Difference Between Trilbys and Stingy Brim Fedoras?

[FedoraFan112390]

What is the difference between a trilby and a stingy brim fedora? Are they one and the same? Because I've seen them listed as different hats yet they don't seem to have any major differences.

 

[Matt Deckard]

I think today a Trilby is associated with a fedora with a very tapered crown, a short brim and a narrow ribbon. Mostly worn by aristocratic brits or cardigan clad ice truck drivers who don't get their modern hats reblocked when they shrink.

Opinion/
It's a fedora, though the brit hatters like to differentiate between fedora and trilby so they can sell the trilby with it's own UK identity.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Somewhere along the way, seems like I got the impression a Trilby might have a more pronounced upturn on the back brim. Other than that...

 

[BellyTank]

It seems like the average Trilby (in comparison to the average Fedora)has a lower, more tapered crown and a smaller brim.
Quite often, a cloth hat, Tweed- a sporting hat- for the racetrack or the country.
In the case of Eccles, a metal Trilby

Like the Fedora, the name comes from the Theatre.


B
T

 

[tandmark]

Howdy,

The last time I was looking at photos of hats labelled as being trilbys by online retail hat shops, what was being shown in those photos looked exactly like stingy brim fedoras. I think it's a distinction without a difference.

I seem to recall a similar thread about six months ago, in which one hat *maker* claimed there was a difference. Seems to me that he was talking about the first trilbys of the late 1800s, which might have had some special features. Though I could be mis-remembering about that.

Still, it's worth a bet (if I were the betting type, and if there were any way to do a serious check of the facts) that there might not be anyone alive today who remembers a time when the trilby and the stingy brim fedora weren't basically the same style of hat.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[NonEntity]

I, too, have long wondered about the difference, if any, between a trilby and a stingy-brim fedora.

Not a fact but just an observation, though, is that vendors seem to label as "trilby," in contrast to "stingy brim," those hats which appear to have a taller, more tapered crown, often an even narrower brim (1 to 1 1/2 inches), and a very slight to no pinch.

Now, to complicate the issue, what, exactly, is a Rex? Yeah, I know it's named after the type of hat famous actor/drunkard Rex Harrison often wore, and that, of course, it must be constructed of wool tweed to qualify, but is there anything else that distinguishes the narrow-brimmed Rex, such as the shape or bash, from a trilby or stingy brim fedora?

I've even seen similar woven wool headgear marketed as a "British walking hat." Again, is there any specific criteria to differentiate it from a Rex or, excepting the material, the others?

Methinks all these terms are probably just marketing, but if not, I'd really like to know.