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Berets, Anyone?

Bouwerij_Jongen

One of the Regulars
Messages
154
Location
Cascadia
Tchoupi, thanks for the great photos from M.E. Davles epic tread up South America and North America.
The cotton berets made me look to my own cotton berets waiting for a warm sunny day.

JimK, great photo of the Elosegui Ano 1858; looks very comfortable.
The news article link is very informative.

So, Daan, for how long is your shipping window open now?
 
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Daan

Vendor
Messages
940
Location
Wellington, Aotearoa
So, Daan, for how long is your shipping window open now?
Ha! I wish I could respond with any sort of certainty, but truly, I don't know...
New Zealand is in total lockdown presently, but NZ Post being an "essential service provider", continues to operate to some degree. Exactly what that means, is not clear.
Any orders coming in now are fulfilled within 24 hours as usual, dropped off at the NZ Post depot, but from there it is out of my hands - deliveries to North America and Europe can take anything from the usual 10 working days to... I don't know.
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What I can say is that all shipments are insured and in the unlikely case that a parcel goes missing, I will re-send. However, this won't be the usual 21 days after target delivery time. Before placing an order, it may pay to check with your postal service what local conditions are like.

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Daan

Vendor
Messages
940
Location
Wellington, Aotearoa
One good thing about being in lock-down and NZ Post having halted most of its services, is that you have plenty of time to do a proper stock take. And it is quite amazing what treasure I found, hidden in boxes I had somehow forgotten about for years.
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Large quantities of boinas Super Lujo for example, or a whole box of Txapelduns in Bordeaux; Laulhère’s first lot of Heritage berets in midnight-blue and, for some crazy reason, a box full of bérets bayadère in size 58!
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In these dire times of quarantine, isolation and lock-downs one not only needs a good Reality Shield, but also some good economic gain – so all these new re-found berets are on SPECIAL this week, at a discount of at least 45%.

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One week only, over 45% off as long as stock lasts! (From 1 April, NZ Post will implement a postage surcharge; all berets ordered prior will be send at the usual fare).
 

Daan

Vendor
Messages
940
Location
Wellington, Aotearoa
As cases of COVID-19 ballooned last month, people in Europe and North America scrambled to get their hands on surgical masks to protect themselves. Meanwhile, health officials jumped in to discourage them, worried about the limited supply of masks for health care personnel.
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“Seriously people-STOP BUYING MASKS!” began a 29 February tweet from U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams. The World Health Organization and U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have both said that only people with COVID-19 symptoms and those caring for them should wear masks.
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The worldwide shortage of masks has led to drastic measures. Earlier today the Government of the Autonomous Basque Region in Spain has ordered beret manufacturer Boinas Elósegui to immediately halt the complete production of berets and focus on manufacturing face masks instead.
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The cost per mask is relatively high, but individual masks can be dry-cleaned up to 50 times in their lifespan, while the merino fibers are a natural antiseptic.
Specifically for the Basque market, Elósegui developed a face mask with txortena (or cabillou).
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When the production of berets can be resumed is an unknown; “we expect to produce face masks only till at least the end of this year”, Elósegui spokesman Tonto Gilipollas said.
 

Bouwerij_Jongen

One of the Regulars
Messages
154
Location
Cascadia
So all the talk about reality shields reminded of my trip to New York City in March, 2017,
standing across from Trump Tower wearing my Elosegui Txapela in Boudeau
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then I thought since I am wearing my Txapela today I could try
to craft a beret mask.
I have an unlined white Nutria that would work.
I just need to add an elastic strap and I am ready to go.
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Daan

Vendor
Messages
940
Location
Wellington, Aotearoa
Misfortunes never come singly
1.Bad things or situations always come in groups or streaks, they never come in a single way.
Synonyms: it never rains but it pours; when it rains, it pours



COVID-19 and the consequences for beret manufacturers have been bad, but things can always get worse. Last week part of the Filature du Parc was destroyed by fire.
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Filature du Parc in Brassac (Tarn) is a specialized mill that supplies the merino wool threads used by all French beret manufacturers.
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So apart from being in lockdown, now it is also impossible to physically manufacture berets. I fear the continuality of manufacturing berets in France is becoming more unsure, with Manufacture de Bérets, Laulhère and Le Béret Français all suffering terribly from both these disasters.

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On a very personal level, I am lucky to have a large stock of French berets from all three manufacturers; who knows wat will happen with production in the near future…
 

Daan

Vendor
Messages
940
Location
Wellington, Aotearoa
Daan! That looks like a genuine disaster! Please - fill in some blanks! Is that the supplier of yarn from which berets are made?
That's correct, Jim. And Filatures du Parc is the only mill in France that supplies the fine thread of merino wool for the beret industry.
Add to that the lockdown and the closure of the border between France and Spain and you'll realize how dire the situation is.
 
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JimK

New in Town
Messages
48
Location
North Ogden, Utah
Filatures du Parc is the only mill in France that supplies the fine thread of merino wool for the beret industry.

Ach, it's horrible enough just the physical destruction of such a factory, all the equipment and materials. But then the way nowadays our supply chains are so dreadfully efficient, which is to say brittle. I hope we find a way to come out of all this stronger somehow - more resilient. These kinds of hard knocks are unavoidable even if they only come around every decade or two.
 

Daan

Vendor
Messages
940
Location
Wellington, Aotearoa

I am incredibly saddened by the news that my friend Jean-Claude Pertuzé has died last Sunday.
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Jean-Claude was a great supporter of The Beret Project; designing my logo, sending me beautiful artworks of his and telling me the story of the “Bigue-les” badge that I wear every day around my wrist…
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Jean-Claude had a kind of humour that gave me the energy to go on with life, enabling me to laugh at the dark side of the world we live in.


He was a great man, a good friend and a real mensch.
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I will miss him.
 

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