About Us

Janet Williams, a qualified teacher, moved to Zimbabwe in 1980 to take up a teaching post. It was there that she met her husband David who was employed by UNICEF. Janet first studied millinery, in Zimbabwe in 1985. In 1988/89 she attended Kensington and Chelsea College of Fashion and Design in London, studying millinery, pattern cutting and fashion accessories. For three years from 1990 Janet lived in Jakarta, Indonesia and there started Hats A Head, a millinery business creating designer hats and teaching hat making. Later in Ethiopia Janet further developed the business and held a number of fashion shows with the United Nations Womens' Association. Over the years she built up her stock of millinery equipment and honed her skills learning from milliners in Perth, Western Australia and in New York. In 1995 she settled with her husband David in Ide near Exeter in the South West of England and acquired Exeter Sewing Machine Company. For the next twenty years they ran and developed the sewing machine business in tandem with Hats A Head. Many sewing and millinery classes were held in the class rooms at the shop. After retiring from Exeter Sewing Machine Company, Janet and David continue with Hats A Head, now based at Ide.