Any Fedora lovers from Asia?

[ghostdog]

Hi everyone, I'm a total noob here at the Lounge but definitely a Fedora lover. Been one for all my life, but just purchased one only quite recently... and a big fan of gangster movies, film noir & 1940's americana.

And btw, I'm from Malaysia (it's errr directly above Singapore... ) We don't have a local hat wearing culture (and I mean real Hats, not baseball caps etc.)...& anyone who actually wears one is quickly labelled a cowboy (no matter what kind of hat they're wearing), so it's downright impossible here to get any fedora from an actual hat shop. So the only choice we have (or I have, coz I haven't met any other local fedora lovers...yet ) is to shop online, which is costly, especially delivery (considering our local exchange rate to the USD).

I just got myself a cheap starter hat from hatsinthebelfry.com so that I won't go crazy & keep imagining myself donning one in a b&w movie dream! At the time I didn't know about this forum and pretty much bought the fedora blind. Anyway I think it's sufficient enough to quench my Fedora loving thirst for the time being, & good enough to take b&w pictures with, like my avatar, and to hang round with my friends. Too insecure to wear it in public too much though!

I plan on getting more in the near future, and to keep on collecting them for as long as I can afford.... and probably to learn to wear them in public more. It's just that it's a costly lifestyle decision to wear hats, especially on my meager govt salary, and ordering them online and all, spending a really large part of the dough on delivering them all the way here alone is killing me.

Anyway, here are few questions:

1. Are there a lot of the Loungers here who are Fedora lovers hailing from Asia, or more specifically South East Asia? I know there's Yohanes from Indonesia (I still don't have enough posts to PM him to share his experiences collecting hats in his part of the world) and another guy from , I forgot is it Singapore or Hong kong? I hope you guys would share your experinces in hat collecting, I don't even mind getting stories from expat hat lovers who serve in Asia too, if you would be kind enough to share?

2. What are the occupation of most the collectors here? I mean professionals and businessmen would generally be able to afford the higher quality hats, but what about the blue-collar ones like me, do we compensate by buying cheaper, lower quality ones instead? What are your thoughts? Since I'm in Malaysia, and have no experience on buying vintage hats, eBay wouldn't be such a viable option coz we still have to pay the high overseas delivery costs.


I hope some of the Loungers would share their thoughts on the matter, especially my fellow hat lovers not from the states, or places where it's difficult to get hats from the shops directly.

Thanks a lot for reading my rather long intro, and I hope to ask more hat questions in the future and learn more from this forum.

 

[schanop]

Hi ghostdog,

I'm not sure I should be counted as one. I was born in Bangkok; however, I have been living in Australia for the past ten years. When I started having interest in hats, I had easy access to a few hat shops around the town and the well known the hattery (hatsdirect.com) if I drive up to the blue mountain.

I've been spending my time in Hong Kong for a little bit: two weeks before new year, and two weeks more from today. I haven't yet found any hat shop here. May be I am not looking at the right place. Any tip, Hong Kong fellow?

 

[Yohanes]

Ah, welcome, a fellow from negeri jiran! Welcome to the lounge! Actually there's another member here from Indonesia, Astaire, but he happened to stay in US some times ago. You won't expect to see an Indon here, right? hahahaha...

I collect fedora partly also as a fashion statement, cause I hate today's men's "pop fashion" that refers to Japan, Korea, harajuku, or whatever they call it. I decide to choose hat, of course after lurking in this lounge for quite some time.

Yes, collecting fedora is costly. I'm an employee myself, but since I'm single also with some additional income I'm lucky to allocate some of it to buy fedoras from ebay. But of course it's quite difficult as I'm 7 3/8, but some good deals do appear in ebay sometimes.

I wear them too whenever I can!

 

[ghostdog]

Hi Yohanes,

Yep, I was definitely surprised to find an Indon here! Cool avatar pic too.

Have you been collecting Hats long? How large is your collection now? Have you ordered from any particular online shops?

And I was wondering, do you wear your hats in public often? The thing about our culture here, especially Malaysia, is that people who wear hats are an oddity. Not counting local hip-hop artists, the only people who would wear them in public are the arty-farty types, painters and writers. Me, I just love the idea of wearing a fedora. I'm not trying to create any waves or trends. I just feel good wearing them. And they actually serve a pupose, especially with the sun and heat over here. Even when I wear them in the car, almost everyone stares. I don't want to be an iconoclast.

Lucky for schanop, there are still many people who wear hats down under.

 

[RBH]

Welcome here ghostdog !
I say just start wearing a fedora, soon you will not notice it untill you go out without it on. Then you will feel that you are not dressed unless you have it on.

 

[daizawaguy]

Hello from Tokyo

Yes, I am living right here in Tokyo...great hat shops, some around since the Meiji era, some newer ones like CA4LA (pronounced KA-SHI-LA, as 4=shi). Don`t have a lot of time today...but shoot any questions and I promise to reply!

 

[Yohanes]

Ghostdog, as long as you feel good in wearing hat, go for it. And if others decide to follow you, that's great, right? I had that kind of worry when I first wearing fedora in public - it was in a shopping mall. But you won't get killed just because wearing a fedora, right? Some comments, incl. silly ones may emerge, there's even a special thread in this forum about such comments, but hey, it shows that we are "distinguished" gentlemen! (and ladies, too )

I don't have many chance to wear fedora in public as I worked mostly in the office, and I ride motorcycle. But on weekends, when I have the chance, I wear it, such as when going to plaza or shopping malls. No need to worry, most people don't care anyway. But I just wear it happily and confidently.

I also started with wool fedora, or in fact, my first fedora is not wool - it's Stetson Andes I bought online from menshats.com when it was still owned by Stark & Legum. Then move to Litefelt wool from dadshats.com. Then another crusher wool that I still often wear, Golden Gate Blues. After that I only buy from ebay, as the vintage item there is much, much, much, better. The pic in my avatar is me wearing my first vintage, a black Adam. Some members here worry of being mistakenly called Rabbi if wearing black hat but since I never see any Rabbi in Indonesia, I shouldn't worry about that

Total cost of buying hat from ebay or online store would be the same. At my first purchase I also bought a bugatti cap $20. My Stetson was 40. Shipping cost was 35, total cost for my Stetson is 57.5.

Buying from ebay using priority mail as shipping option costs around 25-30 to Indonesia. If I'm lucky I could get a vintage at 30-35. Total cost would be the same as buying modern hat but I get much better item although in used condition.

So far I have 8 brimmed hats, 4 vintage fedoras, 4 modern production. I also have 1 Greek Fisherman cap.

What's your starter hat? No need to be ashamed here... and in fact, I tried to buy from hatsinthebelfry in the past, but looks like either they don't believe Indonesia, or their customer service sucks, my order was never processed.

About other Asian member here, if I'm not mistaken, there's Mr. Rover (as I see on the pics), but he may live in US...

To Daizawaguy: Hello, I don't even know that there's a member from Japan here! Nice seeing fellow Asian!

 

[ghostdog]

What's your starter hat? No need to be ashamed here... and in fact, I tried to buy from hatsinthebelfry in the past, but looks like either they don't believe Indonesia, or their customer service sucks, my order was never processed.

Yohanes, i actually ordered a 'Bogart' wool felt made by hatsinthebelfry.com, (link here: http://www.hatsinthebelfry.com/page/H/PROD/mens-hats/719wfblack)which was the cheapest one that they offered with the closest to the style I wanted (for a Bogie freak like me, I thought how could you go wrong by ordering any model a hatter would call a 'Bogart'! You have to remember, I am a total fedora noob here...), but they said they were out of stock for my size, a 7 1/8, so they decided to upgrade my order into a fur felt version, also a black 'bogart' (http://www.hatsinthebelfry.com/page/H/PROD/mff/719furfelt-black which costs 20 bucks more!).

So lucky for me, I got myself a fur felt fedora for my first hat 'stead of a wool felt!

And yep, since you can't find any hassidic jews here in Malaysia too, nobody would ever make the mistake of calling me a rabbi!

 

[schanop]

Hello again,

I was in Bangkok for two months untill last week. It supposed to be a winter time, but the weather was averaging above 30 degree during the day. Somehow I don't think I can manage a fedora back there. A panama seems a much better option to me, and good for me that I brought along one panama. In Bangkok, I got some look here and there, but I wore my panama to many places: malls, restaurants, shops, and of course while playing golf. Some shop keepers wouldn't think that I was Thai probably because of the hat :-D.

Cheers, Chanop

 

[ghostdog]

Hats in Japan

Yes, I am living right here in Tokyo...great hat shops, some around since the Meiji era, some newer ones like CA4LA (pronounced KA-SHI-LA, as 4=shi). Don`t have a lot of time today...but shoot any questions and I promise to reply!

You know, I almost forgot that unlike most Asian countries, Japan already has a hat wearing culture since the Meiji era, am I right daizawaguy? Japan is pretty advanced culturally among asian countries, so you can get away with wearing almost anything you want over there and people wouldn't mind. You can be a Goth, a punk, an anime cosplay freak... I guess Japan is pretty cool in that sense

So daizawaguy, please tell me more about hats in Japan, especially our beloved fedora. Are there still many (western style) hat wearers in Japan? Are there any links to Japanese hatters you can provide? (I wouldn't mind if it's in Japanese, as long as it has pictures

 

[daizawaguy]

Hats in Japan

The oldest shop in Ginza is TORAYA, established about 100 years ago. Japan has their own hat makers, and I`ll do some research on these soon. CA4LA (google it) is a contemporary fashion hat shop, with lots of Borsalino, as well as some Japanese Fedoras made of cashmere (Yen30,000) or so. You are right, individuality is well respected in Japan, but old men wear hats too, and this has not given hat wearing a trendy image. Nonetheless, fashion setting is a big pastime here. Will revert soon. BTW, today I received my Akubra STYLEMASTER...great hat for the price. Will revert soon with an article on Japanese hat makers. Also, they seem to fit the asian head better...flatter and less deep? Cheers, daizawa

 

[daizawaguy]

Toraya Ginza

http://www.ginza-toraya.com/

 

[ghostdog]

Thanks for the link daizawaguy!

Wow, the thought of local Japanese hatmakers intrigues me!

Daizawa, among my many varied interests are Japanese history and culture, especially ancient Japanese samurai zen philosophy. But I'm no expert on the matter, and I'm still learning new things. Buts lets talk about hats now...

Anyway, do many older Japanese men still dress up with a hat on? What kind of hats do they mostly wear? Someone told me that wearing hats are customary for certain formal functions in Japan, is this true?

Please share your research with us on this matter as I find the idea of a non-western hat culture, especially an Asian one, very interesting indeed.

 

[kelvin12]

Hello Everyone

Hello everbody,
Another fedora lover answering the roll call for Asia. Well, I actually spend most of the year in England, but spend the rest in Singapore, and I'll soon be back in the tropics for good.
Glad to see other hat wearers in the region. In Singapore, it's just me and a few gwailo who wear hats...you can probably count us on one hand...a shame, really, it's great panama weather.
And yes ghostdog, the subject of non-western hat culture is interesting. I'm a historian by training, and I can tell you that up till the early 20th c wearing a hat was the norm in Asia as it was in the rest of the world. Felts and straws alike, you can find lots of great old photos or personal accounts. So I guess the death of hat wearing hit Asia particularly badly.
Once again, big hello to everyone, been reading this forum for the past year or so...took this thread to get me posting!

 

[duggap]

Kelvin, welcome to the lounge. Hang around some and let us hear more from you.

 

[kelvin12]

Thanks for the welcome duggap. Look forward to discussing and posting pics of hats!

 

[dhermann1]

It's an interesting issue, the idea of fedora wearing in Asia. It would, I suppose, symbolize the hegemony of Europe in what was once (but I think no longer is, thankfully) called the "Third World". To do business with the ruling elites in Asian countries in the early part of th 20th century, you would have had to dress according to code. Nationalism and other aspects of social progress must have made this a very frought topic by now. I'd be curious to know what the wearing of mid century western fashion means to people in that part of the world. Of course, if the answer is "because it's cool", that's all the explanation that's needed.
When I consider how complicated arranging a get together can be just here in New York, I suppose having a meet up of the Asian members would be a logistical challenge of immense proportions. Have you ever thought about it?