HI News Article

[RHY]

This is a link to a story in yesterday's newspaper in Honolulu about hats. See: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/a...mmentKey:b0a2bc57-8d9a-4dbd-8d9a-7c2cc01961e9

I am rather ashamed of the lack of understanding of the reporter and the people she interviewed as to what constitutes a fedora. If you read the comments left behind on the article, you will know which one is mine.

RHY

 

[HatSoup]

Are you the fisherman?

 

[Spatterdash]

I hope it isn't Fisherman. Fisherman's comment leaves the impression that the only quality fedoras to be had are at Optimo for $500.

If he was trying to say the actual Public Enemies Hat, he needed to be more specific. If I read his comment as a non-hatwearer, I'd think all fedoras from the Stetson Nostalgia and the Akubra Federation up through the Adventurebilt and Art's VS hats, were $500 starting. I'd give up before I started looking to buy one.

 

[RHY]

I am Fisherman

The point I was trying to make was to get the readers, reporter and interviewed people to take a look at a classic fedora. To call what they were wearing fedoras was down right ridiculous.

 

[Goose.]

Well, Fisherman...
I have over a dozen fedoras and not a one meets your criteria. ...
Blow that gangsta movie. Flash in the pan. Did you see folks sportin' pirate hats after Depp's last series of flicks?...

Know what you were trying to get across. But your comments seemed "past tense"...with the "were" and "had" statements ...

Any press is good press. Peeps wearing stingys, wool, polystraw, whatever...they're doing what they can afford and it all adds up to people seeing hats and, hopefully, thinking "hey, I should get one".

MonGOOSE wearing my BBB Montecristo on Big Island sweating like pig. Imagine a felt.

No good deed goes unpunished. But, seriously, thanks for the link...

EDIT: took out a few lines that seemed harsh upon reading it this AM

 

[HatSoup]

I got interested in fedoras during my early teens. I was applying for jobs all over the South Side of Chicago, I happened across Optimo on Western and dropped in. I asked for an application and the guy who worked there (I guess it was Graham Thompson) was all like "We don't accept applications here, MF'er." True Story. Quality hats there, though.

 

[RHY]

Mongoose

Sorry to disappoint you, but I was born and raised here in Hawaii. Too bad you didn't get the point of the comment. Fedoras are not just the straw hats that they use to give out at the EK Fernadez game booths.

If you don't have any Stetson, Cavanagh, Knox or Mallory hats you can find them on Ebay. If you limit your hats to just the stuff that the article lists, you are missing out on a lot of history that is associated with collecting and using vintage hats.

My reference to the Public Enemies movie was a hope that people would take a look at a contemporary (aka modern) version of the classic fedora and appreciate the value of true craftsmanship in this day and age. Take a look at a koa bowl from the 1950s and you might have paid $40 or $50 dollars for one. Now days, lucky if you can find a junk one for less than $500. The vintage stuff is way more expensive, $5,000 and up.

 

[Dewhurst]

Thanks for posting it.

Contrary to KapahuluBiz, I think Mr. Yoshino looks just fine in his ultra-stingy brimmed straw hat. [huh]

Also, contrary to the fisherman gent "fedora" is a fairly broad definition these days. New companies and individuals are welcome, too. You don't have to be Stetson, Knox, Dobbs, or Borsalino to make a "fedora". It doesn't have to be expensive, either.

 

[JPMcAdara]

I have to agree with Goose on this one. Any press is good press. It is great to see anyone branch out from the baseball cap, even if it isn't deemed as "traditional". I don't see anything wrong with trying to put a modern spin on a traditional piece of clothing.

JP

 

[Not-Bogart13]

RYH, I just read everything at the link, and I have to say - regardless of your intent, your remarks come across as the most offensive. They are hostile, elitist in tone, and as others have pointed out, not very accurate. What you say strongly implies that you have to have an old or an expensive felt hat in order for it to be a fedora (or even a decent hat).

As to the point you were trying to make; Mr. Nakasone IS wearing a fedora. Ot might be a cheap straw (I can't tell from the photo), but it is indeed a fedora. So, on that front, your point is both wrong and arrogant.
On the Optimo coment.... well, I could say "blue" and mean "red", but I still said "blue."

I don't know you, and I can not guess how you really are, or what tone and gestures might back your words. But your written words do not display anything positive. Some may think that any press is good press, but I disagree. I figure several people who know nothing about hats, but were serious about getting into them, will be turned off to Optimo after reading your comments, and might even turn sour on the Depp movie.

To make a long story short (too late), be careful what you type.

 

[RHY]

Not-Bogart13

Unfortunately, there is a very tight limitation on what can be written. So if you are offended, to bad. I said my piece and stand by it. No apologies for my honest opinion. Its called the first amendment.

 

[Lefty]

Just for the sake of clarity, this is your comment:

************
Those are little boys hats you got at the carnival for prizes. Real fedoras are those with names like Stetson, Dobbs, Knox or Cavanagh. They had brims that were 2 to 2.75 inches and were made of quality beaver fur blends. They had names like Whippet, Open Road or Stratoliner.

If you need to see a fedora, go see the new movie "Public Enemies", where you can see the modern equivalent of a real fedora. If you want to buy one, it runs over $500 at Optimo Hats in Chicago.
*************

Now, let's take a look at your statements:

"Real fedoras are those with names like Stetson, Dobbs, Knox or Cavanagh."

* For purposes of discussion as to this first point, I'll assume that "real" means quality. However, this may change a bit down the line.

True, but fedoras are hardly limited to those names. Look around the lounge a bit and you'll find that many of the best hats were made by makers that that we know almost nothing about. Dinerman proves this over and over again. A fedora is just a style, and the definition of fedora is hardly set in stone.

"They had brims that were 2 to 2.75 inches"

Of course, those were just the popular brim widths. A shopper could order a custom hat from a big manufacturer like Stetson to just about any specs he chose. There are plenty of guys here who smartly sport modern and vintage stingy fedoras, as well as those who can make a 3"+ brim on a fedora look fantastic.

"and were made of quality beaver fur blends."

Most vintage hats are pure rabbit/hare. There's just no getting around that one.

"If you need to see a fedora, go see the new movie "Public Enemies", where you can see the modern equivalent of a real fedora."

OK, so if an Optimo is a "modern equivalent of a real fedora", then a real fedora can only be a vintage fedora. Of course, the work done by Optimo, Art, and the other custom hatters out there far surpasses many (not nearly all, but many) of the vintage hats you'll ever find.

In addition to grandstanding, you're just plain wrong.

 

[HatSoup]

Back when I went to Optimo in 2001 or 2002, they had a $300-$400 hat.

 

[RHY]

Lefty

To each his own. Trying to educate the masses is not easy, but if the critical nature of all your comments are so negative, then I guess you folks know more than I. I certainly won't be looking to you for any worthwhile comments in the future.

Getting people to appreciate vintage hats is not easy and you must be some kind of genius compared to me. Considering the fact that the Hawaii newspaper has never even had an article on hats and gives a couple of inches to misinformation in my view, I was merely trying to to have another point of view rather than have people reading the article think that "fedoras" are a bunch of straw hats that kids wear.

So I won't bother dealing with the likes of this forum since you and others see everything with such a mean spirited nature.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

Unfortunately, there is a very tight limitation on what can be written. So if you are offended, to bad. I said my piece and stand by it. No apologies for my honest opinion. Its called the first amendment.

"Too bad?" See, that's what I'm talking about. You can write all you want here, but you choose a written form of a spit in the eye. The mean spiritedness is coming out of the way you are behaving. If that's not your intent, you should seriously re-think how you write.

As far as your honest opinion, I'm still not clear on what that is. Was it the comment on the news article page, or the "clarifications" posted in this thread. In either event, I never said you didn't have a right to your opinion. But like everyone else, you also have the right to be wrong. And I have a right respond, for good or ill. If you didn't want a discussion, why post it here? There's no need to be defensive or curt. If you're going to be close-minded, don't start topics.

And while we're at it, Lefty has a point. Factually (no opinions here), there are errors in the things you say. Educating the masses may be difficult, but educating the few who think they know it all when they don't - even harder. Just because you have an opinion about what a real fedora is, does not make it true.

If you actually think so little of us, and have so little interest in honest discourse, then you won't be missed. Farewell. But if you we are misunderstanding you, then please step back, re-evaluate how you are expressing yourself, and try a different approach.

 

[Feraud]

So I won't bother dealing with the likes of this forum since you and others see everything with such a mean spirited nature.

You shouldn't last out to other people's First Amendment reactions to your First Amendment opinions in such a black and white manner. Why is it that whenever people disagree someone will inevitably blame "the likes of this forum.."?

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

Why is it that whenever people disagree someone will inevitably blame "the likes of this forum.."?

It's the old "The reason I suck is because of you!" syndrome. lol

 

[Lefty]

you must be some kind of genius compared to me.

You had me at "hello".

 

[HatSoup]

I'm sympathetic to RHY, he wanted to make a post that he thought would give him instant cred on Fedora Lounge, but based on the responses it backfired.
I'd hope RHY stays on this forum, but if he still wants to go to a different forum, I'd recommend www.therealfedoralounge.com.

 

[Widebrim]

Dang! All this over some hats...:eusa_doh: