German & Austrian Hutmachers

[dross2]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if these labels/embossing meant anything to you? Thanks in advance

http://s1251.photobucket.com/user/dr...?sort=2&page=1

 

[TheDane]

http://s1251.photobucket.com/user/dross1782/library/Fedora?sort=2&page=1

 

[Huertecilla]

Great pickup! It's a Homburg and made by Hückel Hutfabrik Weilheim. They made very high quality hats. Probably mid to late 1950s.

Thank you for the feedback.
I am réally looking forward to that Homburg; getting to like wearing a nice, striking hat quite a lot. The Homburg will make a great contrast to the more flamboyant fedoras.

The seller is a duo with a shop based in France but their prime market is based in NY.

They are specialised in vintage women´s attire and have men´s hats as a side line.
I economised the shipping costs and sharpened the deal with two ´old fashionable´ goodies for my gf.

 

[ManofKent]

That's a fine looking Homburg.

 

[Huertecilla]

That's a fine looking Homburg.

Thank you Sir.
I am a bit ´anxious´ about it as I have nó inkling about how a Homburg style hat suits me. It is an obvious quality hat in a classy tint whereas I radiate mischief.
I can get away with short trousers and a fedora but dressy things are a challenge.
When I was still racing with the other rats the three piece suit always looked like I was mocking everybody.
Anyway, those are just musings as today it has no other importance than ´just´the fun of living my life.

 

[mayserwegener]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if these labels/embossing meant anything to you? Thanks in advance

http://s1251.photobucket.com/user/dr...?sort=2&page=1

It was made by P. & C. Habig Wien. Here is a link with more information on P. & C. Habig Wien.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/5-p-c-habig-hutfabrik/

I have early Tonak formely Hückel Zephyr Seal Velour from the same hat store.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/124-tonak-formely-hueckel/

P. & C. Habig Wien made really great hats. It was made in 1956. Trachten / Tyrolean hats were popular leisure / sports hats in the US during the 1950s.

Also "Ventilo" is a ventilation system P. & C. Habig used in some of their hats. The felt vents are at the front of the sweatband.

 

[mayserwegener]

Thank you for the feedback.
I am réally looking forward to that Homburg; getting to like wearing a nice, striking hat quite a lot. The Homburg will make a great contrast to the more flamboyant fedoras.

The seller is a duo with a shop based in France but their prime market is based in NY.

They are specialised in vintage women´s attire and have men´s hats as a side line.
I economised the shipping costs and sharpened the deal with two ´old fashionable´ goodies for my gf.

Most people today have no idea what they are. They just see them as another tall crown / wide brim soft felt hat. I wear mine with button down shirt and trousers.

 

[TheDane]

I wear mine with button down shirt and trousers.

Hmmm ... that sounds a bit conservative, Steve. A buttoned down shirt and a mini-skirt would be a little more spicey

 

[mayserwegener]

That's for my Bowlers!

 

[dross2]

It was made by P. & C. Habig Wien. Here is a link with more information on P. & C. Habig Wien.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/5-p-c-habig-hutfabrik/

I have early Tonak formely Hückel Zephyr Seal Velour from the same hat store.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/124-tonak-formely-hueckel/

P. & C. Habig Wien made really great hats. It was made in 1956. Trachten / Tyrolean hats were popular leisure / sports hats in the US during the 1950s.

Also "Ventilo" is a ventilation system P. & C. Habig used in some of their hats. The felt vents are at the front of the sweatband.

So were these made in Austria for the American Company F.R. Tripler and Co.?

 

[dross2]

Also I am curious, I get the color, size, and customer info but what does "Arb. Vel. B," something with the material?

 

[mayserwegener]

Your hat was made in Austria by P. & C. Habig Wien. If you look at the left side of the paper label the P. & C. Habig name is cutoff. I assume this was an OEM model for F. R. Tripler and Company.

Here is a complete paper label.

The hat I posted still has the TONAK formerly Hückel branding along with F. R. Tripler and Company so a different situation. Also the TONAK for formerly Hückel factory was located in Czechoslovakia (was Austria prior to WWI).

 

[mayserwegener]

Also I am curious, I get the color, size, and customer info but what does "Arb. Vel. B," something with the material?

I believe it's Velour, Brown. Arb. is probably some form of Arbeits.

 

[mayserwegener]

This is an article by one of the founders of Hückel Weilheim, Germany. It appeared in the January / February 2008 edition of "Geschichte und Kultur" (a periodical dedicated to the displaced people of Neutitschein / Novy Jicin Czechoslovakia, before WWI Austria).

Images from Memory

Rita Gnadl , born Tengler remembers ...

Firm J. Hückels Söhne Neutitschein

The company J. Hückel's Sons , Neutitschein was founded in 1799 by Johann Nepomuk Hückel . It was harder to start a company back then. In 1938 , when the war begins , there were branches Ratibor , Skoczów and Vienna. The main plant in Neutitschein employed about 4,000 workers and officers.

My father was already manager in Ratibor. He and his brothers Anton and Randolf had already completed their apprenticeship with success in Hückel . After the war the factory was nationalized and then was called "TONAK “. We were expelled and managed to relocate to Bavaria. By chance one of the owners Mr. Fritz Hückel had a summer house in Ammersee in Holzhausen near Utting.

When we arrived in Bavaria via Berlin my father met with Mr. Hückel who made a loan of RM 1,000 to start a new company . My father, mother, and brother Roman moved into a furnished two room apartment in Weilheim / Upper Bavaria. My father then set up a meeting with the Mayor of Weilheim to discuss a possible location for the business.

At Marienplatz Weilheim there was a department store Buxbaum. The acting director Mr. Trieber offered us a garage in the backyard and a small room in the department store as an office. I first took over all the office work while my father tried to hire some employees who have previously worked in the company. The first to arrive was former employee Mr. Mark who with my father would work to clean and shape hats.

The garage had only an old iron furnace (unfortunately it only had two legs instead of 3) for heat . Mr. Trieber gave us a clothes rack made of wood that Mr. Mark converted to a dry box. In the garbage area behind the town cemetery we found an old boiling pot which a plumber on Krumper street converted into a useful to us steamer for the hats. The Wegener hat factory gave us old blocks and flanges. We arranged with Mr. Trieber for a collection point in the department store take in used hats that needed cleaning and reprocessing.

Then came the day of opening and we got to work. We even found a hat seamstress (which is not found today) from Ratibor. I then washed the first hats in our basin. We had nothing and had to improvise a lot. We got detergent - where I do not know - and I attempted to clean the hats. I had every hat treated separately, because it was almost entirely dark colors, the bleeding made them off colored. When the hats were almost dry I put them in the workshop where Mr. Mark continued the cleaning process. Mr. Ing. Christianus , who was also a long time employee of the company came , made drawings of the shop after work (see sketch on following page) . Officially, I was female hat worker but I was not allowed to say that I have never done this job before. Office workers back then were hardly needed.

My father tried to continue to labor from home. In Dingolfing (Germany) now Mr. Karl Zenner (in Neutitschein he was head locksmith) , acquired old hat machines and got them in working order. This took a long time but the machines were eventually shipped to Weilheim where we had acquired the Dornier factory building. The Dornier factory space was converted to hat making. Meanwhile, the repair of old hats had proven pitiful. We also had a hard time buying rabbit fur felt for the new hats.

Several more former employees joined the company and we left the garage and went into the great hall of Dornier. We expanded the production and business flourished. We also signed up former representatives of the company that had previous customer contacts.

Sketch

Company started in a garage in the middle of Weilheim. A sketch by Ing. Christianus drawn as it looked in 1946.

 

[mayserwegener]

A. Peschel Hutfabrik, Schönau bei Neutitschein

 

[mayserwegener]

I found this article on the demolition of the A. Peschel factory site in Šenov u Nového Jičína (Schönau bei Neutitschein).

http://www.ceskatele...-konecne-zmizi/

The article is from about the same time (04/2011) I visited Nový Jičín. I assume the demolition is now complete. Here are some photos I took.

Villas Peschel

A. Peschel Hat Factory in the process of being demolished.

 

[Garrett]

Amazing, Steve! Thank you for sharing

 

[ManofKent]

Amazing, Steve! Thank you for sharing

+1 this place is a mine of information, with this thread a particularly good seam.

 

[Daniele Tanto]

Steve you are a treasure trove of history of the hat on the other side of the Alps and the surrounding area.
Truly a great work of historical research that allows us to reconstruct and understand a world in danger of extinction or almost vanished.

 

[Chepstow]

Amazing photos Steve. Great to see how it looks now!

Found a easter suprise on a fleamarket in Bonn!
A fantastic "old stock" it's New" Rockel Melone with a fabric sweatband. The Melone is a long hair Velour but not so old as it looks. I guess it's from the 70s or 80s.
A young couple was the seller and a lot of Rockels and other brands from the shop from the grandpa, who closed his shop, on the table! I bought only this hat. The other ones was in larger sizes.
That little hatpin was a nice gift from the young couple!