For Graham Thompson, who has always been drawn to “old-world, well-made things,” watching classic film noir with his dad sparked a fascination with hats. At 16, the Chicago native was introduced to ...

When I bought my beautiful brown-felt fedora from him a few years ago, Optimo owner Graham Thompson was still operating out of a combination storefront and factory on Western Avenue in Beverly, where ...

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. The Fedora, the Porkpie, the Homburg, the ...

Chicago used to be a city where the gentlemen work natty suits and were always attired in a smart-looking hat. Those days may be long gone, but a throwback to that era still remains on the South Side ...

If we’re living in an age of hats—and a glance around New York’s bars and clubs suggests that, yeah, we are—seems now’s a pretty good time to get one that actually fits. To the rescue comes Optimo ...

A former fire station in Beverly was redesigned into a sharp, stylish factory and headquarters for bespoke hatmaker, Optimo. After 25 years, Optimo’s owner Graham Thompson, needed to expand and ...

Many eyes will be on Michael Mann’s Public Enemies today, watching Johnny Depp as John Dillinger fleece the nation. Ours? They’ll be on the hats. The period fedoras were made by Chicago’s Graham ...