A runway fashion photo showing a model in a black leather outfit with a wide-brim black hat and cape, alongside another model in a black off-the-shoulder top and matching hat, on a dark runway.

DSTN × SoonNoon

Dark Cowboy Collection FW26

For DSTN’s FW26 collection, we created three hats in collaboration with the Stockholm-based fashion label – three distinct shapes, each finished by hand and deliberately pushed away from anything too pristine.

The collection was presented in Stockholm and later in New York, taking the hats from our workbench in Stockholm into the world of DSTN FW26.

Three hats. Three characters.

The starting point was simple: black, wide-brimmed and unmistakably SoonNoon. From there, each hat developed its own character. Three different silhouettes, brought together by the same worn-in approach.

THE SUNDANCE

A wide-brim fedora with a black grosgrain band, leather string wrapped around the crown and a large feather.

THE EARP

A wide-brim cowboy hat, distressed with fire and sanding, with a braided suede band in black and beige.

THE LONSEOME

And a wide-brim Gus shape with a pencil-rolled brim, finished with a dead-stock black and white woven hat band.
Several wide-brim fedora-style hats in black and dark brown are displayed on a white worktable in a busy craft or workshop setting, with people holding and examining them.

Made to be worn in

Some hats are made to look new. These were made to look like they already have a story. Each hat was heavily distressed by hand using fire and sanding. We work the surface gradually, burning and wearing down the material until it starts to develop the character we are looking for.

There is a certain amount of instinct involved. You can push a hat only so far before you start taking away what makes the shape work. So we stop when it feels right.

The distressing is deliberately imperfect. Marks, variation and subtle differences are part of the process – and part of what makes each hat its own.

From Stockholm to New York

The hats were made specifically for DSTN’s FW26 collection and became part of a collection presented during Stockholm Fashion Week before travelling with the collection to New York Fashion Week.

Seeing the hats worn as part of the full collection gave them a completely different context.

On the workbench, you notice the materials, the shaping and the small details.

On the runway, you see how they become part of a bigger picture.

Explore the collection