welcome back to sa live well they work
with everyone from charles to the rodeo
and freddy's hats has been creating
custom headwear western wear for the
past 25 years we visited this local mom
and pop shop on the city south side to
see how they've been keeping a texas
tradition alive and well
[Music]
so this is a family-run business here on
the south side of san antonio freddie
tell me what it means to be a part of
this community well it's uh you know
it's a big blessing because uh we grew
up here and uh to we actually to be able
to stay here you know that's probably
the biggest
goal that everybody that starts a
business wants to stay where they're
where they came out of you know not a
lot of people get to do that and how
long has freddy's hats been here we've
been here we're working on our on our
third year this year we started our
first year very strong thank god the
second year it was kind of loose but now
this year it's i mean it's real
promising hopefully everything goes back
on track and we'll be rolling again now
you are a master shaper you have been
shaping hats for 20 years now right
that's right we've been shaping for
about 20 20 years we started this as a
as a part-time hobby always had a
regular job and did this at the as a as
a part-time worked for my dad for many
years when he sold his company i went to
go work for the oil field and when i was
in the oil field i was lucky enough to
be able to get enough you know to start
my own business and when the oil field
crashed i started here so what does it
mean for you to finally see this come to
fruition jesus you know sometimes i look
at it and i still can't believe it you
know i mean
it's not a lot of people have the
opportunity to do this
there's a lot of people with a lot of
talent you know but it's just one thing
or another that doesn't click and if
you're one of the lucky ones that it
clicks for you i mean take advantage of
the opportunity to ride it
now tell folks what you offer here
because it's more than just hats at
freddy's hats right exactly we offer i
mean
a full full
menu of boots i mean we have if any kind
of skin you want we have it here
we offer hats i mean we
sell american we sell rodeo king and we
sell our in-house brand
other than that i mean we have caps we
have pretty much anything you're looking
for you know but our specialty is boots
hats boots and hats and then you can
find belts too right you can find belts
all the boots come with their belts
exactly so you say that being a master
shaper and and finding you know
finding a good master shaper is like
finding a good barber a lot of people a
lot of people uh um
say it's like finding a barber like me
myself i'll i'll have a barber and i'll
go with him for as many as long as i can
and then when i lose him it's hard to
find another one you know what i mean
the same thing with the hat shapers once
you find one that
knows what you want pretty much he
doesn't even ask you get there and he he
helps you out and you're good to go so
when someone comes in and say they they
don't really know what they're looking
for how do they find that perfect fit
for them uh a lot of people say hey you
know what i've heard a lot of people say
does the hat supposed to fit my face is
the hat supposed to
uh
be wide if i'm a whiter person we're in
the 20th century right now we can wear
whatever we want you know if you want to
wear a taco hat and you're my size you
can go ahead you can wear whatever you
want we'll fit you up and it's your
choice we do not shape the hat to what
we think looks good on you we shape the
hat to what you want
well freddie nino master shaper is here
with us now and you are shaping a hat to
fit mike's noggin over there and you
already have done the top part and are
kind of finishing it right now right yes
ma'am we're working on the on the brim
this is called the brim
we're kind of trying to get it to the
shape he kind of told us he wanted so
okay now how is it harder to do straw
than is felt it's um
it's a bit it's a bit more difficult to
do of uh straws and it is a lot more
forgiving than the actual straws
once you're pretty much shapeless draw
your kind of buckler okay yeah and this
and you said you got into this because
you were working the job as a teenager
and one day the guy doing hats didn't
show up and they're like here you're
shaping hats now right he goes yeah you
want to shape hats i go i don't know
what i'm doing i go well
he goes uh
just start shaking and four years four
years and messing up hats and that kind
of got the hang of it
now you say finding a good hat shaper's
like finding a good barber right you
know what i uh just yesterday funny
story i was at a barber shop and i saw
all these people come in and there's
about eight barbers and each one has
their own barber already and it's pretty
much with the hat shape is the same same
thing you know
you find a good hat shape or you don't
want to go
go try out another one
now you are of course out there on the
south side right yes we're on the south
side we're still there
and um
we've been there for
two years now we're going on three years
hopefully
all right tell folks how to find you all
right guys we're on uh social media
we're at um in instagram freddy's hats
freddy's underscore hats uh we're on
facebook freddy's hats you can find us
uh
tuesday through sunday at 39.50 south
samoa all right and for more on that if
you'd like all that information go to
saliv.com click on the as seen on sa
live tab thank you very much sir thank
you guys