flex or no?

[budward]

Some hats I've seen have felt as stiff as cardboard and others, particularly the currently-made Borsalinos, have really flexible, non-stiff felt. The difference is particularly noticeable when you compare the brims. Is the stiffness (or lack of) an indication of the quality of the hat, or is it the flex or lack just a personal preference?

Thanx for your views.

Bud

 

[ITG]

It can sometimes (if not many of the times) be contributed to the amount of stiffner in the hat. If you have a stiff hat, if you work on it long enough you can develop some flex in it.

 

[jamespowers]

Don't be fooled into thinking a stiff hat is a better hat. Some of my best hats are not stiff at all. What you are really interested in is the density of the felt. Some manufacturers add tons of stiffener to the felt so it appears dense but it is just stiff. If you were to try to put a straight pin through it; it would likely go through like a hot knife through butter. A dense felt will give you quite a bit of resistance. I feel sorry fo the old hatters that had to stitch on those bows. :cool2:
It is also a matter of preference. I like the floppy dense vintage hats because they are easy to shape, stretch, mold and everything else you can imagine. I also have done the same thing to vintage cowboy hats but they are much harder to get to behave. I just did up a vintage Dobbs to fit me and it is dense felt but pliable.
The current line up of Borsalinos is not dense felt at all. That pliability is a case of being not dense and pliable. I am not sure where you are located but try to get your hands on a vintage Borsalino (1940s-1950s) and see the difference in density. The Borsalinos directly from Italy are quite a bit better than the stuff you get stateside. They will cost you more though. Their hat shops can provide you with whatever level of felt you desire but bring money. This is sort of ridiculous because you can get a custom made hat int he US for less and it will fit better.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Matt Deckard]

http://www.indygear.com/cow/viewtopic.php?t=11575

Read that thread my friend. It should answer some of your questions of soft and stiff felts.

Here is a bit from that thread which is about rolling up your felt hats.

"The felt for some soft hats is just better material in my opinion. It has a memory and will not end up cracking easily at points where you are putting heavy stress.

With felt not meant to be rolled or for stiff hats, you quickly get what I call the grocery bag effect. The felt breaks down at the areas where creased. This is obviously more apparent with thick stiff hats Like Akubras or Cowboy hats, though if you have the wrong soft dress hat you can ruin it off the bat and have a hole in a few months.

You need to remember too that some hats just aren't meant to be squished or floppy. Some hats are work hats that need to be stiff to hold up against the elements, and that is why there are different types of hats. Indy's hat was a dress hat taken into the field."