Our Story
I’m best known for the Daily Ritual, which launched in 2007.We have the best range of teas in country NSW, with over 160 blends and a great range of coffee. I’ve also started the New England Tea and Coffee range.
In 2018, I was holidaying in New Zealand and I came across these great hats that were made from coffee bags. Obviously, as a tea and coffee man they had instant appeal and I thought they would be a nice addition to my café and retail outlet. And I really liked the quality and how unique they were. We got the coffee sack hat range in before Christmas 2019 and sold 40 of them, which is not bad for a new product.
I loved the products so much I expanded the range from an add-on to my tea and coffee retail to an independent business initially selling only in store. I often have gentlemen whiling away their time reading papers and drinking coffee while their significant others are shopping at Turners across the way, and it turned out they were very interested in the hats. I got a lot of enquiries for other styles, such as the Panama and the Trilby.
I was looking for a niche business and learned there were only three proper hat businesses in NSW. I thought it was a unique opportunity for the New England, and here we are.
We have a really good range now, from the casual coffee bag style, the quirky, to the more fashionable upmarket Panamas, which are suitable for the races.The felts I have are either made of wool or rabbit fur – and these are great for weddings. There’s also a range of peak hats, bucket hats, and a technical hat which can be folded up into a ball and springs back into shape.
Our range appeals to people who are after a really good quality hat that won’t date and will stand the test of time. Our Panama hat comes in three different styles and grades. The grade 3 is the very best you can buy in Panama hats.
Currently we have flat hats and duckbill in our winter range. The cloth comes from England and Scotland, so we have a lot of Scottish tweed. To get the idea, there’s been a TV program called Peaky Blinders which featured these styles of hats.
New England Hatters stands for quality, and being unique. We also want to flexible for sizing. Nothing is mass produced so we can also offer individual custom orders.
Ethical production is also important to me. It’s always been important, even with my tea and coffee business. My teas and coffees are ethically produced. The hats made from the coffee bags are, of course, recycled and therefore sustainable. They’ve also got another hat made from cork – a thin layer of cork which is a natural fibre.
The oilskins come from the UK, they’re oiled in Australia and manufactured in NZ and they’re all really good quality. The rabbit felt is from Portugal. They use that mainly because they have a trial of the humane side of things with the rabbits – how they’re grown and how they’re looked after.
Of course there have been challenges along the way. The coronavirus placed some unexpected hurdles in my path. In January 2020, my wife and I were in New Zealand for a buying trip and we had 300 odd hats ready to go into production. However, with the mandatory closedown in New Zealand, a lot of my hats stayed on the cutting table and couldn’t be finished. Fortunately, hat design doesn’t change a great deal for men and it’s all about the quality so we pushed through the delays.
My regulars have since christened me the Mad Hatter. It’s all good fun!
I love my tea and coffee, that will never change. I’m very proud of our expertise and the fact we know the provenance of all our teas. I also really enjoy the people who come through the doors – it’s the people that make the business. But at the end of the day it’s about family, my beautiful wife, Cherie, our children, and now my growing collection of grandchildren.