At Canada’s oldest hat shop, ‘every hat tells a story’

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Salesperson Stephan Labonté cheerfully informs his customer that the composition of the stylish fedora he is so delicately fiddling with on his head is of such durability that it should last at least 30 years, and likely even longer.

“But I’m 71 and I’m not so sure I will last that long,” the client quips.

“You just have to think positive,” the beaming Labonté shoots back.

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And yet another successful sale is soon rung up at Chapeaux Henri Henri.

The Henri Henri team is all about positivity. Of course, no hard sell is necessary here. Customers from all walks come in from far and wide to check out the eye-popping selection of men’s and women’s headwear offered. The shop’s online business is also bustling, but nothing beats trying on the merch in the flesh and, if so desired, having one’s noggin custom-fit for headwear and impeccably crafted by Henri Henri’s veteran chapelier — hatmaker — Sylvain Labbé.

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For those of us who have had to wistfully report of late on the closing of far too many city institutions after decades of business, it does the heart good knowing that Henri Henri is the oldest and largest hat store in Canada, celebrating its 92nd birthday this month. That’s special.

Founded by Honorius Henri and Jean-Marc Lefebvre, the shop now on Ste-Catherine St. E., a few blocks west of its original site, was later taken over by the father-son tandem of André and Jean-Marc Lefebvre. The current owners are another father-son act, Yannig and Joël Plunier. Plunier Sr. was a good friend of Lefebvre Sr., and when son Jean-Marc was no longer interested in taking over, the Pluniers were at the ready eight years ago when asked about getting involved.

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Yannig was a one-time hat importer before buying the business but is semi-retired these days. So it has been left to his 40-year-old offspring Joël, a former civil engineer, to largely run the show now, and he has relished the opportunity.

“There’s so much history here,” Joël Plunier marvels. “The looks on the faces of customers when they walk in is something special. It’s like they’ve walked into a museum.”

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And they have. Yet while the classic headgear of yore, from formal top hats to traditional business wear, still sells well, Henri Henri has found a new breed of young buyers smitten by its Kangol and Göttmann lines as well as by its Borsalinos and Stetsons now deemed uber-hip by film, music and sports celebs. The urban cowboy and pork pie hat looks, as well as the upscale tuques and ball caps, are now all the rage among both men and women.

On any given day, you may just as likely run into punk stars Pet Shop Boys and Green Day or actresses Angela Bassett and Charlize Theron as you might running into bankers and barristers.

The Who’s Who of Henri Henri clients past and present is simply staggering: among them, Marlon Brando, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Carey Price, Yvon Deschamps, Diane Dufresne, John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Jean Leloup, Eddie Murphy, Ed Norton, Roch Voisine and the Sutherlands, père Donald and fils Kiefer.

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The looks on the faces of customers when they walk in is something special. It’s like they’ve walked into a museum.

Joël Plunier

And lest we forget: my late colleague/boulevardier Nick Auf der Maur was almost as renowned for his distinct collection of Borsalinos — and Donald Duck ties — as for his verbiage. And Henri Henri was the official purveyor of his headwear.

“The secret to our success is having an excellent chapelier,” the smiling Plunier says while glancing over to Labbé at the back of the shop. “It’s also crucial to understand the changing market and to listen to the tastes of our customers.

“Popular culture plays a big role as well. When the TV series Yellowstone came out, for example, there was a big demand for cowboy hats for men and women.”

And with the release of Beyoncé’s new hit country album Cowboy Carter, urbanite women, once oblivious to 10-gallon headgear, have been flocking to Henri Henri.

Labbé points out that demand for old-time tweed, Brit newsboy-like caps skyrocketed with the release of the Peaky Blinders TV series, starring recent Oscar winner Cillian (of Oppenheimer fame) Murphy as Irish gangster/politico — not necessarily mutually exclusive — Tommy Shelby.

“As a result of the popularity of the series, the hats are now called Shelby caps,” says Labbé, who favours a Shelby himself.

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But Plunier also points out something that Henri Henri’s founders likely never considered as a factor for current demand.

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“What’s really played a big role in recent years is that people are more and more aware of the dangers of skin cancer and more and more conscious of covering their heads up to protect themselves from the sun,” notes Plunier, who sports a Stetson outside the shop.

Henri Henri employs 15, ranging in age from 20 to 80, and all of whom, including boss Plunier, sell its wares on the floor.

I’ve always believed that you have to look in style regardless of what one does for a living.

Investment analyst Robert Ross

Plunier won’t reveal sales numbers but does acknowledge that his inventory has “doubled to 20,000 items over the last three or four years,” which is an excellent indicator of revenues. He estimates that the shop carries 1,000 different headwear styles, made of everything from cotton, silk, wool, synthetic felt and fur felt materials. He is also quick to mention that the animal materials, when not recycled, come from their fur shavings — and not from being put down.

The hats can sell from $40 for a tuque to $1,400 for a Panama hat that takes about 11 weeks to weave. But Plunier has recorded some special orders at far higher prices. His all-time sale was for a $3,500 vicuna felt number from Borsalino. The vicuna is one of two wild South American camelids, and its wool can only be gathered from an adult once every two years and only nets about half a kilo a time at that — thus accounting for the hat’s rather steep price.

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And should that vicuna felt Borsalino require maintenance, its owner can sleep soundly knowing that Henri Henri is the only hat shop around offering a comprehensive cleaning and re-blocking service should the chapeau need to be reshaped, stretched or shrunk.

Plunier attributes a burgeoning online business for contributing mightily to the bottom line. He also acknowledges that the Grand Prix, Montreal International Jazz Festival and, not surprisingly, the Lasso fest of late bring in big waves of customers.

“We can have as many as 30 or 40 clients in the store at one time during those summer periods,” Plunier says. “But we still rely on local customers, because they know our commitment to them doesn’t end with the sale.”

Which likely explains why Henri Henri has so much return business.

Investment analyst Robert Ross is back again, this time settling on a brown, fedora-style, classic Bailey Tino wool hat, selling for about $200.

“I’ve always believed that you have to look in style regardless of what one does for a living.” Pause. “Of course, losing my hair about 10 or 15 years ago could have also factored into my decision to start wearing these hats,” Ross says, flashing a wide grin.

Offering some sound business advice, Ross adds: “A good business will look after the customer, and the customer will then look after you, as is the case here. Good quality, good staff, good location, and you’re off to the races.”

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Sporting a smock and with a measuring tape wrapped around his neck, Labonté looks and sounds like he’s been selling for decades with his seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of the world of headgear. Not quite. He’s only been here six months but has picked up “plenty on the fly.” He has also learned much from his chapelier buddy Labbé. Labonté had previously been in charge of in-flight services for the Belgian airliner Sabena.

“This is so much more fun, because I’m meeting people from all over the world,” Labonté, 65, says. “I’m also learning so much.”

Labonté then goes on to explain the origins of the Stratoliner fedora and why it comes with an airplane pin affixed to its outer hat band. The Stratoliner model, he elaborates, is a vintage reproduction of the 1940s fur felt fedora favoured by billionaire aviator/eccentric Howard Hughes and was so named in recognition of his favourite jet, the Stratoliner Boeing 307, “or as he called it, his flying penthouse.”

“Every hat tells a story,” Labonté adds.

Maude Pelletier, 24, has worked at Henri Henri for just two years yet has quickly become rather knowledgeable about the business.

“To be honest, I never even knew this store existed before moving to Montreal,” says Abitibi native Pelletier. “By chance, I just happened to see it while walking around here and went: ‘Oh, wow!’ and decided I had to work there. I’ve always loved hats, especially coming from a climate where one needs to wear a hat a lot.”

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Pelletier, who favours a Western-style Stetson, is much in demand as a salesperson by both male and female clients who value her fashion sense and her opinion before buying.

“What’s interesting is that so many of our hats are now seen as unisex,” says Pelletier. “We sell as many hats to women as we do to men these days, and often they buy the same hats.”

Hats are like drugs — addictive perhaps, but much more healthy for you.

Stephan Labonté

Times change. That wasn’t the case at the beginning, when the client base was mostly men — business execs, politicians, celebs or other classes of citizenry who wanted to make the right impression — who kept their heads covered with Henri Henri finery.

And can’t forget professional hockey players, either. Henri Henri played a pivotal role in popularizing the “hat trick” nearly 80 years ago in the then-six-team NHL. The shop would award a free hat to any player scoring three — or more — goals in a game. Over the years, Henri Henri gave hats to legendary Habs Jean Béliveau and Maurice “Rocket” Richard as well to Gordie Howe and Phil Esposito among so many other stars. The Rocket alone would have been the beneficiary of a closet full of chapeaux — if he had gone to Henri Henri to amass his collection — for notching 33 hat tricks over the course of his illustrious career.

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In those heady days, Henri Henri used to line the inside of its hats with each season’s schedule of Canadiens games.

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Henri Henri still offers headgear to a Hab who registers a hat trick in a game. But as too many fans are aware, that hasn’t been a regular occurrence of late. In fact, it wasn’t until the 78th game of this season on April 9 that Juraj Slafkovsky netted the first hat trick of the season for the Habs — and the first of his NHL career.

“I was hopeful Cole Caulfield would again score three this season and come by to collect,” Plunier says. “But I’ll gladly provide a hat for Slafkovsky now.”

Hockey actually played a key role in Plunier getting into the hat business. He had been a promising young player until fate intervened:

“I suffered several injuries along the way. It got to the point where I found it really difficult to sit down for a long period. As a civil engineer, I couldn’t handle sitting at a desk in front of a computer all day.

“It’s great always being on my feet here. My back pain is gone. I never would have imagined working here. Now I can’t imagine not working here.”

Labonté doesn’t disagree: “This is a whole new world I’ve found here.

“I hadn’t realized before that hats are like drugs — addictive perhaps, but much more healthy for you.”

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Creating a custom-made hat is ‘an exact science’

Henri Henri’s mantra is “a hat for every head.”

“We first look at the client’s shoulders, then their head and face,” owner Joël Plunier says. “If someone has a smaller shoulder frame and face, like me, I’ll suggest something smaller, so they don’t get lost in something too big. But we never fail to find something for our customers.”

I haven’t had an unhappy customer yet.

Sylvain Labbé

And what a client can’t find on the shelf, chapelier Sylvain Labbé, who’s been at his trade for 30 years, can construct. Behind him is a shelf of hat blocks of every head size, many of which are vintage — going back to Henri Henri’s founding in 1932.

Labbé did crafting of “more allegorical headgear” for Cirque du Soleil for 18 years prior to becoming Henri Henri’s chapelier over two years ago. He now custom-makes about 40 hats a month here from scratch.

“After making an appointment, clients come in with a picture or a drawing or just an idea of something they want. Most know what kind of shape, colour, fabric, ribbons or even protruding feathers they want. We discuss all aspects of the hat before I do head measurements with the help of our hat blocks. Few heads are the same. It is a very exact science,” Labbé says.

Labbé next puts together a kind of mock-up of the desired hat for the customers to try on, and if they are content, Labbé begins the building process. Normally, it takes about 40 hours to create one of his custom-made hats, which can fetch anywhere between $400 to $3,000 — depending on the exoticness of the furs employed.

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“I haven’t had an unhappy customer yet,” says a smiling Labbé, while putting the finishing touches to a fashionable fedora-like hat he has assembled.

When not creating headwear, Labbé is re-adjusting, re-blocking, restoring and steam-cleaning hats. His hands are in constant motion.

“Prior to being a chapelier, I was in haute couture, which in the fashion sense is really not that far removed,” Labbé says. “I’ve only ever known of two other chapeliers, but I know of no one else in Montreal now. Maybe with this sort of hat renaissance now, more will be drawn to the métier, and it won’t become a lost art.”

bbrownstein@postmedia.com

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