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List of Custom, made-to-order, Fur Felt Fedora hatmakers and hatters

deeoeraclea

New in Town
Messages
35
translation Andersen&berner:
well all hats starts like this and out of this peace of felt this hat is the biggest hat you can get then it stiffens so it interes the felt and then it will have to dry so this I can show just now to dry it so you always turn the inside out so if there is something it gets into the hat and then all we to do is use the bucket which contaisn shellack on water and then all it has to do is go down there and suck it in so all the lacker inters the felt now it goes trough this one and so the excess water leaces now it just need moisture so you can stretch the felt and then it will have to be put in a plastic bag and then afterwards be placed Into the steam for a little while so you can stretch the felt and now that we have heated the shaper so it dries a little faster and then it becomes completely soft when it leaves and then you can just stretch it and then we you these threads to keep it in place it is also what helps give the felt its shape when it stiffens on the shape and then it enters for the last time were it then cooks all the way through the felt so it becomes really tight I can make sixty hats a day with this method then it just dryes in the heating room and then it gets sewn decorated using this sewing machine theres a hat for everybody its just about finding it for example people with glasses shall chose something that rounds a person with glasses should never chose a hat like this it just doesn't look good on people with glasses they need stuff that rounds and for example broad brimmed hats are good for tall people whereas small people should go for a smaller brimmed hats like this where there isn't a lot of shade and there is a lot of small people they want to wear big hats but that just ends op looking comical and then decide hats just doesn't suit me and it doesn't because it just looks ridiculous but if it all fits then it'll look just fine and then I have this little one and this big one and there can at times be people who think it looks weird but I don't really care about it and that's because I'm I'm I'm not scared of wearing a hat because if you're scared you'll begin worrying about what others think of you which is mostly the reason people wouldn't dare wear a hat
 

deeoeraclea

New in Town
Messages
35
translation hornskov:1
right know we are on kristianshavn in our workshop/showroom were we make hats to customers who wish for something special my name is peter Robert hornskov I'm a hatter it was actually kinda by accident there was a very special type of hat I couldn't find and the I had seen some others make hats and decided I could do that to and then I just began researching how hats are made were do you get the materials whats processes are needed and then it just started like that
 

deeoeraclea

New in Town
Messages
35
translation hornskov:2
my name is peter Robert hornskov and I make hats I hadn't a single hat just a year ago and now live off of it it started when a friend showed me a video of someone making a hat if it can be done like that then I can do it to it took a very long time to really get the yeast of it so I have ruined whole lot of hats but I have learned everything myself so I'm completely self though and all the tools are self made because it is just about impossible to find them otherwise the hatting industry is just about completely gone and nearly all hats are made in large factories these days there are few spread around Copenhagen and Denmark in general that make hats the old fashioned way every hat I make is costume made then theres the matchstick I put in the hat which is from my grandfathers matchstick collection which I have inherited the hat starts as a peace of felt I get supplied from a factory in Germany whereafter I steam and heat it and make it moist then I form it down over these here wood blocks I have made bind them and let them dry and then give them some lacker a leather sweatband is sewn in and then I sewn a band on and shape the hat also with steam usually if a hat is my size I will try them on infront of the mirror and when you shape the crown of the hat standing with my hands and shapeing I like that though there have been a lot of times were I just wanted to tear those hats aparts just throw everything around but if you want to do something enough then you can I personally think hats are not a fashion thing I think a hat Is like a classical thing that can help show who you are I love the 30s 20s and 40s where they just had style everybody wore suits women wore dresses and the men hat awesome hats on that I'm a sucker for I would really love to see some more hats in the street view
 
Messages
17,855
Location
Nederland
Wow! You've really put some time into this with the translations and all. I did get the gist of the story of Petitgas but the translation really helps. Thank you for posting this.
 

deeoeraclea

New in Town
Messages
35
thank you very much I'm currently working on translating the video for Kirsten hattekunst and have currently translated 3 minutes and five seconds of it I'm also gonna see if I can tackle the half hour long video for costrup hatter a latter point
 

deeoeraclea

New in Town
Messages
35
translation Kirsten hattekunst:
I have for many years wanted to put an end to the hat so I have decided to go around and tell its history you see back in my time there would have been a hatter on every street and today there about four or five left there is a very lovely little atter named Kirsten hatteforetning on peterbangsvej in Frederiksberg in Copenhagen is located a discreet little hatter we are on peterbangsvej and Kirsten who runs the shop was back in the day educated as a modist also someone who makes hand sewn hats Kirsten is in her 80s but has decided to keep the store for as Kirsten says its my whole life well it began when I was very young only 6 or 7 years old were I made a tiny little hat and then I would wear hats to school they thought it was very fun and then I would sell them I then travelled to Canada after my education was over at the age of 19 where I opened a hatter over there was there in a total of 2 years and then I latter opened a hatter on strandvejen and then I moved into this area were I have been in soon to be 41 years and I feel amazing and that is my life so to speak for example in the past a tailor would have sewn you a wonderful skirt with some excess material so you would go to a hatter and have a hat made that matched the skirt and then over to derby in klamenborg which required a unique hat to be worn so we did that to back then I had a larger shop where I had four women employed and this I sometimes a lying on the table and the young girls go god you can sew a hat like that and I say yeah of course I can do that and then they choose one then I sew it to her personally this here is a raw cabeline which I'm gonna sew in the brim and have it re steamed and the top and the brim will have to be steamed in place these used to be make op in skotsborg fabric there would be a shape here and then this material felt these thick plates which would be wrapped around like this and then it would be pressed with something that went down over and then you would get two cones out of that machine and then you shape those into hats when it doesn't have to be a large brimmed hat if you want a wide brimmed hat then you're gonna need one of those cabelines and then they would be steamed over wooden shaping blocks which you got form your carpenter which made them especially for the hat you can make a cap on this block here look you can tell the cap shape on it even before you begin you take a peace of felt and soak it or steam it depends on how much you want it to have right and you can take it apart here its made so it can be taken apart its a heavy task well I take this thing out and then I have the whole balloon here otherwise ill have to put it back on again and then it will all have been for nothing Johannes Møllehave (local preacher in that area if you're curious) and he was so handsome wearing it you meet a lot of wonderful people it is very nice and one of her refular costumers is inge who is seen here on a promade walk with her husband when such a hansome man with a tall hugely large silk hat on went somewhere wherever he went well you didn't were it indoors back then well he'll have carried it under his arm and then his arm would have gone all the way out here and that was way to much so a colasible mechanism which I think was invented by HM queen Victoria II was made so you could just push it and it would fold together and become this small and then you'll give it a light tap when you needed to wear it again and it would pop right out and opera hat is a collapsible silk hat an old one that I wanted to repair I thought it was a shame someone had trashed it inside of it are these mechanical springlocks this way down and up made in a way so it can collapse in on itself but they sit there underneath it is something metal which we cannot produce ourselves you kinda have screw the hat on especially mens hats men are very bad at not getting them down over the forehead and for example if it is a Humphrey Bogart hat then you are allowed to tilt it a little so it looks a bit smart instead of wearing it all the way so it looks like you've been punched and its about to fall of I've noticed a lot of people who make this mistake yes I also have some paradise birds who are very rare the royals aristocrats and the rich really like to wear these birds feathers because they are rare these days well shooting them has become illegal but I still have a bunch some of my customers like inge still gets the feathers with her hats so she has some fun details on her hats when my husband and I walked around sonnermarke promenading were I wore a this white hat for the occasion with a paradise bird up front and that garnered a lot of attention because people aren't used to seeing a whole paradise bird feathers have been used for many years people would have worn huge feather decorations on their hats and that was especially from the paradise bird and so many birds have been demanted that they have practically speaking risen to the same value as gold and at this point they have come under protection those birds so having paradise bird has become extremely prestigious straw hats are wonderful to wear here In the summer when we get some I have said it before and I will say it again I just love large hats I have an ocean of hats now you need to have a needle pillow to have your hat pins in well how do you make that stay on? well you just push through I just need to get a hat pin to make sure you are on the safe side oh and it is fine to only have one but to be on the safe side place one in both sides so at least one stays now they are going nowhere but you can also ask to have a chinstrap sewn on and here I have some small cocktail hats you do not wear a large obnoxious hat to a cocktail party you wear a small one if you are lucky enough to be invited to one these are very small hats you don't put it one from the back like 9/10 does but from the front like this this one is shaped like a sauce container which you were if you visit the queen then you were these sauce container hats if you are to visit her majesty and with the feathers ontop my favorite straw hat is this one it is the pennicle of hats however I don't wear it very often as this hat wears me instead of the other way around you can probably see what I mean the hat comes with me and then I have a little bag here a very old hat box which I inherited from an old professor dame here on the first floor and women would carry these all the way op into the forties I have seen people carry this one when they are travelling which you can have several hats in and then there are all the sayings stand with the hat in hand then you are asking for an almice throw your hat high into the air well then you are very happy indeed and then you take the hat off there those indetours on mens hats which he grabs that is a way to greet someone you know you were your hat like you want well that is wrong a feather in the hat when something nice has just happened there is a hat for every head I'm for example in need of big hats because I have a narrow face and if you don't want to wear hats then there are always small hair decarations like this one
 

deeoeraclea

New in Town
Messages
35
I encourage anyone to post information relating to hatters in there local area be it in there district state country or somewhere else as long as they are not huge things like borsalino or Stetson which are already well known across the lounge though I'm not gonna hold you back as I wish for this place to be a general hub for information pertaining to hatters there produce and there craft basically anything hatter related like say a video about lock and co or something else maybe a hatter in Italy or latin America maybe asia like say in Xian malaca or Kyoto
heres a hatter video from rome for encouragement I will post the last translation of the Danish video when I'm done translating it whenever that is

ofcourse this thread could also just die like countless others
 
Messages
10,460
Location
Boston area
Very nice, @deeoeraclea! Thanks for "waving your flag."

There is already a thread called "List of Custom, Made to order, Fur Felt Fedora Hat makers and Hatters" where you should be, too. I'm having technical difficulty, otherwise I would link it for you. Google the quoted verbiage.

I must need a new hat, right?!
 
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deeoeraclea

New in Town
Messages
35
ohh thanks hatsRme I was unaware
although don't we all need a new hat every now and then?
 
Last edited:

deeoeraclea

New in Town
Messages
35
since this has merged with another thread and someone earlier on said thread mentioned that he didn't know of any hatters in the uk I would like to mention
laird hatters London, UK
lock&co London, UK
Mad Hatters & Friends Ltd Brighton, UK
Christy's London Princes Arcade London, UK
bates Princes Arcade London, UK
t snook Bridport, UK
hatters boutique Chelmsford, UK
The Bath Hat Company Bath, UK
arcade hatters Reading, United Kingdom
Olney Headwear Ltd Luton, United Kingdom
Mad Hatters (Cumbria)Grange-over-Sands, UK

though the only one of these I have any personal experience with is lock&co wear I had a hat restored at back in 2012 on a vacation before I became aware of the fact that there were any hatters at all left in Denmark but the people at lock&co were rather polite the service was nice and I would personally recommend them as a first stop though
 
Messages
10,460
Location
Boston area
I just perused the websites of the custom hatters listed here and am amazed at the wide range of prices. The US hatters mostly seem to offer Winchester felts and the range of pricing top to bottom is huge.

Would you be so kind as to share more details of what you found? What was the lowest to highest?
 
Messages
10,342
Location
vancouver, canada
A very broad range of pricing. Most do not disclose the felt source but looking at the colours they offer I suspect they offer Winchester but speculative on my part. Hornskov in Denmark and Penman offer Fepsa for sure. These prices are all for Beaver felt and may vary slightly than my posted price due to some hatters charging extra for brim binding, curls etc while others may include some of these features in the basic price. Some websites did not list pricing and are not included on this list.
Lowest to Highest.
Northwest Hats $250
Gannon $275
Dave Brown $300
Falcon Park $350
VS - Art $375
Black Sheep $375
Garrison $450
Penman $450 - $600
Baron $450 - $700 but doesn't specify type of felt
Brass Rooster $525
Hornskov $600
Leon Drexler $600 he gives pricing in Can dollars and this is a rough rounding into US$, might be a bit cheaper
Optimo -Arizona $800
And the winner is!!!!!
Watson Hat Shop $1500 - $2000 Please tell me I am wrong in how I read their price list but this seems accurate to me.
That matchstick guy might be up in this range too but did not bother to seek out his pricing for my own very subjective reasons
I have customs from 6 of these hatters and as my judgement is highly subjective have refrained from reviews of their hats.
 

deeoeraclea

New in Town
Messages
35
just realised that in my translation of Kirsten hattekunst were it says 'i want to put an end to the hat' may be misunderstood as it is a direct translation of a variant of a Danish saying 'at putte en ende paa det' in this case 'jeg vil putte en ende paa hatten' what it actually means is 'I will complete it' sorry if this has caused any misunderstanding
 
Messages
11,130
Location
Alabama
Thanks for doing this! These are still cheaper than 100% beaver Western customs ($600 to $10,000) although some of that pricing includes precious metals and stones in the hatband as well as custom sourced felts.

Yeah, Bob. For $10K Butch Dorer offers the option of either platinum or 24k gold for your hat jewelry. I'll stick with the sterling silver on my —50, until my first well comes in, anyway.
 
Messages
10,460
Location
Boston area
A very broad range of pricing. Most do not disclose the felt source but looking at the colours they offer I suspect they offer Winchester but speculative on my part. Hornskov in Denmark and Penman offer Fepsa for sure. These prices are all for Beaver felt and may vary slightly than my posted price due to some hatters charging extra for brim binding, curls etc while others may include some of these features in the basic price. Some websites did not list pricing and are not included on this list.
Lowest to Highest.
Northwest Hats $250
Gannon $275
Dave Brown $300
Falcon Park $350
VS - Art $375
Black Sheep $375
Garrison $450
Penman $450 - $600
Baron $450 - $700 but doesn't specify type of felt
Brass Rooster $525
Hornskov $600
Leon Drexler $600 he gives pricing in Can dollars and this is a rough rounding into US$, might be a bit cheaper
Optimo -Arizona $800
And the winner is!!!!!
Watson Hat Shop $1500 - $2000 Please tell me I am wrong in how I read their price list but this seems accurate to me.
That matchstick guy might be up in this range too but did not bother to seek out his pricing for my own very subjective reasons
I have customs from 6 of these hatters and as my judgement is highly subjective have refrained from reviews of their hats.

Super compilation, Belfast! Thank you!!
 

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