Can we get some love for wool fedoras?

[Slim Portly]

I have worn only wool hats until very recently due mostly to a lack of funds, and the recent acquisition of my first high-quality (read "valuable") felt hat has caused an unexpected and unfortunate side effect: paranoia. I am afraid to touch it with dirty hands. I think twice before leaving it at my desk while I step away. I hesitate before setting it down in a restaurant for fear of it touching any surface that has not been thoroughly cleaned. It therefore almost never leaves my head from the time I leave my house until it arrives safely home again. There is something to be said for the peace of mind that a "beater" wool hat imbues upon one's psyche.

(Not that I’ll wear my fur felt fedora any less, of course. )

 

[Dinerman]

I had a couple, but wearing them in the rain destroyed them.

 

[Slim Portly]

I had a couple, but wearing them in the rain destroyed them.

I'm feeling the love already.

 

[Ray-Vigo]

I have a fur felt Stetson, a soft wool felt generic (Hats in the Belfy house brand) hat, and a newly arrived Bailey Gangster wool felt hat.

The Stetson is the best of the group in terms of quality and durability, but I also have found that the soft wool felt generic hat is quite comfortable and gives nice service. It looks nice too. I actually like the looseness and softness of the soft wool felt, though it can be a bit itchy in warm conditions. I have no regrets about buying it-- I use it when I'm going to be riding on the bus or the subway where the conditions aren't the cleanest. In some situations, like you, I prefer a cheaper wool felt hat because I don't want to make any more of a mess of my fur felt one.

I recently got a Bailey Gangster wool felt hat. It's quite stiff and has a hard form to it. I haven't worn it much yet but it looks sharp and will hopefully prove durable.

In the end for the price of the Stetson when I got it new, I got the generic soft hat, the Bailey, a nice hat box, and a hat cleaning sponge as well as some pheasant feathers from the crafts store to do a custom feather set, if I so choose. The Stetson will probably out last the other two, but I wouldn't call any of them junkers or turn my nose at them-- I think the lower end hats offer a nice option for someone who doesn't spend a lot of money on hats and/or wants something for situations where they don't want to mess up their high end hat. I think a wool felt hat can work out quite well.

 

[carter]

I wouldn't go so far as love.

In winter, by a cozy fire, dog by my side, whiskey in a jar, when it's dry, ...NOPE, I just can't do it. :eusa_doh:
They're OK in a pinch when nothing else, absolutely nothing else, is available. [huh]
BUT....I'll take a beater fur felt every time. [huh]
Hold the feathers, please.

 

[kowalskt63]

I dig 'em

Tell ya what. My first hat was a black Country Gentleman hat from Macy's. Picked it up during one of those sales. For what it's worth, I wear that hat quite often to this day. If it gets all out of shape, nothing a little steam can't fix. I get just as many compliments in the real world when wearing it as I do with one of my top of the line furs. More recently, I picked up a wool borsalino off eBay which I also dig. when you think about it, we wear wool in some way shape or another just about every day. Why not on our heads?

 

[Craig Robertson]

I'm with Carter. I have plenty of beater fur felts to wear. I even have a walk-in-the-woods, rake-the-leaves Stetson Playboy that is pretty beat but very comfortable. I don't own a wool hat. The couple I've picked up have felt (no pun intended) coarse and stiff.
Your mileage may differ, but good felt isn't that much more expensive that wool in my book.

 

[handlebar bart]

My first lid was a wool and will be my last, it doesn't make it off the rack anymore. To each their own, but I am not a fan of the material and atleast in my size I find plenty of fur fedoras where I don't mind wearing them about. I wear a TonyB beaver daily to work and it takes a beating and looks good as new with an occasional brushing.

 

[duggap]

Besides, wool makes me itch.lol

 

[carter]

Besides, wool makes me itch.lol

lol lol lol lol lol

 

[Dinerman]

My country gentleman litefelt wool felt. Was one of my first felt hats. Runs for about 50 bucks.

It started out like this

After about a year of wear, it looked like this- the band had fallen off- it was badly stitched, the dye ran, the thing tapered like mad the brim break went away, and it shrank down two full sizes- couldn't stretch it back up and it became unwearable.

 

[indycop]

I have a wool newsboy and love it!! At least I think it's wool...lol

 

[carter]

I have a wool newsboy and love it!! At least I think it's wool...lol

Welllll...that's nice, but SP was looking for wool fedora love. [huh]

 

[indycop]

Welllll...that's nice, but SP was looking for wool fedora love. [huh]

I know but thats the only wool love I could give. I don't want to think about that old, too hot and itchy small dorfman indy i used to have years ago....

 

[carter]

I know but thats the only wool love I could give. I don't want to think about that old, too hot and itchy small dorfman indy i used to have years ago....

OK, dorfman. But the operative word was, I believe, fedora, not love.

 

[tonyb]

I'm not here to dis anyone or his hats, but really, wool is plainly an inferior material with which to make men's felt hat bodies. This is not to say I'd find fault with anyone's fondness for his wool hat. Heck, I'm kinda fond of my '67 Triumph Spitfire, but I would never argue that it is a fine automobile. Indeed, it would be more accurate to call it a real piece of junk. The only reason it's still around is that it has had an almost absurd amount of money and effort dumped into it over the years, and for the majority of those years it hasn't even moved.

And I don't fault retailers for carrying wool felt hats. These days, most potential hat buyers have no idea what sort of materials go into a better hat. When they are faced with the option of buying a 30 or 40 dollar wool hat and a fur felt one costing three or four (or more) times as much, well, I'd imagine that a goodly percentage of them go with the less-expensive option. The merchant gets a few bucks out of a customer who may well have spent nothing had it not been for the low-cost offering.

But I do take exception with the suggestion that wool makes a "fine" hat-making felt. (If by "fine" we mean "of exceptional quality" rather than "good enough.") I certainly don't expect a merchant to actively bad-mouth his merchandise, but I can't accept outright misrepresentations, either.

 

[Havana]

Like many of us, I started out with a wool hat or two. I knew they weren't great but I liked them okay. After a season of wear they were shrunken or misshapen. I quickly learned that it just didn't make economic sense to spend $35-$40 on a wool hat when an Akubra that will last for many years could be had for around $75.

 

[mannySpaghetti]

Two of my hats are wool felt, a Stetson Mallory and my Merrimac and I love them as equally as my fur felts. So far as I can tell, the quality of wool felt's is dependent on quality of which is personal preference of course. "To each his own", I always say, but I've got no complaints about 'em. I got lucky with the two and hopefully will be just as lucky with more wools along the way as my collection of lids grow. They're a great alternative if money is a bit scarce. Yes, they are inferior in quality to fur, but treat them well and they'll do the same for you.

 

[GWD]

whiskey in a jar,

Carter, something tell me, we would be great friends.

 

[TopGumby]

I blame this place for my not having a wool felt hat on my head right now. Instead I'm waiting for a package from Australia.

The difference between $40 and $67 in my budget is not insignificant, but I could no more afford to be careless with a $40 lid than a fur Akubra, and if what I've read is true I can expect to get a lot more mileage from a fur felt hat than a wool felt.

I'd spent some time browsing thrift stores and Ebay, but my size 7-1/2 grape has made finding a vintage bargain elusive. The Akubras seem like good values now, so I went new.

I don't plan on being a "hat snob" because I can't afford it and frankly, I'm no clotheshorse. I got the itch for a decent fedora because I picked up a Dorfman Pacific cotton/poly snap brim bucket for a song to keep the sun off in the summer, and I found I liked wearing a hat. In fact, when Seattle gets that annual two weeks of heat next year, I'll probably wear that Fred Meyer cloth bucket again (although I've seem some nice straws here...curse you, Fedora Lounge!)

So, I'm too much of a tightwad to go with wool felt...does that make any sense at all?