I have passion for hats.
Hello! My name is Tori Capes and I am a Certified Milliner and the designer/co-owner of Mad Cap Hats. If you order a hat from this website, I will be the one making it just for you! Right here in North America ... in Canada to be exact!
I am grateful for the support of our Mad Cap customers as we enter our 33rd year in business! Where did all that time go?
I've had quite the career during that time. Lots of ups and downs. A couple of recessions. A career that has included three shops, seven employees and numerous wholesale accounts as well as a busy schedule of large artisan events across Canada.
Happy to say that life has slowed down a lot now. My partner/hubby Adrian and I work from our lakeside studio in Eastern Ontario outside the village of Westport and it is just us now. As I write this on leap day (happy leap day!) we are busy busy making hats for the sunny days ahead. First we dig a path to the studio through the foot of snow that arrived this week. I digress ... while I make the hats, partner Adrian has a daily routine around the studio as well; clearing snow is high on the list for several months of the year (we live in a snow belt or snow globe if you love snow). He loves taking your orders to our local post office and drilling out holes for our buckles. Bottom line though, no more store or employees. Just us and the rocks, trees, lakes and ponds that surround us. And the wildlife. The incredible wildlife that surrounds us everyday. We love it here!
If you notice an outdoor theme in our work, now you know why. We love the outdoors and are inspired by it everyday. The fabric I use reflects that. The prints we use and have made for us in the USA. The flowers, the dragonflies and butterflies, the animals, the trees. So it seems natural to us that the headwear we create reflects that and we build our hats so you can enjoy the outdoors too!
Our hats are built with fabrics, felts and straws to provide excellent sun protection for enjoying the outdoors with our slogan 'Sun Protection with Style' in mind all the time. We want our customers to feel comfortable in their hats. We want our customers to feel that our hats look great on their heads while providing that Sun Protection with Style! Most of our designs are meant to be worn every day and can be worn for many occasions. Most of our designs are built for travel so they can wander around the beach, the garden, the town, the city, the countryside and the world with you.
When we get a chance to meet you at the events we do every year, we love helping you pick out a hat with your face shape, height and comfort for hats in mind. Nothing make us happier to turn a "Hats don't look good on me" "I can't wear hats" to a convert. A smile, a hat that frames your beautiful face. Now you have a passion for hats too! Those moments keep this milliner inspired.
On our site you will find a list of the shows we do and if we get a chance to meet in person, we are happy to give you a personalized consult about hats and your head size.
If we will not meet in person I am happy to provide advice before you buy on the website. If you feel comfortable and want some advice, send me a head shot to our email and if you follow the instructions to measure your head on our custom request page, I can tell you what style and shape of hat you will love and will love you back. Usually, we can custom make your hat to fit your head at no additional cost. Since all our our Mad Cap label hats are made here by us and are hand cut, grading our patterns to meet your head size is not a big deal. Not a big deal to us that is. For you, you get a hat that finally fits your head! That is if you find most hats don't fit you. If that is not the case, if most hats in stores fit you then ours will too!
Also on our website you will find a list of retailers that carry our hats. They are all skilled at helping you find the perfect hat as well so if you live in the area of one of them, please visit and let them help you! They can also order a custom sized hat from our collection for you.
Right now I am busy making hats for our retailer clients and show season starts soon! We are happy to be heading back to the Toronto Market and are preparing to show our hats at the Cottage Life Show in Toronto at the end of March.
We are also happy to be in the fold of the talented milliners that surround our work at Beau Chapeau Hat Shop in Niagara-on-the-lake. Thank you Kevin, Jana and Nicole for welcoming us in your amazing shop! Myxn Scents in Naples, Florida (thank you Tracey for season three with you!) and Avant Garden Shop in Peterborough, ON (thank you Brenda for staying with us for years and years!!) have their new hats for spring 2020 and we will be adding a new retailer in New Brunswick. Susie has us excited as she completed a course in hat making with our friend David Dunkley Fine Millinery in Toronto! Susie knows about hat construction and design and Susie will be opening a new hat store at the waterfront in St. John, New Brunswick on May 1.
If you are Mad about Hats, and Mad for Hats, follow this space. I will be blogging in the coming weeks about all things hats, trends and friends, our retail partners and show customers, tips about picking the perfect hat, the shows we do and the people we meet.
Now that you know a little bit more about us, we are looking forward to serving you! xxxooo Tori
Moira Slater
September 18, 2022
I have just received my 4 th hat from Tori, 2 summer and 2 winter fleece. I have never had a hat fit me as well as the ones from Madcap Hats. I absolutely love them all but especially the 2 summer ones and more specific the large brimmed beige one I just received . Beautiful work! Thank you Tori!