OTTAWA — Go to any event featuring RCMP in ceremonial dress, and you’re bound to see Mounties wearing the red serge, blue and yellow breeches, a Sam Browne belt, brown Strathcona boots, and a wide-brimmed, beige Stetson.
The hat, nicknamed the “red Stetson,” has appeared as part of the RCMP uniform on
, posters, promotional videos and even documentaries. It is a core piece of the Mounties’ iconic image and an internationally recognizable piece of Canadiana.
It’s also made in the U.S.A.
, the B.C. RCMP boast that no other element of the Mountie uniform “has the mystique of the Stetson hat,” apart from maybe the red serge.
The RCMP’s official page on the Stetson
also notes that the hat is Canadian from its inception as it is “exclusively crafted by the Biltmore Stetson Canada Company in Guelph, Ontario.”
Except that the Biltmore Stetson Canada Company plant in Guelph shut down in early 2012 after it was purchased by Dorfman-Pacific (now Dorfman Milano),
according to the Guelph Mercury newspaper.
Since then, the iconic Canadian hat has been built at the Dorfman plant — in Garland, Texas.
“Absolutely, I believe that they should be manufactured in Canada,” says Holly Allen, general manager and head of millinery design at Smithbilt Hats, a Calgary-based manufacturer that makes the traditional “white hat” given to visitors during the Calgary Stampede.
The Stetson appears to be the only part of the RCMP uniform that is not made in Canada. For example, the red serge is manufactured in Quebec, the boots are made by the Alberta Boot company, and bidding on a 2015 contract for RCMP breeches was “conditionally
”
In a statement, Erica Prince, RCMP deputy director of communications, suggested that the RCMP was not aware of the wrong information on its webpage about the Stetson until the inquiry by the National Post.
She said the webpage had not been updated in a long time and that the date of the update was due to aesthetic changes to the website.
“We appreciate you bringing this to our attention and have flagged the page for review,” Prince said in an emailed reply.
Despite its website and
reiterating the false claim that the hats are manufactured in Guelph, the
are made in Texas in a 2024 press release about a visit to the Dorfman Milano Hat Factory.
“What better place to have our iconic Stetsons made than a state known for their ten-gallon hats?!,” reads the press release.
But at a time when Canada is in a trade war with the United States and President Donald Trump frequently proposes to make Canada the 51st American state, is the government comfortable that such an iconic piece of Canadiana is being produced in Texas?
The office of Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree referred the question to the RCMP, which demurred.
The RCMP also did not respond to questions about if and when it had last proactively sought out a Canadian manufacturer for the Stetson.
Prince said that open tenders for the hat contract were completed in 2013 and 2017 and only Biltmore (now Dorfman Milano) submitted a bid.
Before renewing the contract to the company in 2021, the RCMP issued a notice of the impending deal, and no other company said it could meet the Mounties’ requirements, Prince added.
Allen of Calgary’s Smithbilt Hats said the company’s CEO, Cam Clark, was in the process of receiving the necessary equipment to bid on the next contract and bring back production of the RCMP’s Stetson to Canada.
“Mr. Clark is fiercely Canadian and he believes that the hat should be manufactured here,” Allen said. “We’re seriously looking at it.”
The Stetson was adopted formally by the force in 1904, making it one of the oldest pieces of the Mounties’ ceremonial uniform.
But it was an unofficial mainstay for Mounties long before that because its large brim offers riders protection from the sun as well as the rain and snow.
“Members incurred the cost of purchasing a Stetson because it was preferred to the official pith helmet for practical policing. While the official headgear was de rigueur on the parade ground, the Stetson’s wide brim was better suited to protect the riders from the harsh elements,” reads the RCMP’s website.
National Post
cnardi@postmedia.com
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