Just bought a Knox fedora from a charity shop. Can anyone give me more info about it?

[Dubs]

Morning Gents

I just bought a vintage Knox New York blue fedora from a charity shop. Is anyone an expert in knox hats and can give me more info on it? I'm guessing its old due to the label and size (56). Also says made in Japan under license with the codes KMC & 390.

Any help would be awesome
Cheers

 

[DJH]

Hey, Dubs - I'm no expert on Knox hats, but the metric size and made in Japan, suggests to me that your hat is quite recent - 80's or 90's maybe.
I don't know when Knox stopped making hats in the US, but I suspect it was in the 69's or 70's.

 

[facade]

The original Knox company ceased to exist in the 1930's when it was merged into what became the Hat Corporation of America and eventually Hatco. So technically the Knox brand still exists today but it is little used since the Stetson brand name carries more wow factor.

 

[alanfgag]

Please do not merge the history of Knox, Hat Corporation of America and RHE Hatco in one sentence.

There is a brief discussion of Japanese manufactured hats under the Knox brand in this old thread - unfortunately some links are no longer live.

 

[Frunobulax]

Knox still exists as an American brand, licensed under the current Texas Hatco. I believe that, at least recently, Knox was a "house" brand of Levine Hat Company (take that assertion with a grain of salt). However, I saw some Knox hats at Hatco's Garland outlet in January. A few seemed OK, but the construction and sweatbands were way below par.

Can't say much about the Japanese produced ones, though. The thread Alan linked to, as he writes, is not as helpful as it could be if it had active links to the Fujico site.

Edit: Here we go, apparently Fujico obtained the licensing for the Knox brand in 1968.

http://www.fujico-jp.com/english/company/history.html

 

[alanfgag]

well done!