Heisenberg’s hat is sitting on a shelf behind the cash register. The black pork pie looks straight off Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston’s head; the only indication that this hat isn’t the hat: a jaunty feather tucked into the band—and four other Heisenbergs stacked underneath.
Goorin Bros., now open at the Linq, is responsible for giving America’s favorite meth cooker his signature look. The hat marked the company’s first official TV collaboration, though its bowlers, caps and fedoras have been spotted in movies and TV shows for years.
Cassel Goorin founded his business in 1895 with custom wooden hat-blocks and a horse cart in the streets of Pittsburgh. The Bay-Area based company is now in the hands of his great-grandson, Ben, and has 29 shops across North America, helping bring the hat back to American fashion, one sophisticated topper at a time.
But selling hats isn’t quite like hawking sweaters at the Gap, says district leader Kevin Doyle. “You can’t ask the question, ‘Looking for anything special?’” You have to be a “hat whisperer,” he says, matching face shapes to hat shapes until you find the perfect fit. Whether that keeper is a straw boater straight out of 1915, a flat cap by Pennsylvania cut-and-sew master Ruben Spitz or the Zev, a cotton fedora named for Ben Goorin’s son, you’ll walk out feeling a little cooler than when you walked in. At the Linq, 732-4287.
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Heisenberg
Style: pork pie
Material: wool
Price: $149
Would Walter White still be the ruthless drug kingpin next door without his trademark Goorin? This limited-edition hat says, “I watch good TV, and my sense of style’s not so bad, either.”
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Beverly Corleon
Style: asymmetrical fedora
Material: wool
Price: $125
An instant hit of old-Hollywood glamour, this A-crown fedora begs for red lips, fur stoles and a whole lot of attitude.
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Ricardo
Style: pork pie fedora
Material: open-weave straw
Price: $52
Handwoven, the Ricardo is one of Goorin’s only open-weave hats—good for keeping you cool (but perhaps not for tan lines).
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Guillermo
Style: pork pie fedora
Material: collapsible straw
Price: $52
A two-tone stingy-brim fedora from the summer-friendly Cuba collection, this lightweight hat can be rolled and packed for easy traveling.
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Playa Megano
Style: fedora
Material: straw
Price: $65
You want a stylish hat that’s light enough for Vegas’ 100-plus-degree days or a beachy vacation. Goorin’s got the Playa Megano, a wide-brimmed fedora that pairs well with dark rum and a fine cigar.
