Garrett, That time period was definitely the height of hat making in my opinion. I am partial to Velour so I have to also agree on the second point.
Daniele, Great points! My remark was in general regarding production. There was also the massive men's Wool hat market / production which never crossed to America.
Certainly Steve in the first thirty years of the last century most of the hats produced had a semi-handmade manufacture, even those of the lowest price, therefore the quality was assured. Labor was cheap and the hatters' guild was, at least here in Italy, an important stratum in the national economy. I mentioned the average, if not mediocre raw material used here to make hats precisely to highlight that wool was, especially in the years mentioned above, the basic material with which excellent hats were made. Starting from the desire to innovate Italian hats, it has made giant steps and continued until recent years to churn out high quality hats precisely because of the craftsmanship and know-how of the workers, but it is a world that tends to wear out slowly with a severe loss of knowledge in the art of making hats, as it was in much of Europe. The situation is different in the USA where industrialization has supplanted any residue of craftsmanship at least sixty years ago.
Tell me Daniel how can I choose and how you can choose if we have only a few examples of hats belonging to a specific era and which probably belong to the production of a country. How can we compare them? With what elements can we judge? And how are our tastes regarding hats? For me there are interesting hats in every era, at least among European ones, of American production I have very little knowledge and therefore I cannot talk about them.
Well, U.S. made vintage hats, (especially hats that were made in the 1950s and before), were of excellent quality, from the felts, the dye quality, the ribbon material, the leather sweats, the liners, and every aspect of the art and science of hat making. Unfortunately, though, hat making here is a lost art in this modern era.
Well, U.S. made vintage hats, (especially hats that were made in the 1950s and before), were of excellent quality, from the felts, the dye quality, the ribbon material, the leather sweats, the liners, and every aspect of the art and science of hat making. Unfortunately, though, hat making here is a lost art in this modern era.
Here's a '50s era Dobbs Fifth Avenue that I had the pleasure of reworking. The felt and dye quality is some of the best I ever handled. I have a vintage Borsalino Alessandra and this Dobbs is every bit, in every way, equal to the Borsa in quality. They don't make 'em like they use to.
Yup. I can definitely agree with that.
Hello, I repeat that I have no knowledge of USA hats. I have three: a modern beaver Stetson, a Winchester rabbit Gannon and a 1950s Cavanagh homburg, how can I make comparisons? Therefore what I can say in my preferences concerns only European hats which I know very well. I am limited to my geographical position and to the production that I know best, in order, Italian, French and Central Europe. Of these three I love French hats from before and immediately after the Second World War, I don't have a defined period of Central European hats because they have made quality hats over the years and still some hats (Tonak) are of excellent quality. The Italian hat I have excellent examples of hats up to the 2000s, increasingly rare, but the tradition has been perpetuated even in dark times. Now we are at the end of a tradition where some Borsalino models, the only living manufacturer, are still of excellent quality.
Brent we are talking about hats and not about precision mechanics or special production. When you can find a computer that can produce a hat from start to finish and the result is excellent give me a whistle and I will be happy to see the progress of the technique.
Hello, I repeat that I have no knowledge of USA hats. I have three: a modern beaver Stetson, a Winchester rabbit Gannon and a 1950s Cavanagh homburg, how can I make comparisons? Therefore what I can say in my preferences concerns only European hats which I know very well. I am limited to my geographical position and to the production that I know best, in order, Italian, French and Central Europe. Of these three I love French hats from before and immediately after the Second World War, I don't have a defined period of Central European hats because they have made quality hats over the years and still some hats (Tonak) are of excellent quality. The Italian hat I have excellent examples of hats up to the 2000s, increasingly rare, but the tradition has been perpetuated even in dark times. Now we are at the end of a tradition where some Borsalino models, the only living manufacturer, are still of excellent quality.
Brent we are talking about hats and not about precision mechanics or special production. When you can find a computer that can produce a hat from start to finish and the result is excellent give me a whistle and I will be happy to see the progress of the technique.
Meanwhile, the quality in hats is still in the hands of those who work them and in their ability to apply techniques and processes that have settled over time.
You are always looking for hatters who use their hands, more or less well, this depends on their personal skills, master knowledge of the subject. Or not?
I put my hats together by hand, but I can say this much, if ever I have the financial opportunity to buy some specialized machinery for hatting, I'll be jumping all over it. Handmade doesn't always mean, "better", and industrialization doesn't always equate to a bad product. What makes a bad product are corporate decisions that sacrifice all around quality for quicker and bigger profits.
