This is correct. Also another one of the reasons I got rid of my Fed IV.
!!!!!
A "snap brim" is a relatively new expression referring to a somewhat stiff brim that can be flipped or "snapped" down in the front, and then back up again, as apposed to a soft floppy brim which can not.
It could be a simple "whip stitch," where the stitching goes round-and-round the edge. This type of stitch has to be done by hand, for no machine can do this, and it is done after the brim is trimmed to size. On the other hand, it could be a "binding stitch," I believe it's called. It's like a whip stitch but has thread on the very edge of the brim as well. This is done with a sewing machine and usually the stitching is done at the same time the edge of the brim is trimmed to size--done with a small knife blade on the machine. If you look at the seams inside one of your dress shirts you'll find the same--or very close to the same--kind of stitching.
snap brim has nothing to do with the brims stiffness... it is all in the flange and edge treatment
a stingy brim is just that ... a narrow brim on a hat ...
Very interesting. Please expand on that.
the flange is what gives the brim its "snap"
Correct in my experience.
Okay. Well, my Dobbs hats all have double layer brims, no special edge treatment, are very stiff, and they snap up and down very well, and very crisply. But let's not argue about it, let's just leave it at that.
We clearly have different definitions of "stiff"
If you're responding to my question about the definition and origin of the word "fedora," I appreciate your help. However, when you say, "A fedora, by definition, is a soft felt hat . . ." that's a very broad, nearly all-incisive definition. A Homburg is a soft felt hat, as are many women's hats, and there are, actually, some cowboy hats I would define as "soft felt."
Geez, no offense, seriously, but it seems to me that terminology is exactly what the problem is. The word "stiff" means hard, ridged, or not flexible. My hats are "stiff" because I had them lacquered, but they're not so still that the brims are unbendable. And when you say soft, do you really mean soft, or do you mean flexible, or pliable? Glass can be defined as being soft to the touch, but no one would define it as flexible! The definition of the word "snap" is a problem too. When you say snap, I know you're referring to the act of "flipping" the brim down, which is exactly what I said in my first post, but the word snap actually means to quickly break something--as in snapping a twig. You're using a slang definition of the word.
I don't think @jlee562 meant any offence or implied you were lying, he was just trying to point out that "stiff felt" and "soft felt" are terms which were used by the hat industry long before the names fedora, trilby, homburg etc were in common use. What we call fedoras are what they called soft felts, while bowlers and top hats were called stiff felts. Those are not slang definitions, they are the ones coined by the industry ergo the official terminology.
