question? felt or wool

[nirve]

Hi everyone. I am new to the group and am looking for information before I purchase my first hat. What are the main differences between felt and wool? I can see by the prices online that felt must be higher quality. would one ever choose wool?

 

[android]

Felt can be made from the hair of most animals. So you can have wool felt, hare felt, beaver felt or nutria felt. You can also have a blend.

Wool is inexpensive and felt made from wool cannot get wet or it will fall apart. This means you can't really wear a wool hat in the rain or ever have it cleaned or reblocked.

The best felt is from animals that live in the water. That's beavers and nutrias. It's compact and waterproof and can be reblocked many times.

 

[SappySwami]

... And this explains what is happening to my wool felt fedora. "Water repellent" indeed. -_-

 

[Victor]

I have an old wool felt hat and it has held up but is also kind of coarse and sloppy and looks low quality. In contrast I just recently purchased one of Fedoras Adventurebilt hats in pure beaver felt and the quality of the material is amazing! It can be shaped, molded, it holds its shape and can be reshaped, it feels light and refined yet tough and durable. If you want a good hat get a fur felt and if you want a good fur felt get a beaver felt! Nuff said.

 

[nirve]

THanks for the information. I will check out the beaver felt the next time I go into the city. For now I am looking for sites on the internet with good pictures and information. Thanks