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What Hat Are You Wearing Today 1?

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casechopper

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Thanks Manfred, Charlie, ManofKent & Jeff.

Love the Tumwater Andy.

Nice Cavanagh Charlie.

Wegener Melone
IMG_9934.JPG

IMG_9949.JPG

IMG_9938.JPG
 
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Richard, Thanks! By the way great to see the Panizza President from RMR!

dh66, Thanks too!

Andy, Cool look with the Tumwater midnight blue!

hatsRme, I really like the look of that Cavanagh!

Sam, Always great to see the Wegener Melone!

Matt, Super Crofut & Knapp Forty! Really nice color combo!
 

Joshbru3

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Looking at that hat, it makes me wonder a few things. I notice how wonderfully thin that felt is. Something that us vintage hat collectors and wearers have come to LOVE about vintage lids. I have owned many vintage hats that were felted extremely dense and pounced to a thinner weight even though they might not have been "lightweight" felts. I have to wonder if there was a financial reason for this.

At one time hat companies were making millions of hats a year and if they could find a way to save just a little bit of fur per felt body, when extrapolated over 1 million hat bodies, that's a good amount of savings. I have always wondered if the fact that many vintage felts were thinner wasn't so much a design aspect as it was a financial move. It just so happened that these thinner weight bodies made better hats, but in order for a thinner body not to tear on the block, they would have had to be felted much denser than a thicker body. Because of those two aspects, we had better quality felt bodies and that wonderful "Vintage" felt that we all know and love.

I look at your hat and see a beautifully felted hat body that is thin and dense and is NOT 100% beaver, nor is it 100% rabbit. Hat Corporation of America was able to produce such a hat body out of a wool/rabbit mix. For the most part, the dress felt bodies we see from major manufactures today such as Hatco, Akubra, Dorfman Pacific, etc are thicker and not felted as densely. I have to wonder.......if these hat companies are trying to save money by not working the bodies as much as they were in the past (I believe that's what I was told by the Winchester rep at the last Fedorafest) why not use less fur.......save money there....and work the bodies longer for a denser product.

I also wonder if the average person today buying a higher end production fedora would appreciate the dry crease-ability of a thinner felt with less shellac or would they think it was a cheaper product because it was thinner and didn't hold shape as well as a thick felt body with a ton of shellac.
 

ManofKent

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Andy - Lovely Tumwater.

Charlie - Great Cavanagh. If you're wanting to know how many shades of grey there are, I believe a film company is looking for a replacement leading man. Have you considered a career change?

Sam - great proportions to that Melone.

Matt - a fine looking C&K

Alan - I love the crown on that Dobbs.

Mike - that's a really nice conversion.
 

ManofKent

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Thanks for the comments on yesterday's Panizza President. Another one from RMR today, but with a brim width that probably appeals to a wider audience ;)



 
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Thank you Richard, but I am TOO gray. But I like the idea.

Mike this convert is fantastic, and the photo is really perfect.

Terrific crown on your X-Country, Alan!

Richard snuck in before I could post... That brim appeals to a wider audience because it's PERFECT for you, sir.
 
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