STEVEN KOKIN GOES WHERE NOT MANY HAT VENDORS GO - RETAIL

We tip our hat to Steven Scott Kokin for braving the tepid retail climate and opening a hat shop on Third Avenue in NYC. Kokin opened the shop in December at 1388 Third Avenue (79th Street) and has made quite a positive impression on the locals. Rumor has it (according to a New York Times article) that one of his neighbors is an executive at InterActiveCorp, the parent of the Home Shopping Network. It seems that Grossman is so smitten with Kokin that she asked him to design a hat collection to be sold on air this summer. Kudos to Master Hatter Kokin.

If you want to see the New York Times article, read on.

June 14, 2007
FRONT ROW
The Cat With Only Hats
By ERIC WILSON

A NEW hat shop seems like a strange place to lament the demise of the hat business. But then the very idea of a hat shop is something of an anachronism.

“The hat department at Saks Fifth Avenue is gone,” said Steven Scott Kokin, the hat designer known professionally for 24 years by only his last name. “The hat department at Bergdorf Goodman is gone. Henri Bendel used to sell beautiful hats. So people come in here and they’re surprised to see only hats.”

Mr. Kokin’s shop opened quietly in December at 1388 Third Avenue, at 79th Street, but has managed to attract the attention of hat-seeking women around the city. He could barely keep his straw, feather and leather eyelet creations on their hat stands.

Since last fall, hats have been making a comeback in fashion, which inspired Mr. Kokin, 47, finally to open a store. He started designing hats at 23 to support his dream of becoming an actor. He was better at making hats.

He has designed an Inaugural hat for Laura Bush (she didn’t wear it) and floppy hats for Zac Posen’s runway shows. Jennifer Lopez wore his 1920s-style cloche when she arrived for Tom Cruise’s wedding in Rome. His wife, Blu Kokin, models almost everything in the store; her picture is on the shopping bags, wearing a hat that looks like a bunch of grapes.

“I know that if she says this is going to sell, it sells,” he said. It helps that he designs a broad range of styles, from a black satin “Easy Rider” cap for $145 to a pith helmet of black and white coq feathers for $3,095, and quirky signature pieces like sun hats made of 60 yards of spiraled grosgrain ribbon ($300).

At the least, the tiny shop may expose Mr. Kokin’s hats to a vastly wider audience. Mindy Grossman, the chief executive of retailing for InterActiveCorp, the parent of the Home Shopping Network, happens to live in the building. After dropping by, she asked him to do a collection that will be sold on air this summer.