Bollman Celebrates 140 Years with Collector's Hats

[Brad Bowers]

Bollman is celebrating its 140 years in business with a limited-edition collection of 15 hats -- each one representing a decade of their existence.

Bollman 140 Collection

While some of these are 100% wool -- and at $100 each, not cheap for wool -- I applaud a hat company for recognizing its own history and the history of men's hats. Most of their choices are interesting, well-chosen, and seem typical of the period (I wish they had hats that looked a little more '20s and '30s, but that's beside the point).

Most of these styles are probably already offered by Bollman in a regular edition. The hat as a collector's item is an interesting concept. We here at the Lounge collect hats, and for the most part, we wear them. But will people buy these to wear, if they buy them at all, or just display?

We'll have to wait and see if this is an effective marketing tool, but it's nice to see a hat company taking a proactive approach. This is an exciting development, and will inspire, I hope, more interest in hat wearing, or at least in hat history.

Brad

 

[RPeers]

Hmmm the whole collection for $1500 or five works of Art... I think I know what the right choice here is.
Neat collection of hats though too bad there all wool.

 

[Dinerman]

I don't know- it just seems like all of these were already in production and they just re-labeled them. I swear I've seen most of these before.

 

[RPeers]

I don't know- it just seems like all of these were already in production and they just re-labeled them. I swear I've seen most of these before.

but were they this expensive before or did they jack up the price...

 

[handlebar bart]

Poor execution of a neat idea. Not a single hat in that collection interested me, but it would be pretty cool if stetson, or others, put out limited edition runs of some classically styled fedoras in some of the popular colors that are hard to come by these days. Maybe a run of 100 green 'whippets' with a special limited edition whippet liner, or a run of blue OR's, etc.[huh]

 

[Dinerman]

What company is or made the "designer collection"?
They were wool felt hats, fairly recent. They were crummy wool felts, but the styling for the most part was spot on.

 

[AlanC]

...it would be pretty cool if stetson, or others, put out limited edition runs of some classically styled fedoras in some of the popular colors that are hard to come by these days. Maybe a run of 100 green 'whippets' with a special limited edition whippet liner, or a run of blue OR's, etc.[huh]

Yes, an excellent idea. If they did it right (big if) they could sell them without a doubt.

 

[MattJH]

They listed the fedora and the trilby as different hats from different eras.

Weird.

 

[WideBrimm]

I just looked at the collection. Some look real nice, and several are fur rather than wool. My question is this. If they are serious about putting out collector's hats, why go the Small-Medium-Large route? Why not REAL SIZES for REAL MEN ? [huh]

 

[MattJH]

My assumption is cost of production. Instead of making 4 sizes (S, M, L, XL), they have to make more than double that (presumably 6 7/8 through at least 7 3/4).

 

[Lt GUSTL]

Servus from Vienna,

here is my BOLLMAN, which i own for more than 16 years.
It has the typical Australian-inspired design from the 1990s.
I bought it for arround 40 Euro.

There is a similar one in their collector series.

The badge is a British military cap badge from "The Life Guards".
It is mad from plastic (by H.W. TIMINGS LTD?).

kindest regards