The Dugan Hat Co. - The Shooting Wire

Jill Dugan is a hat maker. She’s the owner and milliner—someone who makes or sells women’s hats (I looked it up so you didn’t have to)—behind the Dugan Hat Co. in Prescott Valley, Arizona.

Jill admits she had no idea Cowboy Action Shooting was even a thing until last December. Yet last week she found herself in North Phoenix at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility selling hats during the End of Trail World Championship.

In the comfort of the shade of her trailer, Jill Dugan talks hats with an interested buyer during the End of Trail World Championships. Photo: P. Erhardt

It all started when a competitor heading to End of Trail stopped by her pop-up in Prescott and casually asked if she’d ever heard of SASS—the Single Action Shooting Society that governs Cowboy Action Shooting.

That conversation, Dugan says, sent her down a YouTube rabbit hole to learn more. Soon after, she reached out to SASS to see if they were accepting any new vendors for this year’s End of Trail.

Clearly, they were.

Hat making is Dugan’s side hustle. Her day job is in the craft beer industry, where she runs logistics for a company called Keg Logistics.

“I make sure craft breweries have enough empties to fill. They go out to market. I talk to those wholesalers, get them back, send them to the next brewery—just making sure those kegs keep going around,” Dugan explained.

Much like the spice, the kegs must flow.

Dugan’s foray into hat-making began in late 2023. She stumbled across a social media video of someone burning a hat, for that distressed look, and thought to herself, “I can burn things—I like wood burning and all that.”

Before long she had more distressed hats than she knew what to do with and began selling them to friends. Naturally, that turned into a business—though she admits finding her footing took a little time.

“I took a class and then got scared of it. I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this.’ But midway through 2024 I got more confident and thought, ‘Okay, let’s go,’” Dugan explained.

During the competition, Dugan divided her time between selling new hats out of her trailer and reconditioning hats for competitors.

Dugan said shooters stopped by her trailer looking for a hat—sometimes because they simply needed one, and sometimes because they needed the right hat to match a particular outfit.

Those same customers often returned to have their old hat reshaped. She offered the reconditioning service—something a number of hats on the range needed—free of charge.

Jill Dugan steams a shooter's well-worn cowboy hat working to reshape it and get it back, at least somewhat, to its former glory. Below, Dugan returns the same hat to its owner, showing him how the reshaped hat looks on his head. Photos: P. Erhardt

When I asked why she offered the service for free, she shrugged: “Why not? I just need the practice.” And she got plenty of it throughout the week.

Dugan’s trailer quickly became a popular stop, and the constant interaction with SASS members drew her further into the community—“the family,” as SASS owner Misty Moonshine likes to call it.

I asked if she planned to return next year.

“I was hoping they’d invite me back—and they did. Customers have been telling me about the regional shoots and when they happen, so slowly but surely I’ll get myself deeper and deeper into this community.”

If you’d like to learn more about the Dugan Hat Co., or buy one of her hats, check out DuganHatCo.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram—or reach out directly at Jill@DuganHatCo.com.

– Paul Erhardt, Managing Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network