I Blame All Of You

[Boroparkpyro]

I used to just have two straw hats, one casual and one more formal.

Then a certain friend (you know who you are, ahh??) pointed me here. And i started thinking, hey, maybe i should get a non-straw hat.

And then i absorbed some kind of anti-contemporary bias about how real vintage hats are oh so much better and better made and hardier than those wimpy newfangled ones.

So i started doing what seemed to be the common thing to do and look for stuff on Ebay.

And i found some straw hats i wanted, and others i didn't.

And then i decided ya know what, i'll go for one of those felt hats. A grey fedora, why not. But it's gotta be at least somewhat old.

And i find this. And it looks pretty good, nice and simple... and then someone outbids me right at the end of the time, while i'm still contemplating my great deal and the 'you've been outbid' email hasn't reached me yet to warn me.

So i blame you-all.

 

[feltfan]

Lucky break

If you learn anything about felt hats here, you should
learn that a wool hat with a cloth sweatband isn't worth $10.
Send a note of thanks to the eBayer who outbid you and
wait for a real fur felt hat with a leather sweat band.

Not all felt hats are equal. If your size isn't too large, it should
not take long to find a quality hat on eBay at a decent price.
Some of the best hats you see on this site cost that much or less.

 

[Boroparkpyro]

beware: hippies

See, the problem is that i'm ambiguous about fur. It's well, fur, and if i'm enough of a vegetarian sympathizer to not wear a coat made out of dead animals, i feel inconsistent looking at putting dead animal material on my head.

 

[skwerl-hat]

im also a vegetarian and i justify fur hats like this, if its a real vintage say 1940-1950 it was likely that animal would have been killed 60 some years ago possibly before these ethical debates were in style :-D so its okay!

 

[feltfan]

Certainly not much you can do about it now.
Why let the fur go to waste? That wool might
not have been harvested ethically and the labor
to make the hat might not be ethical these days...

I say recycle a hat, hippy.

 

[jamespowers]

See, the problem is that i'm ambiguous about fur. It's well, fur, and if i'm enough of a vegetarian sympathizer to not wear a coat made out of dead animals, i feel inconsistent looking at putting dead animal material on my head.

How do you know the sheep was still alive when they took the wool? [huh]
I actually prefer dead animals. Live ones are too hard to get my teeth around and they keep jumping off the plate.

Regards,

J

 

[Spellflower]

The issue of respect for animals is one that I haven't seen addressed very often here, (w/ the exception of the post about the beaver show on Animal Planet). It might be a good thread for a vegetarian like yourself to start.

I'm a former vegetarian, but now I am comfortable with eating and wearing animals, as long as they are treated humanely and respectfully. When I was in Australia, I saw kangaroo scrotums stuffed and turned into bottle openers. I'm all for a good steak and a nice leather belt, but I draw the line at gag gifts made from genitalia. That just seems incredibly disrespectful to an animal. I eat animals knowing that one day they will eat me (hopefully microscopic ones, not big ones ) I wear my hats knowing that animals died for them, as I will one day die and become food for other creatures (provided they don't pump me full of enough chemicals to preserve me until the next millennium!)

A few thoughts come to mind in regards to moral arguments.

Do you wear leather shoes? How is rabbit fur different, except that rabbits are cuter and you can't get rabbit meat at the grocery store?

How do you feel about environmental degradation? Do you support efforts to keep ecosystems in balance? If so, then you might feel comfortable in an Akubra, as all their felt comes from wild rabbits, a non-native species which is doing a number on Australia's outback. If you agree that these rabbits must be eliminated, then isn't it better to make a hat out of them than to stick them in a landfill?

Finally, I've often wondered about, but haven't gotten around to researching the beaver felt industry. What are beaver populations like in north america? Are they hunted responsibly? Does all beaver felt on the market come from wild beavers, or are there farms as well? If so, what are the conditions on these farms?

 

[jamespowers]

Finally, I've often wondered about, but haven't gotten around to researching the beaver felt industry. What are beaver populations like in north america? Are they hunted responsibly? Does all beaver felt on the market come from wild beavers, or are there farms as well? If so, what are the conditions on these farms?

Actually the beavers used are all wild as far as I can tell from my research. Beavers just don't take to being farmed like cattle. Wild fur is much better for hatting purposes anyway. The cold weather thickens their dense underfur that is used in hat bodies. The draw back is the back fur becomes coarse due to the constant rubbing as they get out of the water and squeeze into their above water dens.
Beavers are not hunted as much as they once were and thus are becoming the same pest that rabbits have become in other countries. They block water ways and can cause flooding in low lying areas. So beavers are likely a sustainable resource in that sense. There really is not the demand that a larger hatting industry in the Golden Era generated.
Just think of the beaver much like its South American cousin the Nutria--a large rat like creature. Some here have referred to it as a Swamp Rat. The beaver just has a wider tail. [huh]

Regards,

J

 

[Spellflower]

I remember seeing an episode of the show "Insomniac with Dave Attel" in which he traveled to some city and assisted the police dept. with shooting nutria who'd invaded the local river. I've never heard of beavers moving into city water ways, so I can only assume that of the two, the nutria is more of a problem. Since nutria is also considered an excellent felt, and they seem to be readily available (at least in some cities), why don't we see it on the market more often?

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

I've wondered in the past why I find leather hats, jackets and coats so ugly. ******************************

In fact I still wonder, because although I'm a vegetarian, I do wear leather shoes 363 days of a normal solar year, I even insist on leather indoor shoes (I don't like to call them "slippers", they're closed in the back - very hard to find) and my wallet isn't made from tofu either.

Maybe it's just because leather hats and jackets are ugly? But I'm not sure. There's a certain element of disgust in there, and the same is true with felt hats.

Probably the same non-rationalised disgust that made me a vegetarian 20 years ago, just weaker.

 

[BigSho]

I have always had a problem with wearing or even touching a nutria hat. I saw soemthing on TV once where in new orleans pre katrina they had cops riding down the street in teh back of a pick up shooting nutria with a rifle. They are a disgusting looking animal and it kinda makes me cringe.

Jeremy
http://www.hats-plus.com

 

[Boroparkpyro]

I say recycle a hat, hippy.

heh, good point!

 

[Andykev]

I would avoid a wool hat

The ebay hat you showed is a cheap wool job. You can get one at any men's clothing store. The wool will not hold it's shape, the sweatband is cloth, and it is virtually a roll up rain hat.

It is shaped like a Fedora, but I don't consider it one. I agree, depending on your size, you can find a very nice hat if vintage is what you want, by looking on the intenet. If you want a modern reasonably priced new hat, there are some vendors here on the Lounge that can fix you right up.

 

[jamespowers]

I have always had a problem with wearing or even touching a nutria hat. I saw soemthing on TV once where in new orleans pre katrina they had cops riding down the street in teh back of a pick up shooting nutria with a rifle. They are a disgusting looking animal and it kinda makes me cringe.

All very good reasons to make use of them in hats. Plenty of supply, they are a pest that is going to be eliminated anyway and their fur is comparable in many ways to beaver fur.
I'll take this:

over this any day.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Andykev]

Godwin's Law

One of the above posts was edited, ***************. Why?

http://www.killfile.org/%7Etskirvin/faqs/godwin.html

Posters should be aware that at the Lounge we strictly enforce Godwin's Law with regard to reductio ad Hitlerum.

Quote:
Originally Posted by "From Godwin's Law'

* If someone brings up Nazis in general conversation when it wasn't necessary or germane without it necessarily being an insult, it's probably about time for the thread to end.
* If someone brings up Nazis in general conversation when it was vaguely related but is basically being used as an insult, the speaker can be considered to be flaming and not debating.
* If someone brings up Nazis in any conversation that has been going on too long for one of the parties, it can be used as a fair excuse to end the thread and declare victory for the other side.

 

[BigSho]

Wait who was talking about Nazi's?

Jeremy

 

[feltfan]

One of the above posts was edited, ***************. Why?
Posters should be aware that at the Lounge we strictly enforce Godwin's Law with regard to reductio ad Hitlerum.

fftopic: (sort of)
Huh. I thought Shaul-Ike Cohen's reference was
not inflamatory, but simply a personal association
that was relevant to the conversation. It's a common
and valid association and something that has come up
a number of times on the Lounge (particularly in the Jackets
section) without causing problems. Careful about being too
quick with the scissors, IMHO. I do appreciate the explanation
and that you indicated what you cut and where, instead of the
mysterious disappearance of content that can be so disturbing
on this site from time to time.

I am impressed that Jamespowers managed to find a picture
of a CLEAN nutria.

 

[jamespowers]

I am impressed that Jamespowers managed to find a picture
of a CLEAN nutria.

The hat or the live Nutria?