A person admires headwear at the Foremost Hats Museum. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Foremost Hats Museum in Nantong was established by Sun Jianhua, founder of Nantong-based Foremost Garments & Accessories Co Ltd, in 2019.

Sun, a manufacturer of hats, started collecting hats in 2006. A few years later, he had the idea of building a facility to display what he has collected and familiarizing people with different cultures.

To date, Sun has established two such facilities, with the latest opening to the public in May.

The main hats museum on Yonghe Road has nearly 5,000 exhibits, including more than 300 pieces of headwear, while the newly-built museum located in the Nantong Headwear Cultural Park is not only used to display hats, but also to share ideas and provide entertainment and training courses.

In addition, the FADBookHouse, the Foremost branch of the Chongchuan District Library in the cultural park, also houses art books from around the world in a bid to further promote headwear culture.

Sun said that his museums are also cooperating with inheritors of intangible cultural heritage items to design and make headwear using traditional craftsmanship to introduce traditional crafts and culture to more people.

Exhibits at the Foremost Hats Museum. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Tiger-head hats, a traditional type of headwear for children in China, are on display at the Foremost Hats Museum. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Exhibits at the Foremost Hats Museum. [Photo/Nantong Daily]