Cost of owning a hat

[Adcurium]

I remember an article or link a year or two ago about how the cost of the hatcheck may have been a contributing factor as to why men stopped wearing hats. I haven't been able to find the post. Does anyone remember this thread?

[zetwal]

Are you thinking of this one?

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?28399

[zetwal]

Or this one,

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?49195

[1961MJS]

Hi

I don't remember the thread, but I do remember reading in the "Hatless Jack" Book that the hat check girls did have something to do with the down turn in hat wearing. If memory serves, many hat check girls asked for a quarter to check your hat back in the late 1930's and early 1940's. So, if you were a downtown New Yorker who ate lunch at a local restaurant, you paid $1.25 a week for the privilege of having your hat checked. This is on a $10.00 to $25.00 hat. Eventually, checking becomes more of the cost that the original Capital outlay.

Later

[Chaps]

And to think that President Kennedy not wearing one has been blamed all these years for the demise of the hat...for shame, for shame

[Yeps]

All this talk blaming one thing or another (Kennedy [busted], Hat check girls, automobiles, etc.) for the demise of the hat is kind of silly. Fashions changed, and more importantly, people stopped spending any significant amount of time outdoors. When the only time you are outside is between the metro or car and your home or office, a hat is pointless.

[newturnofphrase]

...and more importantly, people stopped spending any significant amount of time outdoors. When the only time you are outside is between the metro or car and your home or office, a hat is pointless.

Well, that's true and it also isn't. I think the "fashions changed" bit is the vastly more important part. Hats haven't really been necessary for about 150 years, when trains, omnibus carriages, and urban development meant that fewer and fewer people spent a significant amount of time outdoors. Even prior to that the nicer hats were more about fashion than function, because the people who could afford them didn't need to be outdoors. They were more essential back then for hygenic reasons (people didn't wash their hair as often, some cities had smoggy air, etc), but hats have been mostly about fashion since the mid 19th century. Most of the various reasons people give for the decline of hats are basically either "hats went out of fashion" or "hats became a hassle," which IMO were the actual contributors to the demise in everyday wear.

[The Wiser Hatter]

I see tons of men wearing hats everyday. But today it is the ballcap that is in fashion. All my co workers would never leave the house without their ballcap on their head. Just look around you in a restaurant or in a store you see a lot of ball cap wearing men. The younger guys spend ton's of money on New Era ballcaps they can cost as much as are custom Fedroas if you get into the limited editon ball caps.

[job]

Amen brother.

[H.Herdick]

Well, that's true and it also isn't. I think the "fashions changed" bit is the vastly more important part. Hats haven't really been necessary for about 150 years, when trains, omnibus carriages, and urban development meant that fewer and fewer people spent a significant amount of time outdoors. Even prior to that the nicer hats were more about fashion than function, because the people who could afford them didn't need to be outdoors. They were more essential back then for hygenic reasons (people didn't wash their hair as often, some cities had smoggy air, etc), but hats have been mostly about fashion since the mid 19th century. Most of the various reasons people give for the decline of hats are basically either "hats went out of fashion" or "hats became a hassle," which IMO were the actual contributors to the demise in everyday wear.

I live in the Netherlands, Europe. Same thing. I agree with @The Wiser Hatter.

IMHO, the ballcap don't last as long as a good Fedora. My daughter (13 y.o.) own a quiete expensive ballcap. But for how long? My Fedoras stands sun and rain and all kind of weather, without any problem.

Even old man in the Netherlands are wearing ballcaps, but I don't get the reason. A good Fedora fits so smooth and easy and convertable, but ballcaps never reache this standard in my opinion.