Mossant

French producers of men’s hats. Founded in Bourg-de-Péage in 1833, the company is now more than a century and a half old. Starting life as a small workshop, it became, thanks to Charles and Casimir Mossant, the sons of its founder, a factory with enough partners and money to make new investments and increase the range of products. In the 1930s, the Mossant name was almost as famous as that as the Italian Borsalino. The level of production bears witness to this: 2000 felt hats a day were absorbed by the French, American, Spanish, and Soviet markets. Well into the post-war period, as use and fashion for head-gear declined, Mossant filled the gap in its income by beginning to make mass-produced clothing.