Wellington milliner with 150-year legacy unveils new space amid turbulent times
For 150 years, Hills Hats has crafted the headwear that defines both frontline services and famous artists, including Fat Freddy’s Drop, Tame Iti, Willie Nelson — and even Lady Gaga via a Goorin Bros collab.
With 150 years of craftsmanship behind it, Wellington-based Hills Hats enters its new factory with cautious optimism — and an uncertain future.
Four months ago, the company left its sprawling 900-square-metre Petone home of nearly three decades, splitting its operations across three smaller Lower Hutt sites: a flagship shop, an outlet store, and a compact new manufacturing hub.
Owner Simon Smuts-Kennedy told RNZ the previous location had grown too expensive, and too big for their needs.
Their new factory, known as the Hatmosphere, is 440sq m in size on Andrews Ave in central Lower Hutt. Simon explained they were still in the process of deciding how they would use the space, where machinery would sit, and making it nice for staff and visitors alike.
The move had given them the opportunity to make some upgrades, switching from gas power to electric - "modernising," Smuts-Kennedy said. "Getting us up to OSH instead of 'oops'."
Hills Hats are making an upgrade from gas powered to electric machines.
RNZ / Mark Papalii
But financially, retailers across the board were doing it tough, particularly those crafting high-end products such as theirs.
A Pledge Me page had been set up to help raise some much-needed funds to help with moving costs. "With all the other expenses on a daily basis, to throw in a move has really stretched us."
By Tuesday, it had surpassed $18,000.
Ella Smuts-Kennedy says she has staff retention at top of mind.
RNZ / Mark Papalii
His daughter Ella, a fourth generation textile maker, had grown up in the factory.
"Dad owned a ski shop in Ohakune, and then the mountain erupted so mum and dad moved down to Wellington, and he stepped in and helped my grandpa with the hat business that he had just bought."
After her dad suffered a stroke last year, she decided it was "time for me to come back home", after a couple of years working elsewhere.
Hills Hats has been in the business for 150 years, dressing the heads of famous artists and the local authorities.
RNZ / Mark Papalii
"It's been pretty up and down," she said. "Wishful thinking, we thought that we had made it through the worst of it, but the last year in particular has been really hard."
Holding onto staff had been "the most important thing," she said. Some of the workers had been there since she was a child.
Some government contracts had been promised, but slow to come through, and business in general had dropped off.
Despite the difficult market outlook, they're keen to stay open.
RNZ / Mark Papalii
But Smuts-Kennedy said they were determined to keep the doors open.
Walking through the space on Tuesday, he talked RNZ through his plans for a new feature space in what was once a boiler room, with sewing machine stations and big wooden beams across the ceiling.
The walls are half-painted navy blue, the original boiler converted into a feature table in the centre, and a sign on the door had been changed from "bat cave" to "hat cave".
The business' Pledge Me page has surpassed $18,000
RNZ / Mark Papalii
So despite the struggle, things were still moving forward.
"We'll fight to the bloody end," Smuts-Kennedy said.
And Ella explained they were always looking for ways to diversify to get through. During Covid, they began manufacturing masks as a way to get business up.
"We're pretty inventive. We'll always find ways to make it work."
