The HAT thread

Russell Street said:
I've long been perplexed on how to look dignified when it is hot but misty out.
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This is a difficult one. While felt hats are perfect for winter, both keeping your head warm and dry, they are less appropriate in summer, or any time it's over about 20C IMO. Apart from potentially overheating your head, felt hats just tend to look wrong with ouitfits featuring lighter weight, smoother fabrics such as cotton and linen.

OTOH a panama hat goes perfectly well with summer ensembles, but they are worse than useless when it rains. Interestingly, the finer the panama hat the more likely they are to lose their shape when confronted by a rain shower - let alone a sudden summer downpour.

I'll be honest, I don't like any of those hats you posted. The first one looks like something you would get free with a Sunday tabloid; the other two are approaching neckbeard territory. There's a reason they only cost 20 bucks...

So what to do on hot, muggy, wet days? In this reporters opinion, the answer, sadly, is 'buy an umbrella'.
 
The cotton bucket is a frumpy staple, a trad thing in the Woody Allen vein. I'm assuming it's not much worse than the Capas one that O'Connell's sells for ~$45. Which I lost after about a year.
The middle litestraw one is still appealing to me, if only for practical purposes. For parking lot crossings, donning a hat is just much more convenient that struggling with umbrellas, and umbrellas feel foolish when the rain is sparse.
The narrow brim on the last one is killing it for me, and it does look a bit too hipster because of it.
 
Get the nicer looking Litestraw. At that price even if it turns out you don't like it, you haven't spent a fortune.
 
Such is my plan. When it's raining, I'll put up with an unflattering hat if my hair and glasses stay dry.
 
EFV sporting another hat in a fit. Nicely done. You find out who the distributer those benches are and sell them to the public parks in Germany

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I have no idea if it is just for the photo, but doesn't it sit a bit high? I think FNB gave the advice that most people wear hats too small and that a somewhat lower sitting hat is more secure, more comfortable, and musses the hair less.
 
So I never got around to ordering anything, but a friend complimented a hat wearer while getting coffee and was given a card. Turns out to be a hat shop started by some ex-NFL player. I'm really tempted to take a look, as the local hat shop near me when I lived in a more ghetto area went out of business before I got around to visiting.
I'm very curious to assess the quality range of hats sold in an ethnic urban area. I suspect that there will be some cheapies and some flagship stuff. I'd have to resist the temptation to get anything too pimptastic...
 
Here's something that has been troubling me. I posted something similar to this on SF yesterday but so far got no responses. Briefly, why are beaver felt hats so damn expensive when beaver is really a very cheap fur these days? According an article in Western Outdoor News, at a fur auction last year, beaver pelts averaged only $23. For comparison purposes, prices were as follows for other common animals: muskrat $10; raccoon: $18; coyote: $88. (I presume this last is only for prime winter pelts.)

I know only the underfur is used, but beavers are pretty big animals, so how many beavers have to die for the felt to make a fedora? I can't imagine enough to warrant a $300 markup over a similar hat made from rabbit fur.

I am left wondering if this high markup isn't a legacy of the days when beavers were much rarer and the hatters are just capitalizing on public ignorance.
 
Jan Libourel said:
Here's something that has been troubling me. I posted something similar to this on SF yesterday but so far got no responses. Briefly, why are beaver felt hats so damn expensive when beaver is really a very cheap fur these days? According an article in Western Outdoor News, at a fur auction last year, beaver pelts averaged only $23. For comparison purposes, prices were as follows for other common animals: muskrat $10; raccoon: $18; coyote: $88. (I presume this last is only for prime winter pelts.)

I know only the underfur is used, but beavers are pretty big animals, so how many beavers have to die for the felt to make a fedora? I can't imagine enough to warrant a $300 markup over a similar hat made from rabbit fur.

I am left wondering if this high markup isn't a legacy of the days when beavers were much rarer and the hatters are just capitalizing on public ignorance.
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You should pm Tibor on SF as he has his own hat company Engel and Company Hatters

https://m.facebook.com/engelhatters?refsrc=https://www.facebook.com/engelhatters

I can't find the post right now but I recall him talking about the margin for hats and what he has to charge.

I took a look at some millinery supply houses and it seems most fur felt is not beaver but rabbit, nutria and other furs. Might be a premium of beaver fur felt. Saw one site that had beaver blanks (can't recall the proper name) for $160.00.
 
Well, beaver fur felt definitely is the premium material for hats. All my felt hats are rabbit fur felt, and most have given me good service for a good many years. Rabbit-beaver blends are a good compromise. I don't know much about nutria but suspect it would be closer to beaver. My point is that beaver fur felt hats are several hundred dollars more than the same hat from rabbit fur. Unless the manufacture of beaver felt is vastly more complex and expensive than rabbit fur felt, I can't see why there would be such a vast differential. I can't imagine more than three beaver pelts (if that) go into the manufacture of a hat, which would mean that the cost of raw materials would only be about $60 more than for rabbit fur. Labor--shaping, trimming, etc.--should be identical for both types of felt.
 
Go into a big deportment store - say Hermes f'rinstance - walk up to lady behind help desk and say:

"Excuse me how much does beaver cost here"?

Then

"Can you tell me where I can get felt"?
 
Not sure but I just realized all Stetsons have branding on it, this one right behind the ear which disqualifies it for menswear. I don't understand how he can go all bespoke suit and coat then finish it off with a shitty cap.
 
Like these panama hats from Drakes with the raw tussah silk bands. Makes a nice change from the standard black ribbon...

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prince nez said:
Like these panama hats from Drakes with the raw tussah silk bands. Makes a nice change from the standard black ribbon...

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I'd have to dig it up, but some guy at AAAC (stylepurgatory, I think) did a how-to for fabricating hat bands. Given the high number of times I've liked a hat but not the band, it was good to know.
 
LelandJ said:
I just received this Hat People full cut wool hat. Fits a little tighter than I thought it would but probably because it sits lower than I thought it would. The brim top isn't sewn to the cap top so I have to shape it on which isn't a big deal but harder to get right without looking at a mirror. Definitely prefer the shape to my Junya flat caps, but do wish the wool were a thicker fabric.

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Russell Street said:
Holy cow, nutty Tibor's hat company actually has a real page now and not just a faceypage. I wish we could know how many $900 hats he sells.
Engel & Co. Hatters
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If he is to be believed, he has been heavily recruited by police academies after doing so well in his police cadet/explorer course but has put that off to grow his hat company. He hopes to join the thin blue line sometime in his 30's.

#23499 of 235162 hours ago
Tibor

I am not a
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sander

Very cool, as always. Have you ever talked about what you do for a living? I'm wondering because my impression was that this is pretty formal for the US. But I like to think that your job involves a lot of ass-kicking, like police commissioner or so.
lol8%5B1%5D.gif


I would love to kiss some ass, but with all the youtube videos Internal affairs is all tied up. I was a police cadet which is very similar to a police explorer, and worked as a Calfornia Public State Officer, and of course your run of a mill average private security guard. Upon completing police cadets I was recruited by a few local police departments to join the academy which is a regional police academy in San Diego County. I decided to enter into the world of hattery first, and recently started my own hat company. I keep close contacts in local & federal law enforcment as I hope to enter the Academy before my mid 30's. Until then I will pursue my passion in hattery.
 
Thruth said:
If he is to be believed, he has been heavily recruited by police academies after doing so well in his police cadet/explorer course but has put that off to grow his hat company. He hopes to join the thin blue line sometime in his 30's.

#23499 of 235162 hours ago
Tibor

I am not a
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sander

Very cool, as always. Have you ever talked about what you do for a living? I'm wondering because my impression was that this is pretty formal for the US. But I like to think that your job involves a lot of ass-kicking, like police commissioner or so.
lol8%5B1%5D.gif


I would love to kiss some ass, but with all the youtube videos Internal affairs is all tied up. I was a police cadet which is very similar to a police explorer, and worked as a Calfornia Public State Officer, and of course your run of a mill average private security guard. Upon completing police cadets I was recruited by a few local police departments to join the academy which is a regional police academy in San Diego County. I decided to enter into the world of hattery first, and recently started my own hat company. I keep close contacts in local & federal law enforcment as I hope to enter the Academy before my mid 30's. Until then I will pursue my passion in hattery.
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Psychological Screening for Police Officers

OTOH madness is almost a pre-requisite for being a hatter so I can't fault his eventual career choice.
 
Russell Street said:
Holy cow, nutty Tibor's hat company actually has a real page now and not just a faceypage. I wish we could know how many $900 hats he sells.
Engel & Co. Hatters
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Unfortunately, he only appears to have one model of hat, in one colour, for sale at present. I assume that he'll expand further in the future.

Thruth said:
If he is to be believed, he has been heavily recruited by police academies after doing so well in his police cadet/explorer course but has put that off to grow his hat company. He hopes to join the thin blue line sometime in his 30's.
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I think that he's got things the wrong way around. I would have thought that it would have been better to seize the opportunity to go to police academy while he was "in demand", so to speak, rather than putting it off for a decade and then hoping that he'll be able to get in. Also, he could save money while he's in the police force and put it towards his hat business on the side.

Also, if those documentaries that they made in the 1980s about life at the police academy were accurate - the ones with Steve Guttenberg as the trainee officer along with his zany colleagues - then police training is great fun and Tibor should leap at the opportunity!
 
Journeyman said:
Unfortunately, he only appears to have one model of hat, in one colour, for sale at present. I assume that he'll expand further in the future.



I think that he's got things the wrong way around. I would have thought that it would have been better to seize the opportunity to go to police academy while he was "in demand", so to speak, rather than putting it off for a decade and then hoping that he'll be able to get in. Also, he could save money while he's in the police force and put it towards his hat business on the side.

Also, if those documentaries that they made in the 1980s about life at the police academy were accurate - the ones with Steve Guttenberg as the trainee officer along with his zany colleagues - then police training is great fun and Tibor should leap at the opportunity!
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True. He would be a shoe-in for a character role should they re-invent the Police Academy franchise
 
Good news! A style reconnaissance operative in Oceania has reported that bucket hats will be the new hot thing.
fxh said:
Dropped into a small very tiny young person's hip clothing shop...Was chatting to owner about men's clothes. Knowledge enough bloke. I asked what was the next big ish thing happening in sales. He said Bucket Hats. I adjusted my ear trumpet and asked him to repeat himself. Yep. It was bucket hats.
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Speaking of bucket hats, while coming in to work this morning, I spotted a rather hippie-ish looking man in his fifties wearing a black leather bucket hat.

He had long, greying hair and was also wearing a linen shirt, an odd linen or hemp vest and loose, tie-dyed trousers.
 
I remember wearing bucket hats as a youth. So, given the years that have elapsed it is not surprising they are being raised from the dead. But who wants to wear a corpse on their head?

To quote Leitmotif "ugly as fuck"
 
Journeyman said:
Speaking of bucket hats, while coming in to work this morning, I spotted a rather hippie-ish looking man in his fifties wearing a black leather bucket hat.

He had long, greying hair and was also wearing a linen shirt, an odd linen or hemp vest and loose, tie-dyed trousers.
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First the train incident now this - you stalking me?
 
Watch caps. Any advice or recommendations?

Wool, acrylic blend or cashmere?

Army-Navy surplus store or something higher end?
 
Dropbear said:
Watch caps. Any advice or recommendations?

Wool, acrylic blend or cashmere?

Army-Navy surplus store or something higher end?
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How cold a climate? For casual wear?

Avoid the acrylic unless polypro or other wicking synthetic.

wool from your Army-Navy is functional and warm. Not sure about US watch caps but the Canadian surplus ones I get are tightly knit, keep their shape, are warm, not scratchy at all and cheap. Cannot really tell the difference between them and high-end knits.

The ultimate old school wool would be Dachstein but that is only for stupid cold climes.

On the other end of the spectrum is Cashmere. Comfortable and lighter weight. Very good warmth to weight ratio. Doesn't last if you abuse it. You pay for the privilege.

Merino is the best solution in terms of warmth, comfort and price. Single layer for warmer climes, double layer for colder.

Other interesting options include merino-possum fur blend. Possum hairs are hollow and the air space is a great insulator. This works amazingly.
 
I've had a cashmere watchcap going on 7 years and it's going strong. I think how it's woven matters. Got it for $8 on sale at Club Monaco.
 
colco said:
I've had a cashmere watchcap going on 7 years and it's going strong. I think how it's woven matters. Got it for $8 on sale at Club Monaco.
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of course you city boys aren't rolling in the dirt or pushing bush like some. But yes for city sauntering, cashmere is a lovely touch.
 
You are right, I don't do any of those things. I do have a (Canadian made come to think of it) acrylic/merino blend that has a thinsulate band on the inside that I wear when I run trails in the winter.
 
Thruth said:
How cold a climate? For casual wear?
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Thanks! Yes, casual wear. Not for sub-zero or anything silly and just for camping, walking the dog, maybe cold days walking to site inspections at work.

Might wear it with a green field jacket, so don't want to look too 'urban commando'. Maybe a dark brown or black? Possibly blue or a very dark burgundy?

Cashmere sounds nice. Any brands to look out for?
 
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