Thirty-five years after he set out to make a “proper” hat for sailors like him, legendary Canadian hat maker Alex Tilley has put up his company for sale.

“I am 77 and it’s time,” Tilley announced in a newspaper ad published Tuesday.

The ad says Tilley Endurables is looking for a buyer with “strong sales and marketing resources.”

But Tilley said a successful suitor will need to bring a lot more to the table.

“I don’t just want somebody with money. I want somebody who cares,” he told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview Tuesday.

Tilley said he’s selling the business because he wants to spend more time volunteering, which includes his work with the Rotary Club. He’s hoping that the new owner will keep the company in Canada.

Tilley Endurables has six family-owned stores in Canada and 3,800 retail partners in 18 countries. The company sells a variety of made-in-Canada travel clothes and accessories, but it is best known for the Tilley hat, which Tilley designed in 1980.

Back then, Tilley spent a lot of time on his sailboat. There were no good hats available for sailors anywhere in Canada, he said, so he decided to make one himself.

“Luckily, I knew nothing about making a hat,” Tilley recalled. “So I had no preconceptions of what I couldn’t do.”

Tilley said he was surprised to find out that people were willing to pay more for a good-quality hat. Hat sales took off and he was able to expand his business year after year.

Today, the company serves more than 300,000 clients annually around the world, in mortar-and-brick stores and online.

Tilley said the new buyer “should have a similar kind of philosophy” that he and his employees have instilled in the business.

He said his employees – many of whom have worked for the company for 20 years or longer – were “surprised” by his decision to sell Tilley Endurables, but have been supportive.

Tilley said he’s not sad about handing the reins over to someone else, “which is really strange.”

“This is a whole new adventure for me,” he said, adding that he still expects to be somehow involved in Tilley Endurables in the future, likely in a public relations role.