What is the average age of a hat owner

The question is simple. How old should you be to start wearing a fedora?
I am 22 and people always tell me: Take that hat off, you are too young for it.
Is there such thing as being too young for a fedora?

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I first started wearing fedora's when I was 17. I upgraded from a Tilley I had been wearing for year, so I got a lot of complement on it. It was blues brothers style in grey.
As for age I don't think it really matters. I think the style would make more of a difference. Does it suit your face and more importantly your personality. Who is it that is telling you to take the hat off?
Johnny.

I think that suits my face and that I look good with it. The only thing rarely who wears a hat these days. Some time ago I saw an older gentleman wearing a hat. I nearly aproached him and congratulated him for that.
This is me anyway.

Seeing how "proper" hats aren't all that common to start with, a man wearing one is bound to stand out in the crowd, whatever his age. However, most folks seem to associate hat-wearing with older men, so a young guy may, in their eyes, come across a bit affected.
I wish to guard against "ageism" (I'm getting to the point where I occasionally encounter age discrimination, and I don't like it), but let's face it: young people are more likely than their elders to adopt a "look at me!" style. Far as I can tell, it has always been thus. I used to cringe when I saw photos of me taken 30-plus years ago. Now I'm likelier to chuckle.
It could be that some folks regard your hat as a plea for attention. And perhaps it is, but not necessarily to any greater a degree than it is for someone my age. We all put some thought into how we present ourselves (at least I hope we do), and we wish to project our own identities. Otherwise, we'd all wear Chairman Mao suits.
I wore hats when I was your age, and, as I recall, lids were no more prevalent then than they are today. Perhaps they were even a bit less common than they are now.
Scene from my late teens: My family had moved to the West Coast from the Midwest a few years earler, so I hadn't seen my grandfather, who lived in Wisconsin, in a year or so. He came out for a visit and saw me in my Stetson Stratoliner. He said, "Where'd you get that hat!" But he said it with a smile on his face and I knew he approved. In nearly every photo of him taken up until the 1960s, he's in a hat. I guess that hats were, for men of his era, a generally desirable and acceptable bit of male plumage.
Affected? Maybe. But so what? If you like your hat, young man, wear it. In time, people will come to accept that you wear a hat and won't pay it any mind, except to offer favorable comments when you're wearing a particularly nice one.
EDIT: I was typing the above when you posted that photo. That hat looks just great on you! And anyone who says otherwise should just go stuff a large, sharp-edged object.

Average Age

My age is 48 but when I started out in life I was less than 1, so if we add the 1 to the 48 that's 49. Divide by 2 and we have 24.5 years old and that MY average age! :eusa_doh: Boy do I wish it worked like that. Been wearing hats since I was just a little tyke. Fair skin = sun burns. Had some fisherman caps and a newsboy in High School. Numerous baseball caps all along. Variety of hats in twenties & thirties. At 40 I got a fedora, a Stetson Sovreign after watching Mulholland Falls, WHich I wore occasionally, I wanted to pair with a Double Breasted grey suit but the grey suit elluded me, and still does.

Got Dad's Borsalino when he passed away and refurbished Nov/Dec 2005. Started buying fedoras on Ebay then. Hope to continue to add to the collection.

Sincerely!

Personally, I almost always go out with my fedora. I'm 24. The only comments I've had thus far have been compliments. I wouldn't stop wearing the hat.

The options are endless!

Actually, as to the question when to start wearing dress hats. In the 50's and probably before, it was not uncommon to see a boy at 8-10 years of age sporting a dress hat when he wore a suit. I can clearly remember my brother wearinging his dress hat as a 12 yo. In the sixties men wearing hats drops off and similarly for youngsters. (The age of Dad & Lad items, boys be just like Dad!)

In the 50's and before if you got a good job such as an accountant, you were told that you were expected to wear a suit daily and the reccomendation of wearing a felt hat (dress hat) was quietly expressed as NOT optional, you would wear one.

So what's the moral of the story? Well we are no longer required to have a hat as part of our wardrobe but the fact is that an 8 or ten year old given instructions on the care and responsibility of hat ownership is ready to have one, so it would be based on the maturity of the child but 8-12 would be a good time to start, if we were in a hat wearing age. BUT It's not good to have a child stressed out and teased for being different unless you have some sort of good reason for it.

Once you hit about 16-18, you should have begun making selections on your own, you could choose to then. At 21 you are old enough to vote and make all of the usual major decisions of life and a dress hat can be considered as part of that decision making area. So 21 would be a good time to start. As one's life experience accumulates it becomes more and more a better time to start if you have not already.

As to when, well it is maturity and comfort zone at first and then maturity and "I make my own decisions" later.

Hope that helps!

Age, schmage. If you want to wear a fedora, just wear it. If it feels good, just wear it. You're never to young to wear a fedora, IMHO. I mean, what do they want you to do, wear a baseball cap on backwards?

By the way, you look sharp in that lid...KC :eusa_clap

qwerty - The hat looks good on you...it suits you.
I wouldn't worry about what other people say. I get all kinds looks and comments when I'm sporting my fedora, some good, some bad. I'm 22 and I figure I'll where what I want because I like it, not because someone else deems it fashionably right or wrong.

Thinking back to when I was 22, I used to wear mine to the bar. I would go for the 50's look. Bowling shirt dress shoes and slacks. Inevitably a young woman would come up to ask if she could wear it. I would get her name, chat her up a little bit and, if I felt like it, I would let her. but I would also tell her she was responsible for it and I will be looking for her to get it back when I leave. I fully expected to loose that hat but never did. Usually The young lady wouldn't wander off to far and by the end of the evening I got my hat back as well as a number....... For a 22 year old that old hat did a lot of the ice breaking for me. Just remember, if you love it, let it go. if it comes back it was meant to be. But don't do this to a hat you love.
Johnny.

I started when I was 51. I think that anyone can wear a hat.

qwerty said:

I am 22 and people always tell me: Take that hat off, you are too young for it.
Is there such thing as being too young for a fedora?

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Good grief! Is there is no end to the stupidity of the general population!!
People complain that young people are irresponsible, live at home too long, etc., etc.
Here we have a young man who is being reprimanded for being "too young" to wear a hat!! I must be in The Twilight Zone

I started "serious" hat wearing in my early 20's. I have heard every form of comment (good & bad) in NYC. I am now in my mid 30's and am very happy to have had a broad enough mind to not follow the herd.

qwerty, do not listen to what others have to say. Keep your own counsel.

John in Covina said:

. Variety of hats in twenties & thirtiest 40 I got a fedora, a Stetson Sovreign after watching Mulholland Falls, WHich I wore occasionally, I wanted to pair with a Double Breasted grey suit but the grey suit elluded me, and still does.
Sincerely!

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Mullholland Falls is a great movie for inspiring hat wearing!!!

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

johnnycanuck said:

Just remember, if you love it, let it go. if it comes back it was meant to be. But don't do this to a hat you love.

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This doesn't make much sence. Doesn't it?

I'm 58 now. A friend and I tried wearing fedoras back in like 1971 and it was just too weird- the responses and looks from people then. Wrong fashion era?! I say do whatever the hell you want to do and unless somebody is paying your rent they haven't got anything to say about to your dress code.

I'm 44 now and am definitely in that "I don't give a crap what anyone thinks" stage. But it took me a while to be an everyday fedora wearer.

As most may have read...I wanted a panama for the sun protection...and I got out my Masonic Lodge hat (crushable country looking hat" and started wearing it everyday. It got a few laughs and jeers from my cohorts...now I have my Panama and I have recieved several compliments about it from my customers and other folks away from the store.

I just got my Art Fawcett "Tucker" but it is too warm to wear it right now...but now I can;t wait for colder weather...

At 46, I have developed the I don;t care attitude....I ain't hurting nobody wearing it and I sold two cars the day the first day I wore it and another one the next day....

I received a great compliment today after I voted...an older gentlemen and I spoke about the beautiful weather this morning and he told me that I looked sharp...

always listen to your elders...

mark the shoeshine boy

As a Matter of Fact...

Howdy qwerty, i'm in your same shoes. I am 23 years old, but I look like i'm about 16..



I've never gotten a bad comment, but I've gotten looks before. I wear one any time I go out, and I think people are starting to get used to seeing me around town.

I have gotten several compliments which were very flattering. Hats are becoming more and more fashionable as time goes, in fact, several 40's and retro styles are becoming very popular. Qwerty, you look very distinguished with your facial hair, and the hat completes your look well. Anyone who gives you flak is jealous!

De-lurking newbie

This is as good a place as any to de-lurk and make my first post. Hi everybody! Great site!

I'm 45, but I first started wearing my Dad's beat up old fedora back in high school, age 16 or so. I've had a few different fedoras since then, albeit cheap ones. I finally took the plunge and bought myself my first half-decent fur felt fedoras just before Christmas of last year, two Stetson Chathams, one in "Caribou" (grey) and one black.

Back in high school, I was the fat kid who got picked on, but when I started wearing the hat and defining my own style, I seemed to get more respect. Or perhaps I gained confidence and just ignored what the jerks thought.

I've been doing that ever since.

Welcome to the Lounge, Tony. You bring up a good point about style.

Tony in Tarzana said:

Back in high school, I was the fat kid who got picked on, but when I started wearing the hat and defining my own style, I seemed to get more respect. Or perhaps I gained confidence and just ignored what the jerks thought.

I've been doing that ever since.

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People respect someone who has their own style, it has an air of class. I'll never forget some fashion advice I receive years and years ago, "Take an accessory, and make it yours." That's what we do with hats. Pretty soon we're known as "the guy in the hat", I have no problem with that, it makes me memorable. It's all about style, and you can never be too young to have that.