Fedoras+Wal-Mart=?

[besdor]

I dont want to scare anyone , but the future of the hat industry will be the cheap wool fedoras . Companies such as Bollman produce many thousands of these hats every year and thats what most of the public buys . China is also getting into the hat market with wool and felt hats . It's only the top 5 % of the market that will buy a decent hat today . They just dont get it .:cool2:

 

[Havana]

Don't fear a great revival in fedora popularity. Even on the extreme outside chance that it does happen, it will only be for the briefest moment until it is replaced by the next super fad. For fedoras, or hats for that matter, to make a real comeback, people will have to start incorporating hats into their everyday lives and not just wear one as the latest fad accessory. We would have to return to a mindset that makes putting on our hats as unconscious an act as putting on our shoes. Walking out without a hat would have to again become the exception. I'm sure most everyone here has already achieved that but I'm afraid I just don't see that happening with the main stream.

 

[gdkenoyer]

Two of my sons have these hats (or this type of hat...). One is 22 the other 15.

They are one step above a ballcap or stocking hat, and pretty much just as disposable.

 

[Feraud]

As was mentioned, the only benefit of the Walmart hat is as an introduction (however bad) to the world of hat wearing. I am sure most of us have owned lesser quality hats. I probably still have one or two around.

 

[Twitch]

Can't fault the marketing I guess. If one was to purchase a cheap fedora it could certainly be manhandled with no need to baby it at that price. If you got it realy dirty or wet you could just buy another. We must remember for the most part almost no one is going to approach someone and ask to inspect the quality of his hat so those will "fly" OK. But entering a Walmart is as depressing as going into a psyche ward for me.

As for alternate hat styles has anyone got a Greek Fisherman's cap? These have perennially been the same shape/style since the 30s or earlier and fair modern copies are plentiful. It beats the ubiquitous damned ball cap!

www.millerhats.com/
www.villagehatshop.com
Ebay, no doubt

 

[varga49]

answer: chinese fedoras

When I used to buy "snap on" tools (as an aircraft mechanic) my snap on rep would tell everyone these two things.
1. what do you get when you buy cheap tools?....cheap tools!
2. Buy "snap on" cry only once!

Both definately apply to felt hats!

 

[Twitch]

Hehehe! It depends on if you use your tools everyday for your livelyhood or about 6 times a year like Homer Simpson. Doh!

 

[varga49]

well...

I did for 23 years...! I only cried once, heh heh !

 

[Lincsong]

QUOTE=Siirous]To heck with bell bottoms; they're childs play. Just wait till your strolling down the street 20 or 30 years from now and you witness the return of the parachute pants. Or worse yet, parachute pants with a wife beater shirt and wal mart fedoras.

Now you did it. I had that image expunged from my mind and you managed to release it from the inners fold of my brain. I try to forget parachute pants and red leather Member's Only jackets.:cheers1:

 

[John in Covina]

To heck with bell bottoms; they're childs play. Just wait till your strolling down the street 20 or 30 years from now and you witness the return of the parachute pants. Or worse yet, parachute pants with a wife beater shirt and wal mart fedoras.
Now you did it. I had that image expunged from my mind and you managed to release it from the inners fold of my brain. I try to forget parachute pants and red leather Member's Only jackets.:cheers1:

****
Why is it I keep thinking of Michael Jackson?
Oh Yeah I'm Bad, I'm Bad!

Cafe 80's!

 

[Lincsong]

'80s nightmares coming back. Quick I need some JD, straight.:beer:

 

[varga49]

Linc my friend....

QUOTE=Siirous]To heck with bell bottoms; they're childs play. Just wait till your strolling down the street 20 or 30 years from now and you witness the return of the parachute pants. Or worse yet, parachute pants with a wife beater shirt and wal mart fedoras.

Now you did it. I had that image expunged from my mind and you managed to release it from the inners fold of my brain. I try to forget parachute pants and red leather Member's Only jackets.:cheers1:

There certainly must be a support group for those in need to forget!

 

[Lincsong]

Could it be the bottom of a tumbler?

Varga;
I'm looking at Sinatra's album, No One Cares, he's sitting at a bar in a rain coat looking down at a tumbler of whiskey. Next to him is a woman with her back to him. If there is a support group for people who need to forget, this album cover says it all; the support group will meet at the corner phone booth, caravan to the bar on a unicycle and hold it's meeting on a bar stool. ha ha ha :cheers1: Salud!

 

[varga49]

heh heh! I get the picture!

 

[Legal Concepts]

Just got one of those Wally world "sellfor less" hats, it will be a good work/get dirty hat. :cheers1:

 

[Legal Concepts]

OK can you shape the walmart fedoras, mine is flat from being on the shelf. How do you shape a wool fedora? Will steam work?

 

[Stoney]

I think that the only reason Wal-Mart is selling these $12 hats and men are buying them is to do yard work or a quick 18 rounds on the municipal course. Most people who buy these hats I would assume are not buying them for dinner at the Ritz Carlton or Fairmont....

1) The reason Walmart is selling these hats is that they aren't really selling these hats. They are mere window dressing , or space filler if you prefer. They, Walmart, don't care that these hats are monstrosities , at best. The hats are something to appease the average Walmart customer's eyeball while picking up that new ,made in China, I Heart America ball cap and three pack of underoos. Also, any man who actually expended the mental energy required to reach a purchase decision on said hat would most likely be far too exhausted to perform any yard work himself. He could engage a few of the neighborhood rascals to do it for him with the money he so wisely saved on his recent chapeau purchase.


2) I fully concur...Based only on my own experience those that choose to eat at the Ritz Carlton, and other restaurants of their ilk, typically are not Walmart shoppers anyway. However, they should have sense enough to remove their headgear, Walmart or otherwise, as they enter the dining area.

I myself avoid such pretentious establishments by all means necessary.
I prefer finely prepared food served in a friendly atmosphere by caring individuals who make every attempt to minimize their negative impact upon mother earth, while serving tons of tasty food and generating mountains of non-biodegradable waste materials.




Oddly enough, I was not drinking when I wrote the above. I was however going through a serious case of nicotine withdrawls, being on the quits for the past two days. I quickly smoked 1/4 of a cigarette to supress my deranged state of mind. I apologize to any Ritz Carlton and Walmart fans who may have taken offense as none was intended.

 

[mingoslim]

I would say the only thing to spark a return of the fedora is somenone like . . . Lil John.[huh]

I remember the version of Robin and the 7 hoods . . . Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra . . . but most versions of Little John I know of would be more likely to bring back tights than fedoras

 

[Dinerman]

I remember the version of Robin and the 7 hoods . . . Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra . . . but most versions of Little John I know of would be more likely to bring back tights than fedoras

this lil john.

 

[mingoslim]

Oh . . . That Lil John . . .

Walmart sells straw fedoras too . . . I use them for gardening, etc.
And when they get too beat up, they are sheap enough to run them through the livesock and spread them on the garden.