The list of Denton hat manufacturers given in the table below is based on the Denton telephone directory for 1899-1900 and the list of the British Felt Hat Manufacturers’ Federation for 1902.
| Name | Location | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Bailey Brothers | Stockport Rd | |
| Lewis Barber | Glebe St, off Moorside Ln | |
| James Bevan & Co | Pitt St | |
| Booth & Moores | Hyde Rd | |
| T W Bracher & Co Ltd † | Frederick St | Hat trimming manufacturers |
| Lees BRdbent | Stockport Rd | |
| J Bromley & Co | Windmill Ln | |
| H Burgess & Co | Wilton St | |
| Carlton & Co | Glebe St, off Moorside Ln | |
| Ernest Catlow | Manchester Rd | Hatters' specialities |
| Charles Clermont & Co | Hyde Rd | Listed in Street Directory for 1959 |
| Cooke Brothers (Denton) Ltd | Moorfield Hat Works, Manchester Rd | |
| Cooke, Smith & Co | Egerton St | |
| Dixon's Hats Ltd | Moorfield Hat Works, Manchester Rd | |
| Higginbottom & Oldham | Ashworth St | |
| Joseph Horsfield & Sons | Moorside Hat Works, Cricket St | |
| Joseph Howe & Sons | Amelia St | |
| Lancashire Felt Co Ltd | West St (south side) | Felt body manufacturers (felt hoods) |
| James Marlor & Sons | Taylor Ln | |
| Moores, Birkby & Brown | Windmill Ln | |
| J Moores & Sons Ltd ‡ | Heaton St | |
| T Norbury & Co | Palatine St | |
| Radcliffe & Ogden | Howard Ln | |
| Walter Richardson | Palatine St | |
| P Robinson & Co | Victoria Hat Works, Wilton St | Hatters' furriers |
| George Shaw & Co | Stockport Rd & Market St | Hat trimming manufacturers |
| Taylor Brothers | Taylor St | |
| John Turner | White House Machine Works, Turner St | Hatters' machinists |
| Walker, Ashworth & Linney | Ashton Rd & Law St | |
| T & W Walker | Howard Ln | Later, this company moved to Ashworth St |
| West End Co Ltd | West St (south side) | Listed as hat manufacturers but believed to be felt body manufacturers |
| Thomas Whittaker & Son | Taylor Ln | Thomas Whittaker (1815-1900) Son: John Whittaker (1842-1912) |
| Nathan Wild & Sons | Moorfield Hat Works, William St & Old Broom Ln | |
| Wilde & Booth | Wilton St | Edgar Wilde & James Booth |
| Wilde & Brown | Taylor Ln | Henry Joseph Brown & Thomas Brown |
| David Wilde | Alexander St | |
| Edwin Wilde | Town Ln | |
| Samuel Wilde & Co | Ashton Rd | |
| Joseph Wilson & Sons Ltd | Wilton St | |
| William Wilson & Sons | Hyde Rd | |
| J Woolfenden & Co | Dane Shot Bank | |
| Wrigley & Marsh | Peacock St |
† T W Bracher & Co Ltd was founded in 1879 and it is still in business at Royal George St (via Charlesworth St), Stockport. Their Denton works on Frederick St was closed by 1918. ‡ Formerly J & T Moores.
Hat manufacture reached a peak in the Edwardian Era but during the First World War there was a significant loss of domestic and overseas markets. Throughout the 1930s market conditions did not improve as motor car use caused more informality of dress. During and after the Second World War the industry went into severe decline. In 1966 the Associated British Hat Manufacturers Ltd (ABHM Ltd) was incorporated in a merger of the five largest surviving firms in the North West, namely:
Trade marks of the three Stockport hat manufacturers who merged with ABHM Ltd are illustrated below:
ABHM Ltd was a holding company and its purpose was to rationalise an industry that was facing a declining home market and foreign competition. Following the merger production was concentrated at the Christy factory in Stockport and the Wilson factory in Denton. In 1980 ABHM Ltd sold the share capital of Christy & Co to Cadogan Oakley Ltd of Bradford, West Yorkshire, for £1.2 million. This resulted in all remaining hat production being centred at the Christy factory in Stockport but the decline continued and this factory was closed in 1997 with the exception of the felting process that remained in Stockport. Operations were then consolidated at Witney, Oxfordshire, with Compton Webb*. In 2011 the department store, Liberty, acquired Christy & Co and Compton Webb. In the meantime, J Moores & Sons Ltd and Joseph Wilson & Son Ltd were wound up in Feb 1977.
*This refers to Compton Webb (Headdress) Ltd and J Compton Sons & Webb Ltd, manufacturers of military headdress, berets, uniforms and clothing.
In 1921 the Denton Hat Co Ltd was the last of Denton’s hat companies to be founded. It created the popular ‘Attaboy’ hat and it closed in c.1976.