Daan
Vendor
- Messages
- 930
- Location
- Wellington, Aotearoa
Good to see all those Spanish Basque berets on the forum lately. With Boinas Elósegui left as the only bonetaire in Spain, usually there isn't much news in the way of berets, or boinas.
I enjoy my own La Encartada boinas, but an Elósegui Super Lujo is still among the very top for me, a shared height with Auloronesa and Flamingo.
Where I disagree about both La Encartada and Boinas Elósegui berets, are the headbands. Whereas both manufacturers (and other vanished Spanish manufacturers like Pradoluengo) fitted their berets with beautiful and supple, flexible leather headbands during the 1950s and early 1960s (see examples below from my collection)
since those days a much thicker, more rigid leather headband is used. This not only leaves a sweaty imprint on the forehead, over time it will stiffen and crack and is not easily pocket-able as a headband-less universel or talla única beret.
The reason why Boinas Elósegui does this, is to prevent shrinkage of the head-opening, the size. A conventionally knitted beret does shrink over time. If a headband is soft and pliable, the headband will "shrink" along and diminish the size of the beret.
The only exception are the berets made by Auloronesa/Manufacture de Bérets. This is because a different knitting process which was invented by it's founder Denis Guédon and is a well kept secret. It allows for the use of a soft and supple leather band (in fact, the same leather used for top end French car's upholstery). See picture above.
Unfortunately, the handmade process of fitting these leather bands plus the cost of the leathers, makes for much more expensive berets. At South Pacific Berets I only restock leather banded berets on special order for that reason (with a small number presently in stock still).
Working with Denis on an alternative, he came up with a artificial leather band that has all the positives of "real" leather and the benefits of a synthetic band. These are not in production anymore, but again, a small number is still available in all diameters, many sizes, lined with natural unbleached French linen and fitted with the Aotearoa label.
A kind of hybrid, taking the place between universels and sized berets, are the Flamingo models with adjustable headband. Instead of a leather band, the berets are fitted with an ingenious system to adjust the size with a small Velcro strap, see pictures below.
I enjoy my own La Encartada boinas, but an Elósegui Super Lujo is still among the very top for me, a shared height with Auloronesa and Flamingo.
Where I disagree about both La Encartada and Boinas Elósegui berets, are the headbands. Whereas both manufacturers (and other vanished Spanish manufacturers like Pradoluengo) fitted their berets with beautiful and supple, flexible leather headbands during the 1950s and early 1960s (see examples below from my collection)
since those days a much thicker, more rigid leather headband is used. This not only leaves a sweaty imprint on the forehead, over time it will stiffen and crack and is not easily pocket-able as a headband-less universel or talla única beret.
The reason why Boinas Elósegui does this, is to prevent shrinkage of the head-opening, the size. A conventionally knitted beret does shrink over time. If a headband is soft and pliable, the headband will "shrink" along and diminish the size of the beret.
The only exception are the berets made by Auloronesa/Manufacture de Bérets. This is because a different knitting process which was invented by it's founder Denis Guédon and is a well kept secret. It allows for the use of a soft and supple leather band (in fact, the same leather used for top end French car's upholstery). See picture above.
Unfortunately, the handmade process of fitting these leather bands plus the cost of the leathers, makes for much more expensive berets. At South Pacific Berets I only restock leather banded berets on special order for that reason (with a small number presently in stock still).
Working with Denis on an alternative, he came up with a artificial leather band that has all the positives of "real" leather and the benefits of a synthetic band. These are not in production anymore, but again, a small number is still available in all diameters, many sizes, lined with natural unbleached French linen and fitted with the Aotearoa label.
A kind of hybrid, taking the place between universels and sized berets, are the Flamingo models with adjustable headband. Instead of a leather band, the berets are fitted with an ingenious system to adjust the size with a small Velcro strap, see pictures below.
