User blog comment:Stormwell/Timeline of Events/@comment-1500935-20140119232626/@comment-1500935-20140120234950

I agree, they worked together to reinvent the district from old textile production to fashion clothing.

Still, I really can't place when during that time Mortimer Hat formed the Hatters and why, since the district was turning well and profit was coming. However, it is highly possible that other gangs were trying to rob the place (what would have happened to Rothwild Slaughterhouse if it weren't for the butchers) and then the Hatters, Hat's supervisors as you put them, turned into a real gang, started running operations like the old distillery and taking over territories to fight back. And since Drapers Ward is not Slaughterhouse Row, it made the clients scarce. That I can understand, since it was stated that gang activities were at the worst before the plague.