Fedoras+Wal-Mart=?

[Zach R.]

Well, I was at Wal-Mart browsing for the usual things(food, etc) and I strolled through to the mens clothing section trying to get to the dog food.

Oh sure, there were your novelty t-shirts with the latest media frenzy plastered all over the front, and also your typical Wal-Mart apparel, but what I found in the hat section struck me as odd.

There, on the top shelf, was about 12 black and 12 brown Fedoras for 13.88 a piece. Sure, they were extremely cheap wool and bare-bones, but they were most certainly fedora-style hats.

Does this mean that Fedoras will catch on with the mainstream once again? Who knows. (but I certainly hope not)

 

[Kaleponi Craig]

I'm seeing more and more fedoras everyday, out on the street. Mostly they are lousy, cheap examples of our favorite lid, but hey, at least it's a start. I think the fedora is catching on and we're all ahead of the curve...KC

 

[photobyalan]

I'd love to see men's (and ladies') hats catch on in the mainstream, but not that way. The hats Wal-Mart is selling are crap, and with no service behind them (which pretty much describes almost everything they sell). Who is going to tell the customer that the brim is too small for their face, or that they might look better in a Homburg? Who is going to clean and re-shape it after it has been worn for a while?

Is a person who pays the princely sum of $12.88 for a hat likely to want to dress better when they are wearing it? Will they care that there are no hat checks or even hat hooks in restaurants and demand a change? Are they going to act more gentlemanly with a trashy piece of wool felt from a Chinese sweatshop perched on their head? I doubt it.

Put an Art Fawcett original or an Optimo, or a even an Akubra on someone's head, and they will feel different. They will know that they look good, they will want to dress better to reflect the dignity that the hat lends them, and they will want to act like they have some class. At least that's the way it was for me.:fedora:

OK, I'm done foaming at the mouth. For now.

 

[Zach R.]

I didn't mean for people to have aneurysms.

I know where you are coming from though, it was the same experience for me and fedoras.

Its like any type of niche that suddenly becomes popular, Star Wars for example (up until about 1998 no one really cared or remembered it because it was out of the general public's view), or Fedoras and general vintage style in this case.

You just have those people that are doing whatever it is they are doing because the media or whoever are telling them that it is "in" at the moment. Inevitably this leads to what was "in" one moment only a short while later becoming the butt of jokes everywhere.

In those types of situations, something special is lost to those original members who truly care for whatever they were interested in. And sometimes it makes them so disgusted that they leave the hobby altogether.

At least that has been the case in my experiences.

 

[Mycroft]

Well, I was at Wal-Mart browsing for the usual things(food, etc) and I strolled through to the mens clothing section trying to get to the dog food.

Oh sure, there were your novelty t-shirts with the latest media frenzy plastered all over the front, and also your typical Wal-Mart apparel, but what I found in the hat section struck me as odd.

There, on the top shelf, was about 12 black and 12 brown Fedoras for 13.88 a piece. Sure, they were extremely cheap wool and bare-bones, but they were most certainly fedora-style hats.

Does this mean that Fedoras will catch on with the mainstream once again? Who knows. (but I certainly hope not)

I saw those, but arently they 70's style like?

 

[PutALidOnIt]

Heavens to Mergatroid!!

A mass-produced wool felt fedora from Wally World - why I couldn't imagine wearing such a thing!

Of course, I have never told my 20 year old animal rights activist daughter that my hats that she thinks are sooooo soft are made from some furry little buck-toothed dam builders! Imagine a Dorfman Pacific Ultra-Suede Whippet! AAGGGHHH!

The point is that you will never see a decent fur fedora in a mainstream bargain blowout store. The mere thought that some poor animal (not some poor Pakistani, Haitian or Indonesian) was sacrificed to bring us comfort would not fly with the politically correct masses. The fact that, even a wool felt requires some care places it out of the realm of daily wear by 98% of the mall-strolling public...the hat becomes a disposable trifle.

I have mixed feelings about the traditional fur felt fedora escalating into mainstream fashion. Ease of acquistion - maybe, but not likely to be good for the breed. Better quality - NOT!
The level of individuality that we can bestow upon ourselves by wearing classic lids IMHO elevates our personas to a (hopefully growing) community of traditional good taste and class. I agree that we will feel and behave differently under a fur felt than under a ballcap - even a vintage one (Go Washington Senators!). Unless you're in a relatively populous area, it's not likely that many Joe Schmoes will be wearing a lid in the style or in the numbers worn 50-75 years ago, the Dobbs Deion notwithstanding.

I am most certainly not a snobbish elitist, but I revel in someone stopping me on the street, at a shop or leaving a restaurant, simply to say "nice hat".

OK - enough philosophy for one post...


I want to be unique - just like everyone else!

 

[Panamabob]

I see the Tilley lookalikes in Wal-Mart and they are $8.00. Heck, I can buy 6 of these and I bet they'd last a lifetime each.

 

[John in Covina]

SNS

These are the Saturday Night Specials version of a hat.

Despised by all, probably even the wearer!

Out there is some guy who has bought one of these hats and has no idea that there are quailty hats that fit better, look better and are a heck of a lot more like what he actually wants, but he doesn't KNOW better.

Quick, Somebody write a half page disertation on quality hats and on the other side list the better hat shops and their web sites! Print up a hundred thousand or so and we slip the sheet inside each Walmart fedora! Maybe just maybe we can save someone the sheer embarassement of buying and wearing one of these hats.

Or should we arrange for picketing?

There will always be a market for poor quality when people put price above all things: crummy socket sets, piss poor fishing equipment, truly lacking golf clubs, bad camping equipment, lousy stereos, hideous photography stuff, medeocre clothing, and even cheap skates! All are made with the idea of driving you away from any enjoyment and creating more agravation in this world. Believe me there is going to be a special place in Hell for the people that put out this stuff. They'll be standing waist deep in the lake of fire only because they are standing on the shoulders of crooked transmission repairmen.

Quick get the torches and pitchforks!

 

[hatflick1]

WalMart Fedoras

Fedoras have been in evidence more and more around Hollywood and greater LA east of Beverly Hills. A couple of guys in the neighborgood half my age are wearing them with wife beaters. Looks like Brooklyn in 1947.
Even the over-priced Makins selection sold out quickly at Nordstroms. As for the Wal Mart wool cheapies, they're still preferable to a baseball cap worn backwards or, my particular favorite, sideways which always makes a wannbegangsta look like Rootie Kazootie(sp?).

_________________________________________
Seeking enlightenment...one hat at a time.

 

[Russ]

Fedoras and the future

I think we will see more fedora wearers in the future as is evidenced by their appearance at Wal-mart of all places, but they will never reach the percentage of baseball cap wearers today, and never come near the levels of the early 20th century without the social pressures that existed then.

No doubt some of those Wal-mart Fedora wearers will notice their lids are not quite what they see in the movies and will shell out the money for an upgrade (and some will even join us here). I can see one of those evolution-type charts starting with hatless, going to ball cap, onto Wal-mart hat, and finally to high quality Fedora.

Actually, as much as I cringe when I see a man in a nice business coat and a leather baseball cap, the cap phenomena has done what was once considered impossible; it has taken a huge bite out of hatlessness in modern society. It's the carrot on the stick for many, and Wal-mart eases the transition to the next step. Hats off to Walmart and their cheap fedoras :cheers1:

 

[Feraud]

I doubt fedoras at Walmart will spark any significant 'return' of the the hat. People wore fedoras in the past because they had to. It was considered undressed, odd, destitute of means, etc. Today no one has to do anything. I am not sure if that itself is good or bad but we can leave it to another thread.
The irony here is that while no one has to do anything, most folks strive just as hard today as in "the old days" to fit in! Fashion is fleeting, superficial, and generally handed down to the masses by a public figure lacking any sort of individuality or creativity (pop musicians, actors, reality show characters, etc.)
Looking at the question in today's atmosphere, I would say the only thing to spark a return of the fedora is not seeing some sharp dressed Fedora Lounger. It will more than likely be somenone like Jessica Simpson or Lil John.[huh]

 

[Zach R.]

I might have been a bit presumptuous, but if Wal-Mart is making these travesties under their own brand name, there HAS to be a demand for them somewhere and I doubt they would throw money around wastefully on a product that will take up viable shelf space.

But I agree, if there was a return of fedoras, it would return in a style that blended in with what I call "modern-slob chic."

 

[Lancealot]

No doubt some of those Wal-mart Fedora wearers will notice their lids are not quite what they see in the movies and will shell out the money for an upgrade (and some will even join us here).

I myself am one of those I confess. I grew up loving Indiana Jones and his hat started at age twelve bought my first fedora at Wal-Mart of course back then you could only find one in the sporting goods section. Went to cowboy hats. Then I went on to buy a Stetson Temple still own it and wear it, found this site a couple of months ago and I'm on my way to getting and adventurebuilt to start with and searching E-bay for vintage fedoras.

So I agree some are going to move on and find better hats and join the rest of us hopefully.

 

[Russ]

Shaking the bushes

No doubt the tremendous power of television and movies has brought back the fedora from the brink of extinction. There are lots of hat fanatics out there who don't yet know they are hat fanatics until they see a hat movie and are suddenly awakened to their true calling. It happened to me with the movie Shiralee around 1989. The first first hat I bought after seeing that movie was a leather monstrosity with a brim that remotely resembled a fedora, but I was very proud of it -- until I discovered Akubras.

Now newly awakened hat fanatics can start their journey at Wal-mart. Without those social pressures to wear a hat, we can be sure that those few who do wear a hat do so because they like to wear hats. That's gotta be a good thing; much better than the days when every man grudgingly wore a hat because he had to.

Of course, some will always stay at the Wal-mart level, bless their souls.

 

[JimD]

they would throw money around wastefully on a product that will take up viable shelf space.


Wal Mart does not spend their own money for anything. In most cases Wal Mart does not pay the supplier until the item is actually sold. There is also a time limit on how long the item can sit on the shelf without selling.

JimD
Too new to have a good quote

 

[tonyb]

I've seen cheap wool hats at stores that also sell quality lids, although I doubt they would carry those fourteen-dollar jobs. As I noted in another thread, the proprietor of a western wear shop once confided to me that he carries the wool felt hats because they sell. It's a whole lot easier to get a newbie to part with forty or fifty bucks than a hundred and fifty or more. We all know that a relatively inexpensive (say, a hundred and twenty bucks or so) fur felt fedora is a far superior value to a wool felt costing a third as much, but the uninitiated don't and they probably wouldn't believe it if they were told. They'll just have to learn for themselves.
A month or so ago I bought, at Target, for ninety-nine bucks plus tax, a not bad looking plain brown leather jacket. (Made in China, of course.) Within a week the dye started coming off at the "friction points" (is that the right phrase?). Earlier this day I moseyed over to the jackets section here at the Lounge and learned about painted-on dyes, and how cheap they are and how they are bound to rub off. Live and learn. It's not that I haven't owned numerous leather jackets, but most were hand-me-downs or were purchased at secondhand stores. I suppose I knew that you don't get a good new leather jacket for a hundred bucks, but dang, the jacket looked pretty good there in the store, and it was only a C note, and ...
Will the guys who buy those cheapie fedoras graduate to better hats? Beats me. But I take it as a positive sign that they are willing to adopt the look. As others here have pointed out, a customer rarely gets good advice (or quality apparel, for that matter) at a discount department store. Next time I go looking for a leather jacket, I'll shop the places that specialize in such things.

 

[Lincsong]

Maybe I'm naive but...

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. They are buying them because they realize that the baseball cap is useless and just want to keep the sun from burning the top of their ears and back of their neck. If it gets worn and ugly, big deal, they're only out $12. Same goes for the cheap straw hats Wal-Mart sells. People aren't buying them for cocktails at the Halekulani or Mauna Loa Resort. It's a sad commentary that bell bottoms and lord help us, angels flight pants, will come back in style before a quality hat.:cool2:

 

[Siirous]

It's a sad commentary that bell bottoms and lord help us, angels flight pants, will come back in style before a quality hat.:cool2:

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.

And to PutALidOnIt, I don't think the animal rights people will be too much of a threat. I don't see leather fading away any time soon... of course cows are not as cute and furry as beavers are.

And wal mart fedora's are probably a good step. 3 months ago I was appalled at the idea of spending 40 or 50 dollars on a hat. I mean, after all ballcaps are only $9.99. So I bought a vintage stetson off ebay for 15 dollars, turns out I was more lucky than wise. Next thing I know I'm a member at FL and a 50 dollar vintage isn't so bad. Now I find myself buying more nice dockers pleated slacks than jeans, and more dress shoes than nike's to match my hat. All of a sudden Art posts a picture of a beautiful custom hat and I'm starting to say to myself, "275 dollars? That's not bad at all...".

Really what I think it comes down to is that when it becomes a true fashion trend, your going to see 3rd party hat makers that have never been seen before pop up. "Liz Claiborne Men's Fedora Collection" and the like. You'll start to see a lot of overly priced hats marketed to people (especially the younger crowd), and they will buy them not on quality but on the prestige of owning a $300 hat with a specific name brand like "The Gucci Collection". Eventually some of those trend followers will start looking for better quality and maybe do a little online searching. Some will learn and go for quality, others will be done with the trend and have an overpriced wool hat for sale on ebay 9 months after they bought it.

And on a last note you'll know when the trend will really have struck because MTV show hosts will be wearing them, not just because wal mart will be carrying them.

Sincerely,
Rob

 

[Legal Concepts]

I just checked walmart.com, they didn't show a fedora!

I've NEVER seen a fedora in a walmart! I've seen straw hats and the like, but I'll keep my eyes open, but I'm still gettting a Steston Sutley!

I'm sorry, but anything sylish, you just don't find it at walmart, I have to go to Sears or Penny's, after all Wal-mart is good for one thing, "sell for less"

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Target was also selling hats before christmas. And surprise, surprise, surprise, they're all still on the shelf - at vastly reduced prices. The only one i got was a cheap WWI aviator-type (think Biggles) hat. Cheap, and of course made in China of poor synthetic materials. Very warm, though!

My way in to the world of fedoras was a cheap as cr*p wool felt thing i got in Filene's basement about a year ago. It's a terrible hat, but i still wear it because a) it's really a decent looking hat - pretty classic style b) it's a cheap piece of cr*p that i don't mind getting rained/snowed on. I'm glad to see stores carrying cheap hats. Unfortunately we shouldn't get our hopes up: this is a fad, fads pass. We're still gonna be the weirdos with the hats in 6 months time when Federline and his ilk have moved on.

bk