A new, full-color illustrated felt hat brochure?

[artboynyc]

Here's a not-so-modest proposal:

Would anybody (especially the hatters on this forum) be interested in a brand-new, eight- or twelve-page, fully illustrated color brochure about felt hats? The brochure could cover

1) The origin and rise to popularity of the fedora;
2) The hat-making process;
3) Information on what to look for in a well-made hat (including felt types, sweatbands, liners, etc.);
4) Common bashes and popular hat models (The Indy, the Bogie, The Lester Young Porkpie, etc.);
5) General guidelines as to how to choose a hat (covering face shape versus crown height, shoulder width versus brim width, etc.);
6) A vintage versus new section; and
7) (for the hatters) a one-page advertisement about his shop and the quality of his wares.

I could design and illustrate this, and would even take a crack at writing the text. (For samples of my work, please see www.seltzerstudio.com) I would, of course, submit the text to the members of this forum for the many, many corrections and improvements it would doubtless need, and any contributor would of course get credited in the pamphlet.

I'd make both a web-ready PDF and a press-ready version of this brochure available to any hatter who wanted it, and best of all, I'd do it for trade: I'd cede rights to any hatter who wanted to use this for one custom-made hat.

This is a money-losing proposition for me, I think, but a great chance to indulge in an obsession and hopefully provide something useful to all the great hatters out there who are preserving a great craft.

Any takers?

 

[db5zx]

I'd love to see something like that! Of course, it wouldn't be as up-to-date as website or the like, but I think it would bring back some of the style of the era when hats were more common than today...

...Jens

 

[artboynyc]

Well, it could be in PDF format, which means that it could be distributed over the web.

A website is another possibility, of course. But then you have the issues of site maintence, etc. And me personally, I'd much rather get a nice pamphlet before I plunk down $250-500 for a felt hat than rather than just getting a reference to a URL.

But if people would prefer a website, that's do-able too....

 

[SHARPETOYS]

This should be done in opinion

Well, it could be in PDF format, which means that it could be distributed over the web.

A website is another possibility, of course. But then you have the issues of site maintence, etc. And me personally, I'd much rather get a nice pamphlet before I plunk down $250-500 for a felt hat than rather than just getting a reference to a URL.

But if people would prefer a website, that's do-able too....

I think you are on to a good idea when I owned my agency we had one and I know it brought us in Quality clients. I hope a hatter or hatters takes you up on your offer. It just makes sense.

 

[Art Fawcett]

Artboy, I'm game but time limited. PM me and we will get together with ideas and timetables that I have a chance of meeting. This could be interesting as it would also request opinions and insights from many hatters, or at least the ones that feel it worthwhile.

 

[jamespowers]

That sounds like an interesting idea. It would answer so many questions at once. Sort of a felt hat owner's manual. You could also ad a section about the care and feeding of hats.

Regards to all,

J