Sids Clothing & Hats History
Sid’s was originally called Sid’s Clothing and University Shoppe, founded by Sidney Blair in 1960. Sidney got his retail experience from his father in-law Joseph Kaiserman. Joe started the business from the ground up as an immigrant from Russia. The store sold everything from socks to overcoats. Sid always had a good eye for fashion and design, after fifteen years of working at working with his father in -law Sid ventured on his own to open up Sid Clothing and University Shoppe. This was the first time he implemented a sprinkling of dress hats and casual caps.
As the time progressed so did the taste of our customer and surrounding environment. With this transition came a new approach to his retailing strategy. Due to the commercial change he began to expand and attract newer clientele. At this time Sid decided to hire his son Howard to help expand the business. Howard had just received his B.A. at Southern Illinois University. With the addition of Howard coming aboard this enabled Sid to focus on the administrative aspect of the business, meanwhile, this gave Howard the opportunity to concentrate on changing the image of the store to coincide with the new customers and implement new product mix to satisfy customer demands.
Howard decided to go to a more casual attire for the new customers. He changed the image to more of a fashion conscious store. He added casual caps and dress hats to mix in with the sweaters and sports shirts. This is when he put in the Kangol cap line both for spring and fall. The best styles still remains today, such as the Kangol Spitfire worn by Samuel Jackson and many other celebrities. The Ventair Cap was made famous by many golfers such as Calvin Pete. The cap caught on and many other customers started to where the caps backwards , so the Kangol emblem was visible. The logo of the Kangaroo has been a fashion statement throughout the years. Other styles such as the Snipe, Grouser, Clipper, Trilby, Tropic cap, Furgora caps and hats has made the Kangol company our best casual cap. The cap company originated in England and is now known nation wide.
Since there was such success with casual caps, Howard decided to try and see if better dress hats would sell. He started by buying the Dobbs and Stetson fedoras. Deion Sanders was the spokesman at the time for Dobbs, which helped to popularize the hats in our urban area. The Stetson hats had a more western and outdoor flavor to them. Both companies are owned by Resistol hat company and all are made in the United States of America. Although Dobbs and Stetson were very popular we wanted to add a new company to the mix. Biltmore hat company made in Canada became another force and added a new look to our hat collection. Biltmore had the best premium beaver hats on the market. Dobbs, Stetson, and Biltmore have a great assortment of colors and styles the price range varying from $65.00 - $225.00. Also, the Bailey hats, also a United States Co., was introduced to our collection known for their reliable crushability, as well as Panama Straw Hats.
All of these hats still remain present in our store and we have expanded our collection as well. A new fresh style of suit by the stylist Stacy Adams has become very popular and to complete the outfit, we carry the complete Stacy Adams Hat collection. Also, we recently started carrying the premier Italian made hats, the Borsalino’s. These hats are made with the finest straw and are fitted to perfectly sit on your head, as well as being some of the best looking hats around. If you are not from the Chicago Land area, we can now send out orders if you order them online anywhere in the United States!
Our Store has been around for 40 years and we carry over 5,000 different styles of beautiful, durable hats. Sid’s Clothing has in its time, become a fundamental institution for those who have a love for Hats. We are now double the size our store and will be carrying a lot more styles of Hats, Walking Suits, Shirts and other related items. Sidney Blair recently passed away and in his honor we are asking our loyal customers and those who have a general interest in what we carry, to come on in, check us out and hopefully buy a couple of Hats!
Howard Blair