Wormser....?

[bolthead]

I'm dying to know.....

Did any of the Loungers happen to win this Wormser
I ended up with only 1 bid in on it, but I fell in love with it as soon as I seen it. I never heard of them before, but this hat is in mint/superb condition & somebody got a Gorgeous hat. I'm very jealous.

 

[feltfan]

That's an unusually nice Wormser. Cavanagh Edge, even.
Wow. Too bad it was so small, eh?

 

[ScionPI2005]

I looked at that one. Sadly, I found that the size is just a tiny bit too small for me. Gorgeous hat though. That seller has some nice hats listed from time to time!

 

[duggap]

Wormser

Wormser was a hat maker from the Chattanooga, Tn area. Their vintage hats are definitely worth owning and were well made.

 

[bolthead]

Wormser was a hat maker from the Chattanooga, Tn area. Their vintage hats are definitely worth owning and were well made.

This is nice to know for further reference.

Yes Jonathan, there was just something about this hat that just jumped out at me, but the funds just weren't there at the present time.....I'm, gonna hate myself for not pulling the trigger on this one, I just know it. [huh]

 

[Justdog]

Hi:

The link is no longer valid did you save a pic?

Thanks

 

[barrowjh]

I thought that Wormser was manufactured in the NE, though there is still a hat store in Downtown Chattanooga with a Wormser sign. They even have a few Wormser new stock (or had), but the size/styles were not interesting to me. I read where it was started by a German immigrant from the town of Worms (pronounced Vorms?). Duggap - you might have some local history to share - was there a manufacturing plant in or near Chattanooga for Wormser hats in the past?

I read also that Crofut-Knapp's manufacturing operation continued until about 1960 and then moved somewhere in Tennessee, but have not found any other information on that yet. Anyone know about a Hat Corporation plant operating in Tennessee in the 1970s? Don't know whether or not the plant would have mentioned that it was transplanted from a former Crofut-Knapp plant.

 

[Brad Bowers]

Hat Corporation moved straw hat production to Winchester, Tennessee in 1950, and in 1953 announced a plan to move felt hat finishing to Nevada, Missouri. The United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers Union went on stike in South Norwalk in July 1953 over the planned move, and the strike didn't end until May 1954.

Hat Corporation moved their felt hat finishing to Winchester in 1960, and later in the decade they built a felt production factory there as well. This is the same Winchester Hat Company that supplies the felt for custom hatters all over the country now, including Art Fawcett and Mike Moore. The felt hat finishing plant closed in 1972 when Koracorp (Byer-Rolnick) bought out HCA.

I have found no information that they ever moved anything to Missouri.

Brad

 

[duggap]

Barrowjh, the history of the Wormser hat as I recall it was that they were made here in Chattanooga although I don't know how big a plant they had here. When they sold out the first time they sold all the equipment and blocks. There was also a retail store that has moved three times. Now it is owned by an oriental couple. I don't really know how knowledgable they are about hats as they don't speak real good English. The last time I was in their store they mostly had new production Stetsons and Bailey hats. He did have a few hats in a case that looked like they may have been for display. There was a top hat, but I don't remember much more.[huh]

 

[bolthead]

Thanks for all this great info guys, (duggap, Brad & barrowjh). Much appreciated.

Sorry, I didn't save a picture from that link Justdog.

I still look for them on OFAS on a weekly basis and do find a few here & there. One day I will come across one that jumps out at me like that one did.

As a matter of fact, one did just last week, and I did put a few bids in on it before it went over my limit.....I wonder if anyone here snagged it?

 

[barrowjh]

Thanks Brad - maybe we will eventually piece this together.

The article that I had found resulted from a google search for Crofut-Knapp, after I found one of their hat boxes in excellent condition at an antique store in Charleston TN (North of Cleveland, TN), and I became curious. It was an article about unions, and apparently the Crofut-Knapp production facility was an early 'battleground' in the 1907 timeframe (if I remember correctly), and the article did a quick wrap-up on what ultimately became of C-K, bought out by Hat Corporation in 1928, but remained in production until 1960, when it was moved to Tennessee and located in a building the article referred to as 'Factory Outlet' building (or something to that effect, been a couple weeks now since I read that) - but no mention about geographically where other than 'in Tennessee.' The article stated that the building still had pictures on the wall from when it was the C-K (Hat Corporation) production facility, and stated that Hatco eventually consolidated everything into Texas (which we all know already).

So, The Winchester facility that once housed a Hat Corporation felt hat-making production might indeed be the same building. Anybody know for sure? That would certainly be a nice 'bonus' sight to take in if one were considering a trip to Winchester to visit Greg Fisk and check out the felt-making operation.

 

[Brad Bowers]

I think it would almost have to be the same building as back then. Too much trouble to move all that equipment!

When I did an interview with Richard at Winchester a couple of years ago for my Cavanagh Edge research, we talked about the Hat Corp days, but I don't remember whether he mentioned if the building was the same.

Brad