I have a great story to tell you all that is like a true dream come true narrative.
This was before Xmas and I saw this little ad in the major newspaper of this capital in the little Nordic kingdom where somebody wanted to sell a Borsalino hat. Since I am on my watch for ads like that I called and talked to this older gentleman. I asked him about the style and when he said 'they are snap brim' I realized that this man commanded the lingo of the trade. We agreed on a meeting at his place and it turned out that he lives in this wealthy suburb by the sea. As were the plan, I called him from the train station saying that I was on my way and at the same time he took his car to meet me up. I will take my wifes car, he said. When I asked what brand it was I heard him turn away shouting for his wife 'What brand is your car?'. Anyway, I came to the little station in this suburb of large houses and he was standing there with a little white car waiting for me.
In the car he told me that he have been working with hats for years and I thought that was great and started to ask him questions about the trade and the changing times and the demise of the hat culture in this country (Stockholm would score at the very bottom in any comparative hat watching contest). We arrived at his house, still talking. This man was probably 80+ and he was coughing from too much smoking tobacco. All in all he did not seem very healthy, but he certainly cheered up when I showed interest in his experiences of the trade, and he started to cheer up and tell stories of his life. In the house, his wife was waiting for us. They showed me into this little room, which was like a small office that had not been used for some time. On a shelf I saw not one hat, but two piles (c:a ten in each pile) of hats stocked on top of each others in oval plastic buckets with the logo Borsalino on them.
It turned out that this man started out in the 'last' hat factory in this country (Karlskrona hattfabrik) as a boy and when the factory closed down he became an agent for european hatters. He started the agency in the late 50s and were in the trade for more than 40 years as a salesman. All in all he was the agent for 16 different brands, providing the whole countrys men's stores and hat stores with hats. In the late 70s the market died, but he kept on for some years with his wife until it was time to retire.
From the piles in the office I started to try on the hats. I am a 57 and it turned out that most of the hats were my size! So I could just pick and choose. They were all Borsalinos probably from different time periods. When he and his wife noticed my enthusiasm, they brought new piles of hats into the office, mostly Borsalinos, but also German Wegeners, British Christy's and Lock's, and Italian Barbisios and Panizzas. They also showed me the place they were stored, stacked in piles up against a wall in another room in the basement: probably hundreds of them: felt hats, antelopes, pure velour, straw hats, you name it.
I picked out three Borsalinos for a start (a grey, unlined fedora; a blue-greay with slightly shorter brim: finally a faboulus darker green velour with plenty of 'XXXXX' inside the sweatband). He commented upon the last one 'You will never find another one like that'. And the price: dirt cheap, I payed c.a 100 Euro (actually we are not part of the EMU in this country, but just to make it easier toexplain in this forum) for the three of them.
If I am going back? You bet I will! And I hope you enjoy the story!
This was before Xmas and I saw this little ad in the major newspaper of this capital in the little Nordic kingdom where somebody wanted to sell a Borsalino hat. Since I am on my watch for ads like that I called and talked to this older gentleman. I asked him about the style and when he said 'they are snap brim' I realized that this man commanded the lingo of the trade. We agreed on a meeting at his place and it turned out that he lives in this wealthy suburb by the sea. As were the plan, I called him from the train station saying that I was on my way and at the same time he took his car to meet me up. I will take my wifes car, he said. When I asked what brand it was I heard him turn away shouting for his wife 'What brand is your car?'. Anyway, I came to the little station in this suburb of large houses and he was standing there with a little white car waiting for me.
In the car he told me that he have been working with hats for years and I thought that was great and started to ask him questions about the trade and the changing times and the demise of the hat culture in this country (Stockholm would score at the very bottom in any comparative hat watching contest). We arrived at his house, still talking. This man was probably 80+ and he was coughing from too much smoking tobacco. All in all he did not seem very healthy, but he certainly cheered up when I showed interest in his experiences of the trade, and he started to cheer up and tell stories of his life. In the house, his wife was waiting for us. They showed me into this little room, which was like a small office that had not been used for some time. On a shelf I saw not one hat, but two piles (c:a ten in each pile) of hats stocked on top of each others in oval plastic buckets with the logo Borsalino on them.
It turned out that this man started out in the 'last' hat factory in this country (Karlskrona hattfabrik) as a boy and when the factory closed down he became an agent for european hatters. He started the agency in the late 50s and were in the trade for more than 40 years as a salesman. All in all he was the agent for 16 different brands, providing the whole countrys men's stores and hat stores with hats. In the late 70s the market died, but he kept on for some years with his wife until it was time to retire.
From the piles in the office I started to try on the hats. I am a 57 and it turned out that most of the hats were my size! So I could just pick and choose. They were all Borsalinos probably from different time periods. When he and his wife noticed my enthusiasm, they brought new piles of hats into the office, mostly Borsalinos, but also German Wegeners, British Christy's and Lock's, and Italian Barbisios and Panizzas. They also showed me the place they were stored, stacked in piles up against a wall in another room in the basement: probably hundreds of them: felt hats, antelopes, pure velour, straw hats, you name it.
I picked out three Borsalinos for a start (a grey, unlined fedora; a blue-greay with slightly shorter brim: finally a faboulus darker green velour with plenty of 'XXXXX' inside the sweatband). He commented upon the last one 'You will never find another one like that'. And the price: dirt cheap, I payed c.a 100 Euro (actually we are not part of the EMU in this country, but just to make it easier toexplain in this forum) for the three of them.
If I am going back? You bet I will! And I hope you enjoy the story!
