Byer - Rolnick Hat Corporation ( Now Resistol Hats )

Beautifully engraved SPECIMEN certificate from the Byer-Rolnick Hat Corporation. This historic document was printed by the Security-Columbian Banknote Company printed in the 1960's and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of family shields. This item has the printed signatures of the Company’s President ( Harry Rolnick ) and its Treasurer ( S. H. Byer ).








Certificate Vignette



Resistol Hats is celebrating two major milestones in 2002. More precisely, the brand celebrates two anniversaries—Resistol Hats turns 75 this year, and their best-selling hat, the Black Gold, celebrates its 25th year of production.

The history of Resistol Hats is an interesting one. In 1927 the firm that would become Resistol Hats was founded by E.R. Byer and Harry Rolnick with manufacturing facilities at Poydras and Jackson Streets in Dallas. The company produced men’s felt hats in both Western and dress hat styles. The products were manufactured and marketed under the newly created brand name of Resistol Hats.

In its infancy, the company had limited distribution, mainly in Texas and Oklahoma. However, due to new approaches in hat-making, many innovations and exclusive features were developed which created increasing demand and national recognition for Resistol hats.

Two exceptionally successful exclusives were the “self conforming” trademark, which provided an unprecedented comfortable fit, and the “kitten finish,” which gave a more luxurious feel to felt hats than ever produced by conventional processing. Byer-Rolnick today remains the only hat manufacturer in the world with the technical knowledge to produce these features.