Question about fur felt hoods from 1930's vs. new ones?

Hi,

Im trying to understand the difference between fur felt hoods that were made in Europe back int he 1930's-1940's vs today's fur felt hoods. The thing I notice is that the ones we have uncovered in our boxes of stuff, is that they are much lighter in weight than new ones. Can someone explain why that would be a plus? or if it even is a plus?

example: The smallest ones we have are Width: Approx. 15" laying flat, Height: approx 10" - 10.5" laying flat, and Weight: 55 grams / 1.94 ounces grams

and then they get larger width wise up to about 19”-20” laying flat and about 12.5” tall (weighing about 65-70 grams)

We would appreciate any knowledge anyone can provide to us, we are not hat makers, we generally sell ribbons and know NOTHING about these things.

Thanks so much,
Sal

Hello Sal,

The reason why vintage hoods are so much thinner and lighter then modern ones is because they used to hand block all the hats.
Most hats you find in the stores today are machine blocked. The vintage hoods would rip under the pressure of today's machines.

As for the different sizes; prices were determined by weight so a small pillbox hat needs a lot less felt than a large brimmed fedora.
This also minized left over material. Today's hoods and capelines are more or less the same size ( it may vary a few mm's)
You can find some XL hoods and capelines but the colorrange isn't great on those.

Some suppliers still make this type of felt today, and they are called summerfelt because they are very thin and comfortable to wear. So that would be the plus.
The downside is that they have to be blocked with care, because they do rip easily. But i block them regularly ( by hand ) and do just fine.
Having said that they are amazing to wear and feel a lot less stiff then lets say a thicker peachbloom hat.
People that are new to wearing a hat tend to prefer this as a first hat, because they are a lot more casual to wear. ( at least with my customers)

I have a love for those vintage qualities because they simply aren't produced anymore today and you can get some stunning hats out of them if the hoods are well preserved. Some can be very expensive, but worthwhile if you look at the result.

Well, I hope that answered your question

Kind regards,
Esther

Very useful/sensible explanation,Esther

I don't want to dispute Esther, as she's a Milliner, but isn't there also a quality issue here? As I understand it, as the costs for producing lightweight, high quality felt increased, the felt became thicker and less dense.

Also, are you going to be offering any of these vintage hoods on Etsy in the near future?

Hi!

Yes, we do have a few up on our etsy shop, and you can even see pictures of the hats that Esther (who gave us so much helpful info above) made out of them!!! and within the listings, I included her thoughts in quotes after having, holding, shaping, etc... Might be helpful info for anyone who makes hats!!!!

oh, our shop is called VintageRibbons

And, thank you for your added info on this, much appreciated!!!

Sal

Also remember the felt bodies were "aged" a great deal more in vintage times than modern ones are. The felting continued, sometimes like in Stetson's case for up to a year, before the bodies were used.
Modern manufacturing & economics cannot tolerate tying up cash in the system for that length of time.

Thanks for the info, I had no idea that there ever was an "aging" process, Im definitely learning so much, Thanks to all of you!!!

-Sal