What Laird Hatters is known for
London millinery house founded in 2009 by Zofia, with hatmaker Alex joining shortly after, based in Covent Garden's New Row. Hand-blocks hats and caps from British cloth for ready-to-wear, bespoke, film and fashion-week commissions.
Laird Hatters was founded in London in 2009 by Zofia, who opened the label's first shop selling ready-to-wear headwear soon after starting the business; hatmaker Alex joined shortly afterward as the house's principal maker. The company is built around traditional hand-blocking techniques — shaping felt and other materials by hand over wooden hat blocks — and sources cloth specifically from British mills as part of a stated commitment to supporting UK textile manufacturing rather than relying on imported materials. Laird operates several stores across central London, including its shop on New Row in Covent Garden, alongside a bespoke service for custom headwear. The company has built a reputation beyond retail through collaborations with British fashion designers, with its hats and caps appearing at London Fashion Week and London Collections: Men. It also produces bespoke pieces for television and film productions, work that sits alongside its retail and ready-to-wear lines. The Covent Garden location places Laird within one of London's historic retail and craft districts, and the brand markets itself specifically on British craftsmanship and material sourcing as points of differentiation from mass-produced headwear.
How ORBIS reads this city
Best for — Hats, handcrafted
UK
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Where next
- Craft Cottage Jamaica — Jamaica
- Bontemps Montauk — United States
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Hand-curated for ORBIS · no paid placement