1.
CU stills Tom Mix, John Wayne, Churchill, Roosevelt wearing Stetson products
0.13

2.
MV & CU streets (men with no hats)
0.19

3.
MV & GV Hat factory showing thousands of hats on work benches (2 shots)
0.35

4.
MV & CU hat being shaped and steam pressed (2 shots)
0.43

5.
CU hats being turned on machine (2 shots)
0.53

6.
MV women lining hats
0.58

7.
MV & CU woman making hat (5 shots) SOF STARTS:
1.20

8.
CV TILT down EXT Stetson Hat Factory
1.26

9.
SCU guard closing gate
1.31

10.
GV Ext. other Stetson Hat factory buildings (2 shots).
1.38


TRANSCRIPT SEQ 7: EMPLOYEE: "I've been working here for over 35 years. At the beginning I thought there would always be a Stetson, and I feel real had about it. I'll have to look around, see what I could do. There's not too many hat factories."




Initials GL/AH/PS/1650 GL/AH/PS/1725



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The Stetson Hat Company, whose name became world-famous on the ten-gallon hats worn by generations of film cowboys (and quite a few of their real-life counterparts), is to close down its main factory in Philadelphia. The move follows a desist our drop in the number of Americans who wear hats.

Stetson hate have been worn by many world-figures during the company's hundred-year history. At the peak before World War Two the main plant at Philadelphia was employing a huge workforce to produce 60,000 hats a day.

But after the war, a more casual style came in and many men took to going bare-headed. In the sixties long-hair dealt the hatters another blow. They fought back with new styles and fabrics, but the decline continued.

Two years ago workers at Stetson's agreed to forego a pay rise in an attempt to delay the closure. Now they must seek other work. As one woman employee commented with obvious regret: