$1,400 Fedora??

[epic610]

just reading the new issue of Forbes' quarterly supplemental magazine "FYI". on page 29 an ad for a $1,400 fedora made by Kangol ....called "il Padrino".

available exclusively i presume at a boutique called ALIFE located downtown in NYC.

Price includes 14K gold and feather hat pins and a leather hatbox. perhaps someone with good computer skills can find a way to post picture of ad. they describe it as having "traditional shape, conservative one-inch brim and center crease crown"

thought you'd all be interested. anyone know anything about this (black american express quivering in my hand)?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

This the one?

Really, for $1400 i'm looking for higher quality gold than 14K

b(22)k

 

[mysterygal]

$1,400 Fedora??

isn't it amazing how much money people will spend on something? I guess to each their own, but being thrifty myself.....I could go on a darn good shopping spree with that money

 

[feltfan]

Really, for $1400 i'm looking for higher quality gold than 14K

I'd be looking for a wider brim.

 

[Zach R.]

I'd be looking for a wider brim.

And a taller crown.

 

[Brad Bowers]

I'd be looking for a wider brim.

And a taller crown.

That would be a $2500 hat!

Brad

 

[jake_fink]

Originally Posted by feltfan
I'd be looking for a wider brim.

Originally Posted by Zach R.
And a taller crown.

That would be a $2500 hat!

Brad

More felt?

 

[Zach R.]

It'd be absolutely hilarious if the little blurb said "This hat is made of the highest quality pure virgin wool felt"

 

[John in Covina]

The hat is $200, the box is $600, the feather and pin are $600.

 

[EricH]

I guess if you didn't charge that much you wouldn't know it was a premium quality fedora. Speaking of which, I have a great Knox 2000 that I would be willing to part with for just $1999 PS I agree that's a pretty generous price for such a stingy brim.

 

[feltfan]

It occurs to me that Art ought to have a "special"
$2000 one-of-a-kind hat, too. Up in Oregon it shouldn't
be too hard to find a rock shop selling natural (tiny) 24K gold
nuggets which he could affix to the bow and it could
come in one of jpdesign's steel hat boxes.

At least the fools would get a good hat and box
when separated from their cash.

 

[Art Fawcett]

What???? don't think it's worth it?? Must be a nice gig, if they can get it. What am I sayin? They WILL get it from someone.
OK FF....got my shovel & dredge..I'll get right on the nugget pin

 

[Feraud]

For 1400 bucks that thing had better massage my head while I am wearin' it!

I do not blame the consumer for not knowing their hat values. I blame the hatmakers who the quality and charge this. "Making a profit" is one thing but this is saying, "I am going to bend the consumer over a table and....". You know what I mean. :whistling

 

[Zach R.]

Better yet, get a moth-eaten and trashed fedora and claim that it is the perfect companion to Polo's derelicte look.

MSRP: $999.97

 

[EricH]

Feltfan I don't think Art should go the nugget route, too cliche. Maybe take advantage of some of the specialties of the Northwest, say a classic fedora made from a 3X Sasquatch pelt (who could prove otherwise), lined with a soft jackalope sweat band (they're real aren't they), and topped with a feather from a spotted owl (obviously one already molted). I'd box it up in a genuine old growth redwood box (who can tell) and sell it for at least $5500 a pop. Maybe it could be called an Oregon Open Trail? They wouldn't even have to fit the user. They'd be too expensive to wear and too controversial to take out in public. Besides, a couple of good sales would help Art get some more equipment to speed up "production" for those of us who appreciate a good hat at a fair price. By the way Feltfan, what kind of blocking is that on the fedora in your picture? Eric

 

[JimD]

Marketing 101; Rodeo Drive Pricing

Way back when I was in college one of my classes discussed the "Rodeo Drive Pricing system". Which basically means if your clientele has way too much money, they do not value items unless they are priced extremely high. Seems ridiculous to us but it is a proven fact. I even personally witnessed it in action back in the late 70s. I had a bird business as a sideline and saw cockatiels, which normally sold for 30.00 at that time, go for 250.00 at a pet store on Rodeo drive. And if that was not bad enough to get to the part of the store where the birds were kept on display, you had to pay a 5.00 fee!

 

[tonyb]

Better yet, get a moth-eaten and trashed fedora and claim that it is the perfect companion to Polo's derelicte look.

MSRP: $999.97

Wouldn't shock me if someone tried it. After all, there was a fashion of few years back of wearing pre-worn-out jeans. Remember that? I'm not talking "stone washed," but actually tattered and torn NEW blue jeans. And I see that the western-wear shops are now selling cheap straw cowboy hats that come already banged up, apparently so all those factory and office workers can go out on Friday night looking like they spent the week riding the range.

 

[tonyb]

Way back when I was in college one of my classes discussed the "Rodeo Drive Pricing system". Which basically means if your clientele has way too much money, they do not value items unless they are priced extremely high. Seems ridiculous to us but it is a proven fact. I even personally witnessed it in action back in the late 70s. I had a bird business as a sideline and saw cockatiels, which normally sold for 30.00 at that time, go for 250.00 at a pet store on Rodeo drive. And if that was not bad enough to get to the part of the store where the birds were kept on display, you had to pay a 5.00 fee!

Ever seen one of those really cheap fedora-style straw hats with a green plastic visor incorporated into the front of the brim? They're just the thing to wear while driving a tractor or picking fruit on a hot, sunny day. About 30 years ago I traveled to the Yakima Valley to get some work through a friend of mine there, who worked for a rancher. I bought one of those hats at a country store over there. Set me back a couple of bucks or so. On my return to Seattle I stepped into a new boutique that had just opened near the Pike Place Public Market. The very same hat was on offer in that fancy boutique for something like 16 dollars.
Location, location, location ...

 

[Zach R.]

Wouldn't shock me if someone tried it. After all, there was a fashion of few years back of wearing pre-worn-out jeans. Remember that? I'm not talking "stone washed," but actually tattered and torn NEW blue jeans. And I see that the western-wear shops are now selling cheap straw cowboy hats that come already banged up, apparently so all those factory and office workers can go out on Friday night looking like they spent the week riding the range.

That fashion wasn't just a few years back, its still here in full force from what I can tell. In places like Abercrombie and Fitch, that is even now pretty much their front-running lineup.

 

[feltfan]

By the way Feltfan, what kind of blocking is that on the fedora in your picture? Eric

Tokugawa #60 block. But I can bash it into an
Open Road if that suits the occasion.

Art, it might as well be you parting the fool from
his money. And yeah, Feraud, at that price let
the buyer beware.