About Us

The Shudde family moved to Houston in 1901 from Carmine, Texas. Al Shudde founded the store as a teenager in 1907 as the Shudde Southern Hat Company on Trinity Avenue in downtown Houston. Eventually, Al’s brothers, Ben, Walter, John, and Herbert, joined the business. In 1914, the brothers built a factory building next door to the original Shudde homestead on Trinity. The business was passed to Al’s son, Weldon, and Weldon’s son, Neal, who runs the business today as Shudde Bros. Hatters, at Brookwood. Shudde Bros. Hatters and the adjacent factory operated in Houston for 100 years to the day. On June 30, 2007, Shudde Bros. Hatters was donated to Brookwood and relocated to Brookshire, Texas, to become a hattery with a mission benefitting the adults with disabilities at Brookwood. We have been very blessed to have many good customers over the years.

All proceeds from Shudde Bros. Hatters help provide for the disabled adults at The Brookwood Community.

Houstonist Flickr Photo of the Day - June 22, 2008

Shudde Brother Hat Factory
by photomajik

From the photographer's description on Flickr:

Shudde Bros. was one of Houston's oldest businesses. Al Shudde founded the store as a teenager, in 1907, as the "Shudde Southern Hat Company". Al's brothers Ben, Walter, John, and Herbert were ultimately also involved in the business. While Shudde Bros. once had a large shop on Main Street, in 1914, the brothers built a factory building next door to the original Shudde homestead on Trinity which became a part of the store and factory. Since then, the factory was in continous operation at that location until 2007 when it was moved to Brookshire Texas.