Explained: The exact reason why Luton Town are nicknamed the Hatters | OneFootball

A look at the origins of the club's nickname

Luton Town have certainly been in the public eye much more over the past few years.

Back in the 2023 Championship play-off final, a penalty shootout victory over Coventry City saw the club win promotion to the Premier League for the first time in their history.

In doing so, the Kenilworth Road outfit became the first club to fall all the way from the top flight of English football down to non-league and then be promoted right back to the top-flight again.

Ultimately, things would end in disappointment during the 2023/24 campaign, with Luton suffering an immediate relegation from the Championship back to the Premier League.

Even so, that spell in the top division may have allowed even more people to get a look at Rob Edwards' side, who are also nicknamed the Hatters.

Here, we've taken a look at just why the club carry that particular nickname, in a nod to the history of the town itself.

Luton Town's Hatters nickname explained

Since the 17th century, the town of Luton has been a prominent presence within the hat-making industry, with a particular emphasis on straw-plait hats.

Those links with the industry are said to have been developed by brothers Edmund and Thomas Waller, who set up the town as a key hub for the production of those particular products.

The Napoleonic wars in the late 1700s cut off the import of those straw plait hats from Italy, where the material was supposedly stronger.

As a result, more emphasis was placed on the creation of those hats in Luton, leading to a number of plaiting schools being set up in the area, around the year 1800.

Because of that, the industry began to grow in the area. According to the 1871 census, almost a third of Luton's population of 17,316 at the time, were involved in the plaiting and hat-making industries.

However, the introduction of an Education Act in 1870, meant that those plaiting schools began to close down, due to the limited education that some of them offered.

In turn, that would later lead to the reduction of the hat-making itself within the town in the latter part of the 19th century and beyond.

Even so, when Luton Town Football Club was formed in April 1885, it is likely that the connection with the hat-making industry were still felt in the area.

As a result, taking on the nickname the Hatters would have been a fitting way for the club to recognise the identity of the area they represent.

Nickname is not the only reference to the Hatters

Of course, it is not just through their nickname that the club have referenced the links of the town to the hat-making industry.

On several of the badges Luton have worn on their shirts throughout their history, a hat in a similar style to that of a straw plaiter, has been included as part of the design.

That too, is a way of recognising the industry that was seemingly so vital to the economy in the area for well over a century.

After a slow start to this season, Luton Town will no doubt be aiming to pick up some more positive results, that can help keep the Hatters in the mind of as many as possible going forward.