The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America and Brazil, station workers in Australia and New Zealand, with many country, regional Mexican and sertanejo music^[a] performers, and with participants in the North American rodeo circuit. It is recognized around the world as part of traditional Old West apparel.

The cowboy hat as known today has many antecedents to its design, including Mexican hats such as the sombrero, the various designs of wide-brimmed hats worn by farmers and stockmen in the eastern United States, as well as the designs used by the United States Cavalry.

The first western model was the open-crowned “Boss of the Plains“, and after that came the front-creased Carlsbad, destined to become the most prominent cowboy style.^[1] The high-crowned, wide-brimmed, soft-felt western hats that followed are intimately associated with the cowboy image.^[2]