Would you like the fedora and related hats to become main stream fashion

[Mycroft]

Hey, I am just wonder would you all like fedoras and related hats to become main stream fashion or keep it as a couter-culture in it is now?

 

[Raindog]

I've voted No, but not because I don't want fedoras to be worn by lots of people. I just don't want everybody wearing rubbish 'novelty shop' quality hats. If everyone looked into fedoras, became aware of the quality fur felt types, and spent good money to get a good hat then yes, let everyone wear them. But we all know that 'aint gonna happen!
The world would be filled with wool or worse, fashioned into atypical sloping tapered numbers, which collapsed in the rain and gave fedoras a bad name....
I like seeing people wearing good hats,


Jeff.

 

[MattC]

An inbetween answer

I think lots of guys are reluctant to wear hats since they seem odd. I wish that were a thing of the past; that enough people wore them so people could just do what they want.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Men have been wearing hats since the Renaissance, and they still are wearing hats. The fedora, and similar dress hats, were the style for more than 50 years. For the last thrity plus years, it has been the baseball cap that is the hat of choice.

I have been with people like us, hat aficionados who say that no one wears hats anymore, but if you look at any given crowd of people, more than half are in baseball caps. That's just the way it is. Men are wearing hats; we just don't like their choice of headwear.

Could it change? Could hats become dressy again?

Perhaps, but the social pressures that were compelling men to be more formalized are relaxing, not tightening.

I believe that wide-brimmed hats will return. With exposure to the sun being the danger that it is, more and more doctors are telling their patients to wear a hat. I have had two questionable things removed from my shoulders and my doctor told me to wear a wide-brimmed hat. So, now if someone gives me grief about my hat, I show them my persription.

I would love to see the return of a more formalized and civilized dress code. We are men, not boys. Why dress like an overgrown child?

 

[Lauren]

Nope. If they become mainstream fashion, there will be many companies making very bad reproductions, thus liquidating the market. The big wigs will make demands from the expert hatters, which will cause the people like you who appreciate them more to have to wait longer for their hats. The prices will rise, and suddenly we will be getting "avant garde" fedoras with things like stencil paint, deconstructed style, and *gasp* all over designer logos. And like all fashion, after a season (or at most a few years) it will fade, and we'll get ebay sellers selling nasty hats that were once very expensive simply because they were in fashion once.
Thanks, but no thanks.

 

[Raindog]

Aaaarrrgggg....Fedoras with 'Coke' written on the side....Or 'Ford'.....


Jeff.

 

[GregNYC]

I voted YES, Play it Sam! because

even though cheapie wannabee hats would outnumber the good ones, it would provide a more comfortable for me in which to wear a good hat. To me, as much as I've loved fedoras most of my life, they still seem like you're wearing a costume of some sort. I'm trying to develop the spine and the personal style to carry it off!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I think that the baby boomers will start wearing fedoras en masse as they head into retirement. Protection from the sun will be a large factor.

 

[Havana]

I vote no. I've been through a similar thing before. In the early 90's, I was the only person I knew who smoked cigars. People actually made jokes about me and gave me a hard time about my "eccentric, old man habit." Quality cigars were plentiful, reasonably prices and my local cigar store retailer was always glad to see me and made me feel like a valued customer. Suddenly, cigars became a huge fad among celebrities and then mainstream pop culture. The well stocked retailers were cleaned out of quality cigars and hundreds of flash-in-the-pan companies offering crap as premium cigars surfaced overnight. Prices went through the roof. I had to order my cigars 8 months in advance instead of a week. I couldn't get any of the classics that I wanted and I had to wait in line behind dozens of cell phoned posers to even get to the counter at my tobacconist. It was a nightmare. Then after about 3 years, the demand disappeared as quickly as it had come. Many of the retailers had overstocked and overexpanded and ended up shutting their doors. Even mass distributors collapsed and many merged just to survive. Prices have finally returned to normal levels and the quality is back up since the rush is over. Now, once again, I am the only person I know who smokes cigars and I have to listen to comments about how cigars are so 90's and that trend is over. This whole thing could easily happen to the hat market. I don't think anyone wants to see that.

 

[photobyalan]

I vote "no" for the same reason Lauren does.
-Edit- ...and if I'd read a little farther before posting, Havana, too!

 

[Aquia33]

...only if they were up to an "Eddie G" standard

Actually I don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t care if fedoras are adopted by the mainstream. But I do know that if they are you can count on the further lowering of the bar to accommodate the societal redneck and grunge trend. You most certainly will not see the mainstream doffing Art?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s ?¢‚Ǩ?ìEddie G?¢‚Ǩ? masterpiece or anything approaching it.

 

[Russ]

Whatever...

I voted indifferent. Perhaps I'd like to see a few more fedoras out there, but I don't want to get lost in a sea of hats. I like to stand out, and if everyone wore a Fedora I might have to get one of those Viking helmets with the horns just to stay on the cutting edge.

 

[The Wingnut]

No! I wear fedoras partly because I'm rebelling against mainstream fashion and thought. As others have pointed out, if fedoras were to suddenly become popular again, we'd see the typical bastardization of them to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

 

[WEEGEE]

NO...THE QUALITY ISSUE THE MAIN REASON

Aquia33
most certainly will not see the mainstream doffing Art?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s ?¢‚Ǩ?ìEddie G?¢‚Ǩ? masterpiece or anything approaching it.

Lauren Henline
Nope. If they become mainstream fashion, there will be many companies making very bad reproductions, thus liquidating the market.

I wear many size fedoras (no... my head stays the same 7 3/8) ....from the stratoliner to a stingy brim all illicite different reactions...i wore a bogartesque...grey Kimball brand to cover (photojournalist) the Governors State of the State address today( NEW YORK PATAKI)...tucked my press credential on the right side of the grosgrain...Mayor Bloomberg, Andrew Cuomo, the State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, various state senators, legislators and other members of the press all paid a bit of attention (in a good way...many nice comments) to this fedora wearing photographer.

I like wearing a good hat and always tell people who seem interested ...what
contitutes a good hat.

Others wearing hats in attendence...State Police (ok hats) and Hasidics (nice lids).

 

[Bebop]

I think that when anything becomes mainstream it looses it's charm. I kind of like standing out in the crowd. I think the same about smoking a pipe. I hope pipe smoking never gets to be too popular because pipes and tobacco would go down in quality and up in price. I think most people want to wear a hat. I believe that when most people see someone wearing a nice fedora they think, "I wish I could pull that off like he does." Alot of people just don't have the guts to veer off the mainstream path. As humans, we love to fit in and look like one another, as in bikers, cowboys, formal attire, the polo shirt and Dockers look. I wear my fedoras with many types of clothes from jeans to suits and never get a negative reaction. I mostly get a compliment on how great I look with the hat. I do not want to see the masses sporting fedoras.

 

[maintcoder]

GregNYC - I know what you are talking about. I have always loved the classic look of a smart suit and hat (all that time spent watching old movies on Armed Forces TV in the early 70's growing up), but was afraid to appear 'in a costume'. I have always dressed in slacks and button down/polo shirts for work even if not required, because I enjoyed being a bit better dressed and stylish. It was about me (and how I wanted to express myself without saying a word) and many co-workers and employers could never understand it. A couple of months ago, I was out shopping for some slacks and shirts and I came across the grey double breasted suit in my avatar. On a lark, I tried it on and I was stunned by the way I looked and felt. I bought it and a few more and right then and there, I decided not to be afraid of what I wanted to wear out of fear of public acceptance and adopted a new look, the look I always wanted. I added an overcoat and hat to match and have been wearing them ever since. I wear a suit and tie to work every day - driving my co-workers and employers crazy because in this day and age, the only employees wearing suits when not required are ones going on an interview. It doesn't matter what I say and truly, I don't care. I am tired of looking at slip on tennis shoes and white socks with Dockers and wrinkled shirts out of the dryer, shorts and Hawaiian shirts all year long, baggy jeans drooping to the knees with unbuttoned oversize shirts and parkas, and baseball caps askew every which way. Nearly every day, someone approaches me and compliments me on my attire. My statement is being seen and heard which I really enjoy. My only regret - that I didn't do this years ago. So, Greg, I hope you take the plunge and get a hat, place it on your head and tell the world where to go (style-wise) without saying a word.

Havana - I have the same memories of the cigar boom and subsequent bust. The worst part is that Washington just passed a no smoking law in any public place and all my favorite cigar allowing joints have been converted to sports bars or just run of the mill hang-outs.

 

[vespasian]

Unsurprisingly they are making a comeback here in the UK. Accesorise, a womans store is sporting a large range of all hat types including fedoras of a distinctly male design. Debenhams have a small range of fedoras in the menswear section and such high street menswear shops as Top Man and Burtons have one style for guys, a pinstripe small brim trilby thats just too quirky to interest most guys who will have never seen in worn and just wont risk ?Ǭ£15 on something they dont know what to do with. If some decent outfitter put a manequin in a window in jeans, shirt and fedora then guys would have some idea of where they are heading and women would buy them as gifts. I would like to see good hats becoming more popular but not really mainstream. It does seem that whenever I see guys in hats in the UK, other than baseball caps or soft woollen tea cosy type stuff, they are in cowboy hats.

 

[Kaleponi Craig]

I'd rather not see this...

I voted no because I like being a little different and has been said, you know that most fedoras are going to be cheap wool or even worse, leather. I really don't think fedoras are going to be mainstream, but you certainly see more then you did a few years ago...KC

 

[Mycroft]

I am with you all who said no because you know they would decline in quality, their allure, and apprecation.

 

[Gumby]

Why sure.....

I voted yes. What?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s the worse that could happen? People might actually develop a taste for hats, fine or otherwise. I feel that the supply of GOOD hats could only get better. During the heyday of hats, a lot of crappy, cheap hats were made. They didn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t survive to be auctioned off on eBay. Quality SURVIVES, be it hats or furniture (for example, people gripe that they made better furniture in years gone by. Yes they did, but they also made tons of cheap junk that the common masses could afford. That stuff didn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t make it to the antique stores we visit today). Who knows, maybe even the Chinese could start producing good quality fedoras; I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m chagrined to notice that the quality of imported Chinese products is slowing improving (I try to by American made products when possible). Innovation and improved quality comes with increased demand; notice the personal computer industry as one example. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve read numerous times about people who contribute to this site bemoan the cost of a decent hat. Those costs would come down as volume picked up; quality hats would not go away.

I would venture to say that the big names in the men?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s clothing industry (Brooks Bros., Paul Stuart, etc) might actually start carrying a reasonable supply of decent hats. The cheap hats for the masses would return, just like ?¢‚Ǩ?ìthe good ol?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ days?¢‚Ǩ?. At least the people who wear nice headgear that frequent this site would stand out as very fashionable. Those who notice fine clothes would appreciate the nicer hats our fellow readers would naturally put on; that would make you stand out and be recognized for having fine tastes in hats/clothes. I think it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s be mentioned several times in other threads how some guys (more so than gals) feel a little self conscious about fedoras and that classic looks don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t seem to go over as well as a punk rocker outfit and pink hair (go figure?¢‚Ǩ¬¶). I think vintage styles (e.g., fedoras) need to be better accepted as fashionable and not ?¢‚Ǩ?ìweird?¢‚Ǩ?.

I just finished the book ?¢‚Ǩ?ìHatless Jack: The President, the Fedora, and the History of American Style?¢‚Ǩ?. Great blend of political history and history of hats. The hat makers were singing the blues over the drop in sales and were determined to reverse that trend by getting the President to wear hats, no matter what it took. The hat makers were wrong and the demise of the industry took place anyway. The hats they were making were probably good, but they weren?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t all like fine vintage Borsalino?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s or Stetsons. They expected men to own quite a few hats each?¢‚Ǩ‚Äùthey cared about volume not really quality. The industry obviously suffered when demand went DOWN, not up.

That?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s all?¢‚Ǩ¬¶.


?¢‚Ǩ?ìCamping is nature?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s way of promoting the motel industry.?¢‚Ǩ?
-Dave Barry