Short version: the Match score compares your answers with the store’s own product data, and nothing else. Our Preferred Brand is our own pick, it’s always labeled, and it doesn’t change a Match score.
The Match score
When you finish the Hat Finder, each hat gets a Match percentage. Here’s exactly how it’s calculated.
- Each answer you give becomes one or more checks against the hat’s data. For example, “Straw” checks the hat’s material, and “Under $100” checks its current price in the store feed.
- For each check, a hat scores 1 if it meets it, 0 if it doesn’t, and 0.5 if the store’s data doesn’t say. We give half credit for missing data so a hat isn’t buried just because a field was blank, and we tell you on the card which detail wasn’t listed.
- The Match is the hat’s total divided by the number of checks, shown as a percentage.
- Questions you skip, or answer with “doesn’t matter,” aren’t counted.
- If you pick men’s or women’s and a hat is listed for the other, it’s left out. Hats listed as unisex count as a match for either.
Results are sorted by Match, then by how many sizes are in stock, then by price, lowest first. We show one color of each hat model in your top results so you see twelve different hats instead of one hat in six colors.
What the Match score does not use: commission rates, which store a hat comes from, Preferred Brand status, star ratings, reviews or popularity. We don’t have rating or popularity data, so we don’t pretend to.
How hub pages sort hats
Category pages like cowboy hats show hats that fit the page’s filters (type, material, color, gender). They’re sorted by how many sizes are in stock, then by price. Again, one color per model comes first. Prices and stock come from the store’s product feed, and each page says the date of that feed.
Our Preferred Brand: American Hat Makers
American Hat Makers is our launch store and our Preferred Brand. We picked them ourselves for their range of cowboy and straw hats, their craftsmanship guarantee, their return policy, their shipping speed and how long they’ve been making hats.* They don’t pay for the label or for placement. Like every store we link to, they pay us a commission through the Awin affiliate network when you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you.
Being our Preferred Brand means:
- Their hats carry a “Preferred Brand” label everywhere they appear, with the line “We earn a commission if you buy, at no cost to you.” next to the store buttons.
- We may feature them in Preferred Brand boxes on pages, labeled as such.
- They don’t pay us to change a Match score, and their status isn’t part of the Match calculation.
Commission is how MyHatFinder pays for itself, and it played a part in which store we launched with. Today American Hat Makers is the only store in our feed, so every hat you see is theirs. As more stores join, Preferred Brand hats will stay labeled, and the Match score will stay the same calculation for every store.
*Per American Hat Makers, as stated on their site on November 6, 2026: ships in 1 day (guaranteed), 90-day easy returns, and a 50-year craftsmanship guarantee. These are the store’s promises, not ours. Check the store’s current policies before you buy.
What we never show
No invented ratings, review counts or “tested” claims. Editor takes on individual hats are labeled “Researched, not tested.” If a detail isn’t in the store’s data or on its product page, we leave it out.