Stacks of hats are on display in a showroom Monday at Dorfman Pacific in Stockton. The company’s Boeing Way warehouse contains millions of hats from several major manufacturers.

A storage area at Dorfman Pacific contains many boxes of hats.

At a glance

Location: 2615 Boeing Way, Stockton

History: The company was started by Arthur Hyman and Jack Dorfman in Oakland in 1921. In 1988, the

distribution center relocated to Stockton to cut down on operating expenses.

President and CEO: Douglas Highsmith

Employees: 175 full time; about 30 temporary

Challenges

Importing: Most manufacturing, except for embroidery, takes place overseas. "Making hats is very labor-intensive, and most Americans would rather sit at a computer than a sewing machine," CEO Douglas Highsmith said. But importing involves many challenges, such as currency fluctuations.

Expansion costs: As the company has grown, Highsmith said he is always looking for ways to become more efficient. Dorfman now ships five times the hats it used to with only three times the amount of people.

Government regulation: "The government considers us a large business, but we're a very small business. We're closer to a shoeshine stand than we are to General Motors," Highsmith said. "If there's anything that will drive us out of business, that's what it'll be."

By the numbers

20: approximate number of brands under the Dorfman banner.

280,000: square feet in the company's distribution center.

3 to 4 million: hats on any given day at the Stockton facility.

Contact Web Content Producer Katie Combs at (209) 546-8255 or kcombs@recordnet.com. Visit her blog at recordnet.com/multimediablog.

Trend Finder: Menswear Prints

http://www.accessoriesmagazine.com/43822/trend-finder-menswear-prints

The boys are back in town and making quite a statement in accessories. This fall designers find inspiration in menswear prints, adding unique tweed, houndstooth and gingham prints to shoes, hats, scarves, jewelry and handbags.