The next person in our highly popular, 10 Things You Probably Don’t Know about Me, series is Shorty Koger of Shorty’s Caboy Hattery.
Shorty is known as the premier hatter on the forefront of launching new hat trends in the horse industry every year. Shorty says she is always asked which stars wear her hats, and she responds by saying that “Everyone is a star who wears a Shorty’s hat.”
For the past 29 years, Shorty’s store has been located in the historic Stockyards in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. “I first purchased the space from a man named Shorty in 1990. Since my nickname is also ‘Shorty,’ I found it to be pretty fitting. I grew up helping shape hats, so I figured I might as well start to make them because I knew what it would take to make a great custom hat.”
No detail or consideration is too insignificant for Shorty and her team not to take seriously. Each custom western hat is handcrafted to the customer’s specifications, most by Shorty personally, using timeless techniques passed on from generation to generation of master hatters.
Find out more about Shorty below.
10 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Shorty
1. I use to wear dresses and high heels to work every day when I was a secretary in the 60’s.
2. I was a champion at playing marbles with all the boys…they could not beat me.
3. I used to play cowboys and Indians. One day I would be a cowboy, the next day I would be an Indian.
4. In the early 70’s, I used to put on a Little Britches Rodeo when I owned some baby bucking bulls with another guy.
5. I use to ride bulls in the 70”s until I got my arm almost cut off by a post hole digger.
6. In the mid 80’s, I did a fundraiser for an organization and dressed up as Tina Turner…lipstick, hair and all. I raised over $2,000. Never again and luckily there appears to be no pictures floating around.
7. I owned my western store in the 60’s in Moore, Oklahoma where I taught myself how to shape hats.
8. I love to fish – fresh and saltwater.
9. In 1990, when I started my business, I only cleaned hats. Now, I am the largest customer hatter in the world, owned solely by a woman.
10. I’m a 14-year breast cancer survivor. I’ve raised over a million dollars for Rein In Cancer, an organization that has raised money to help individuals in the industry touched by cancer.
See a slideshow below of more pictures of Shorty through the years.
