“Vegan” felt?

[tonyb]

Indeed. I have no ideological commitment to furfelt; if they can somehow use bamboo to equate all the properties of furfelt but cheaper, I'm all for it. Jings, if they can make it so that it does copy all the properties of fur including durability and it's the same price, I'd still consider it over fur. My bamboo fabric poloshirts have never been damaged by moths. My wool-base knit wear and tailoring, (and my furfelt hats) I can't say the same....

Rayon made from bamboo can be pretty darned nice, judging from the couple shirts of mine made from the stuff. But that’s a woven fabric. I suppose it could be felted. But hell, I dunno. It’s far from my area of expertise.

We here are among that very small segment of the population who are willing to pay what a good felt hat costs. A hat made from felted polyester, that costs 50 or 60 bucks, that looks good new, might find a market.

 

[GHT]

I too thought that shaving the beavers is more humane that giving them the full Brazilian!!!

Oi! I do the jokes. Thank you!

 

[Edward]

Rayon made from bamboo can be pretty darned nice, judging from the couple shirts of mine made from the stuff. But that’s a woven fabric. I suppose it could be felted. But hell, I dunno. It’s far from my area of expertise.

We here are among that very small segment of the population who are willing to pay what a good felt hat costs. A hat made from felted polyester, that costs 50 or 60 bucks, that looks good new, might find a market.

I could see it having two big benefits - one, getting people into hats who would never wear furfelt, and two - like the cheap woolies a lot of us started with - getting people who might later wear furfelt and such into hats. It's a lot easier to sell someone who knows they like hats a good hat than someone who isn't sure! More hat buyers = better for those of us who want to buy hats...

 

[moehawk]

My question is do vegan hats taste like the real thing?
Stetson could market "The Impossible Whippet" as long as BK doesn't sue.

 

[M Hatman]

In order to felt something you have to have a rough texture to the "threads" as is the case with fur and wool. Spun filaments like polyester and the various compositions of rayon are smooth spun fibers (like silK). Somehow they would need to rough the filaments or add wool or fur to make it work (as was done in the 40's). Otherwise all you can do is a woven fabric.......

Somewhere I have an article Dobbs did in Scientific American (in 1942 I believe) where they discuss the use of the milk protein fiber in their wartime hats.....I think It has been posted around here too.....problem with the protein fibers (which silk is one) is they beak down over time....

The Chinese used to have a saying to the effect of "Our Clothes will last 100 years, our books will last one thousand" and they were right.

 

[MisterCairo]

I don't know why these alternative materials are being explored when beavers can just be shaved for their fur.

"Fouquet also prefers sustainable hat materials, such as beavers harvested for fur and felt in the Czech Republic. (No harm is done to the beavers when they are shaved)."

https://blindfoldmag.com/nick-fouqu...ice-beachwriter-photography-by-scout-hebinck/

Shaved beaver.

I have no words...

 

[tonyb]

Aren’t rabbit and beaver fur protein fibers? Aren’t all animal-sourced fibers protein fibers?

 

[Bamaboots]

I have no words...

No way. You're a lawyer.

 

[Bamaboots]

Aren’t rabbit and beaver fur protein fibers? Aren’t all animal-sourced fibers protein fibers?

Pretty sure you're spot on.

 

[MisterCairo]

No way. You're a lawyer.

And yet...

 

[M Hatman]

Aren’t rabbit and beaver fur protein fibers? Aren’t all animal-sourced fibers protein fibers?

Yes, but they are dense and have a rough surface, therefore will adhere to one another....
They are not spun smooth fibers.

EDIT: I wanted to differentiate the protein chains. Silk is an insect (worm & spider) product with quite similar composition and durability to the milk protein chains.....they both degrade greatly over time.

Hair (fur, wool) are more durable and have a different protein chain which is more sustaining in structure. This in addition to their properties I already eluded to make them a good choice for felt.

 

[tonyb]

it might be all the more ecologically sensitive to aggressively go after the highly invasive nutria/coypu population here in God’s Country, where the damned things destroy habitat for native species.

The fur does make for a real nice hat felt. My only reliable source for coypu hat bodies/capelines charges more than I wish to pay. But it is a good product.

 

[Bamaboots]

I like my vintage nutria hats.

https://www.nola.com/news/environme...cle_920689ee-5cf7-5bb0-90f0-48834dba2975.html

 

[suitedcboy]

Can you felt okra or peach fuzz? That would be vegan. I think Peaches scream when you cut them off the tree. Such a cruel world.......

 

[moehawk]

I hear the Czechs are planting their farmed beavers in nice straight evenly spaced rows with their bellies all facing the same direction to make it easier for the automated shaving combines to do their work come harvest time. Seems quite humane to the beavers up to the part where they slap on the aftershave and make the poor little things scream like that kid in that movie. Then all semblance of cruelty-free goes out the window when they make the beavers wear little itchy wool sweaters to keep them from freezing till Spring.
On a side note...would felting a vegan's peach fuzz be condidered vegan felt?

 

[hatsRme]

Not real. Like kangaroos, beaver cant be farmed. Can't imagine a wild caught one sitting still for a shave. The mags name says it all. Blind to reality, sort of like a Fouquet hat wearer.

Oi! I do the jokes. Thank you!

Beaver fur maintenance??
This came from my friend Ric, whose wife is named Brenda. It can be done. Brenda did it, as this vid/verse tell how!

 

[Who?]

This thread has become as absurd as the concept.

 

[Bamaboots]

Beaver fur maintenance??

Thanks, Charlie. I needed that.