The Cap Faction

[The Wiser Hatter]

Not a bad cap. Pattern could match better.

 

[St. Valentine]

@Ed: Might get that frenchie look with that but still not sure if I can pull it off.
@Manfred: Another of your vintage treasures! :eusa_clap
@Rabbit: Thank you, I suppose you are right about the Retro Sport, it doesn´t seem to be made of worsted fabric.

 

[Adnamira]

Please excuse my ignorance, but could the Retro Sport cap I just showed be made from "worsted fabric"?

I think most of the autumn weight wool caps from retrosport are worsted fabrics, albiet the lighter ones being mostly polyester.

It is not hard to be confused. I grow the stuff and I don't know the details of how the different fabrics are spun to get the different types of worsted fabrics. There are two main types of wool fabrics though - worsted and woollens. It begins with the raw wool. A fleece that is shorn from a sheep is made up of staples, which are bundles of fibres. Providing the sheep has been reasonably well fed and is wool producing variety of sheep, then at twelve months, then it's fleece is likely to have a staple length of between 60 and 120mm. During the harvesting process, however, the shearer will run a blow over the animals skin with the handpiece or shears and remove most of the staple, and he will continue to run these blows over the animal. In between the blows, however, and in places like the neck where the shearer can't get the comb flat on the animals skin, he will leave a little ridge, so he will run another blow to remove these shorter bits. The fleece is picked up and thrown on a table, while the shorter second cuts generally fall on the floor and are swept aside - these are called locks. So at wool harvest, you end up with wool that is long and wool that is short.

When wool is sold it is sold into two groupings that reflect this. 'Combing' wools, those greater in length than two inches, and 'Cardings' which are those shorter than two inches, often made up of locks or fleeces that have a staple length shorter than two inches. When combing wools are processed, there may be some cardings mixed up in the fleeces and some fibres may break, so that you have a lot of shorter fibres. When this wool is worsted, by combing and carding, the shorter fibres are removed, leaving a 'top' that is made up of uniform long fibres. When this fabric is woven, it often, as Rabbit said, produces are hard, flat, shiny fabric, but there are various ways of spinning and weaving, which I don't have much knowledge about, that produces different types of worsted fabrics. I believe flannels are brushed on both sides to lift the fibres on both sides to give a softer look.

Tweeds, I believe, are fabrics that are woven that haven't been worsted and contain both short and long fibres, which gives tweed a fluffy, soft appearance and feel. Tartans on the other hand are worsted fabrics. So if you see a Scot with a tartan kilt and a harris tweed jacket you will see a worsted fabric and a woollen fabric. Men's suits, apart from tweeds, are mostly worsted wool fabrics, and you will see in these the flat, hard surface that worsted fabrics have opposed to the soft woollen, fluffy fabric. Knitting wools like the tweeds are also made from long and short fibres. Carding wools, the short locks, can be felted together, and if you have a melton wool cap, or a Kangol , these will be made out of cardings. In a raw wool state, fine merino wool combings may sell from anywhere between $5 to $20 a kilo; cardings, locks, generally sell for less than $3 a kilo, so if you buy a tweed cap or a worsted fabric cap for the same price as a melton wool one, or a kangol, I believe you are probably getting better value.

I will disagree with one point that Rabbit made. Worsted fabrics aren't necessarily made from fine yarns. It can be made from wools from 12 micron to 35 micron. It is simply the length, uniformity and alignment of the wool fibres. Different types, breeds, and bloodlines of sheep will give you wool that will produce different feels and drapes in fabric. Italian suits are made from superfine merino wool. These type of merinos have highly crimped wool, which produces a relatively stiff, hard shiny fabric. Soft Rolling Skin merinos are a new style of fine wool merino that micron the same as the superfine, are as fine, but grow a longer staple and have a bolder crimp - fabrics made from this style of wool have a softer feel and hug the body more than the highly crimped style wools.

Wool is renowned in regards to other fabrics for its drape, colour fastness and temperature regulation qualities. If you have any doubts about the superior drape of wool fabrics, go get yourself a Pendleton wool shirt and then compare it to a cotton flanalette shirt - you will find the flanalette shirt rather limp in comparison. Fashion designers love wool for the way it drapes... just look at an italian suit, or even a tweed jacket for that matter. And well, us newsboy cap wearers, would mostly agree that a tweed cap is the ants pants when it comes to cap fabrics, because it sits well and doesn't get permantly wrinkled and scrunched.

 

[St. Valentine]

Wool is renowned in regards to other fabrics for its drape, colour fastness and temperature regulation qualities. If you have any doubts about the superior drape of wool fabrics, go get yourself a Pendleton wool shirt and then compare it to a cotton flanalette shirt - you will find the flanalette shirt rather limp in comparison. Fashion designers love wool for the way it drapes... just look at an italian suit, or even a tweed jacket for that matter. And well, us newsboy cap wearers, would mostly agree that a tweed cap is the ants pants when it comes to cap fabrics, because it sits well and doesn't get permantly wrinkled and scrunched.

After the most of your very informative and professional writeup is rocket science to me, I can wholeheartedly agree to the content of the above!

 

[Johnny J]

And well, us newsboy cap wearers, would mostly agree that a tweed cap is the ants pants when it comes to cap fabrics, because it sits well and doesn't get permantly wrinkled and scrunched.

Well said!

 

[Rabbit]

I will disagree with one point that Rabbit made. Worsted fabrics aren't necessarily made from fine yarns. It can be made from wools from 12 micron to 35 micron. It is simply the length, uniformity and alignment of the wool fibres. Different types, breeds, and bloodlines of sheep will give you wool that will produce different feels and drapes in fabric. Italian suits are made from superfine merino wool. These type of merinos have highly crimped wool, which produces a relatively stiff, hard shiny fabric. Soft Rolling Skin merinos are a new style of fine wool merino that micron the same as the superfine, are as fine, but grow a longer staple and have a bolder crimp - fabrics made from this style of wool have a softer feel and hug the body more than the highly crimped style wools.

Wool is renowned in regards to other fabrics for its drape, colour fastness and temperature regulation qualities. If you have any doubts about the superior drape of wool fabrics, go get yourself a Pendleton wool shirt and then compare it to a cotton flanalette shirt - you will find the flanalette shirt rather limp in comparison. Fashion designers love wool for the way it drapes... just look at an italian suit, or even a tweed jacket for that matter. And well, us newsboy cap wearers, would mostly agree that a tweed cap is the ants pants when it comes to cap fabrics, because it sits well and doesn't get permantly wrinkled and scrunched.

I do agree wholeheartedly.
Worsted flannel (as opposed to woolen flannel) is made of thicker yarn, for instance. Being a worsted, it doesn't quite look, feel or wear like woolen flannel, and it doesn't drape as well as woolen flannel does. Still, worsted wool in general does drape better than many other of the lightweight fabrics.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Jason I did think we where allowed to post live link's.

 

[Adnamira]

Oh, I better remove them. Don't dob me in!

 

[Mario]

Don't worry: the ban on live auction links had been lifted quite some time ago.

 

[GoldenEraFan]

Hey Golden, any pics of you wearing it please for all of us? Front, side and back views if possible. Thanks.

Here you go Johnny J

 

[Johnny J]

Very nice cap! And what event is that and where?

 

[Feraud]

That is the Governor's Island Event in NY.

 

[Johnny J]

Nice! I still have never been to NY. Some friends of mine went a couple of weeks ago and they loved it. Two of them even wanted to move down there.

 

[St. Valentine]

Nice cap and style Golden! :eusa_clap

 

[GamaH]

Just bought and received 2 Borso Ivy caps from Bencraft.

According to a hat chart, I'm on the large side of M, but the M isn't quite as fitted as I'd like it to be. Is there any way to make it more snug? Same thing as with fedora? I.e. stuffing behind the sweatband?

 

[Adnamira]

I think it was Che on here that mentioned that you can get hat inserts to stick inside the hat band. I find many of my caps seem to shrink a little over time with wear. Leaving any sort of hat on the dash of your car on a hot summer day is a sure way to shrink it, but I don't know whether that is advisable. I've heard that wetting the hatband and letting it dry on your head will also shrink caps to size. When washing caps, they say that the biggest thing that will shrink wool fabrics is a sudden change of temperature... not sure whether doing that intentionally would shrink a cap, or if it is necessary to use water. I have thought of pinching my retrosport at the back with a safety pin, but that probably isn't a fashionable look, or maybe it is... you might start a trend. It's a big plus when you can find a retailer that will sell hats in individual sizes rather than the S, M and XL thing... I've bought City Sport Caps and Wigens caps that are actually metrically sized and labelled from both retailers that sell them in individual sizes and others who use the cross sections sizing set-up - you rarely go wrong with the former, but sometimes if you find a cap you want at the right price you have to go with the latter and hope for the best.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Just bought and received 2 Borso Ivy caps from Bencraft.

According to a hat chart, I'm on the large side of M, but the M isn't quite as fitted as I'd like it to be. Is there any way to make it more snug? Same thing as with fedora? I.e. stuffing behind the sweatband?

I use a safety pin to snug up a cap. Most caps don't have the same type of sweatband as a Fedora so it is hard to do that same tricks with a cap.

 

[GamaH]

It has a grosgrain sweatband about 3/4 an inch wide.

Maybe it's NOT too loose, and it's actually just me who isn't used to how it wears. It won't actually drop if I hang upside down or look down. I'd just rather have it snug (since it'll elongate the profile when it's snug).

I don't think the wetting/scorching technique is going to work here, cause it's linen not wool or leather.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

That's why I suggested the safety pin to tighten it up a little. You can also put a stiches in the rear of the sweatband to tighten it up some.

 

[GamaH]

That's why I suggested the safety pin to tighten it up a little. You can also put a stiches in the rear of the sweatband to tighten it up some.

Wouldn't that just spoil the cap in the long run though? I mean like, the tension (not sure what else to call it) will just cause the pin-holes to get bigger over time, no?