How popular is the fedora in 2011? Are hats seeing a resurgance finally?

[facade]

You need to spend some time looking at the site I posted ball caps at this level are not cheap many cost 75 dollars an up. With many special liners and color ways. It's not a market that the average hat person knows about much like the Fedora market. I know because I work with young guys who wear the caps and the dig my Fedoras too.

Then that would be a niche market and not really relevent to my point. I was speaking in general about the mass manufacturing of baseball caps for the average consumer.

 

[Fletch]

You need to spend some time looking at the site I posted ball caps at this level are not cheap many cost 75 dollars an up. With many special liners and color ways.

And you can surely get a much higher-grade ballcap for $75 than you could a fedora.

 

[Fletch]

I think within the next decade or so they're going to become more and more common.
I know a lot of men--from my age (20) to their 30s who at the very least have a fedora, non-ironically, and some who even wear them at least sometimes.
For whatever reason, my generation has begun to embrace fedoras.

But - you're in Brooklyn, where they never went totally out of style. Or, at least they connoted old neighborhoods and not just old men.

 

[fmw]

Oh, its explicable. Theyre comfortable. Theyre cheap. Theyre disposable. They say 'meaningful' things on them. Everyone wears them. Therefore, everyone wears them.

Yes, but what they are not is stylish. One might argue that point but they would be wrong.

 

[Tiller]

But - you're in Brooklyn, where they never went totally out of style. Or, at least they connoted old neighborhoods and not just old men.

I think his point is valid in the general sense. If you look at people our age (20-30 crowd) today, and compare them to say the early Generation Xer's, the Millennial Generation have a higher interest in fedora hats then the Xers. This is only my gut feeling (and God knows I've been wrong many times before), but my guess is that Millennial 's like myself are the first generation in awhile to see in increase in hat (in the fedora sense) purchasing compared to the generation that came before them. I also believe as the Millennial 's get older, (and assuming at least half of us stay interested in fedora hats) and more comfortable in our living standards the sales of fedora hats will rise with us. More disposable income will mean more hat sales in the future, at least that's my half educated guess .

 

[kaosharper1]

This is only my gut feeling (and God knows I've been wrong many times before), but my guess is that Millennial 's like myself are the first generation in awhile to see in increase in hat (in the fedora sense) purchasing compared to the generation that came before them. .

Based on this article in today's LA Times I think you're right. I started a separate thread so people could see this article but I'll post it here too:

http://www.latimes.com/features/image/la-ig-hats-20110313,0,6801782.story

 

[Fletch]

...my guess is that Millennial 's like myself are the first generation in awhile to see in increase in hat (in the fedora sense) purchasing compared to the generation that came before them. I also believe as the Millennial 's get older, (and assuming at least half of us stay interested in fedora hats) and more comfortable in our living standards the sales of fedora hats will rise with us. More disposable income will mean more hat sales in the future, at least that's my half educated guess .

Very possibly. So will less hair.

It's all good...ok, mostly good.

 

[DJH]

You might want to look into berets or flatcaps. You can still get a very stylish look without the brim of your hat getting in the way. There's a photographer selling berets here An 11" or 12" would really be perfect for camera work.

Thanks for the link. I have a couple of flat caps I wear on photo sessions - never considered a beret. Than again, I hadn't considered a fedora until quite recently either.

 

[Duper]

I see the occasional fur felt fedora up her in Canada's capital. Ballcaps in summer and tuques in winter are definately the norm, but perhaps because they are Canadian, Tilley's cloth brimmed hats in both winter and summer are very common.

Whenever we do see someone in a fedora or outback style hat my family is quick to point them out to me.

Still I don't like to think of myself as some sort of dinosaur. Perhaps an albino rhino in a cattle herd of ballcaps would be a better description.

 

[Bingles]

Here in WNY I have seen a slight increase in the amount of hats I see out and about. Many, like other have commented, are the cheap Walmart/Target Trillbys.. but it's a start. At least this type of hat makes those of us who wear the higher end fedoras/pork pies seem less out of place.

I do see a few fur felt and straw fedoras out and about... even at bars. They are either vintage or newer, but stingy brimmed (like I wear). More often than not, it's on the head of a person around my age.. late 20's early 30s.

I think pop culture has referenced these hats enough that people at least see them on more than just "old men". Younger people (from the discussions my hats have sparked) seem to be more associated with being an individual versus the older generations who see/saw them as being a sign of conformity.

 

[earl]

I've lived in 3 states since my bought my 1 and only fedora from a Goodwill store over 25 years ago and have never seen another individual wear one in all that time. Earl

 

[Pompidou]

I see a handful of wide brimmed hats a month, mostly western and outback styles - one or two fedoras. Trilbies are a different story altogether. I see lots of them.

 

[Lefty]

http://http://www.strictlyfitteds.com/blog/

Great fitted list require a lot of skilled artisans and designers.

I'm not a baseball hat guy, but there are some great hats on that site. Just from browsing the first 10 or so pages of the blog, I found two nice ones.
I like this one.

I love this one.

 

[gpotski]

I recently was at the Dayton, OH airport picking up my wife. I had my Akubra Stylemaster on. I saw 5 people in fedoras coming off planes. 3 young males (20-30 year olds), 1 older man, and 1 young woman.

Definitely becoming more popular.

 

[bradbraden]

Philly area here. I hardly ever see anyone with a fedora. I think I see more folks with western style hats and even that's not common. Ball caps just dominate, being a Cowboys fan I wear some myself.

 

[150719541]

Hi Brothers ¡¡¡¡¡ Here in San Luis Potosi, México, much people are using western hats, the fedora style is being used mostly for old people, altough we are a few wearing fedoras every day, (I think what I will die using a stetson, a panama or mexican straw or a fur felt borsalino)

 

[St.Ignatz]

Also from Philadelphia I see at least a half dozen proper fedora's on the train during my commute every day. I also have access to the camera monitors at the transit control center where I see a growing number every day. A walk through the the Reading Terminal Market will turn up a hand full of cheapos but many quality pieces on locals and tourists alike. Trending upward all around.
Tom D.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

I'm not a baseball hat guy, but there are some great hats on that site. Just from browsing the first 10 or so pages of the blog, I found two nice ones.

I love this one.

Lefty there are 10 post's a day with neat hats I have the site in by rss reader just like eBay search's as I love to see the design of the hats and the inside of the hats an under brim treatments

 

[bradbraden]

Also from Philadelphia I see at least a half dozen proper fedora's on the train during my commute every day. I also have access to the camera monitors at the transit control center where I see a growing number every day. A walk through the the Reading Terminal Market will turn up a hand full of cheapos but many quality pieces on locals and tourists alike. Trending upward all around.
Tom D.

That is interesting, it's a differant take from what I see but you are going into center city and I live and work in the burbs.

 

[Zombie_61]

Hot, moist summers under a felt fedora and not only will you feel like collapsing into a puddle, all your hair will fall out.

Nonsense. The only connection between hat-wearing and hair loss is balding men using hats to hide the fact that they're balding.

I think his point is valid in the general sense. If you look at people our age (20-30 crowd) today, and compare them to say the early Generation Xer's, the Millennial Generation have a higher interest in fedora hats then the Xers. This is only my gut feeling (and God knows I've been wrong many times before), but my guess is that Millennial 's like myself are the first generation in awhile to see in increase in hat (in the fedora sense) purchasing compared to the generation that came before them.

Based on what I've seen here in southern California, I believe this is valid as well. I see far more high-school-age and college-age young men wearing hats (usually stingy brims) now than I did when I was their age roughly 30 years ago, even more so in recent years. It's difficult for me to gauge whether or not hat wearing has increased among more "elderly" men--the city I live in has long been considered an "older" community, and I've seen older men wearing wool and fur felt hats the entire 49 years I've lived here.