German & Austrian Hutmachers

[Mario]

Wilke made some really nice hats back in the day. A few weeks ago, I got outbid on a black 'n beautiful stingy Wilke. I was shocked, to say the least... I was so sure that I was going to win it, but then the price rocketed skyward within the last two seconds. Someone really wanted that hat. He made it and left me stumped.

That's the one:

Mayserwegener: Thanks for all the infos on Wilke - that's some really nice find (again!)

 

[mayserwegener]

That is really an interesting source! I didi not know about this company, nor about the history of the fate of established pre war manufacturers in the GDR.

Shame, that even the museum did not make it in the end. ?

Might ge still existing, though. I found some notes on running exhibitions in the polish part of Guben´s town museum.

Here is another likn to a video of Guben hats. Click on the video with the top hat box

In the film it is mentioned that Mr. Wilke invented the production method for wool felt hats in the 19th century. That raises the question: were there wool felt hats before? Well, wool felt dates back almost to the stone age. High class hats in europe were made of beaver felt, until the beaver was almost extinct. Then hare and rabbit came in. So, it would be interesting to know, what exactly was the innovation in wool felt processing?

The other question would be production scale and quality.

Scale is answered. Their outturn reached up to around 1 million hats p.a. in the 30/40ies. Exports also went to the States, India, China ... .

With that scale and wool felts, I guess they were mainly aiming for the mass budget market. Maybe, I am wrong here, but it would need some real pieces for proof.

Thank you for the video link. Looks like there are some nice hats in the video. Based on the site content they also made hats out of fur felt. My guess is they also made hats of high quality especially up to WWII. The home page has a picture of actors (Marlene Dietrich and ?) wearing Wilke hats. The post WWII (this is my guess) hat that Mario posted doesn't look like wool to me and of high quality. I think it mentions water proofing being one of the wool innovations along with mass production methods.

It appears the museum was open until 2005. Must not have been enough visitors to keep it open. I assume the Wilke factory building that housed it is still there. I am thinking some of the pictures of old hat machines at the Bahner web site might be from this location.

I found an article (search hutmacher) about some hat people from Guben visiting TONAK back in 2007 so there is still a interest in hat production in Guben.

http://www.guben.de/pdfs/meldungen/080704_NE_08_13.pdf

Wilke made some really nice hats back in the day. A few weeks ago, I got outbid on a black 'n beautiful stingy Wilke. I was shocked, to say the least... I was so sure that I was going to win it, but then the price rocketed skyward within the last two seconds. Someone really wanted that hat. He made it and left me stumped.

That's the one:

Mayserwegener: Thanks for all the infos on Wilke - that's some really nice find (again!)

Great that you found one! Really sorry you didn't win it. Hopefully some more will surface. I guess this one was made during DDR times? I wonder if it was for the Soviet block or outside? The museum site mentioned 20% of their business was export out of the Soviet block.

 

[mayserwegener]

More Hückel

I am still working on the Hückel story. The Nový Jičín museum put me in contact with some one at TONAK. Hopefully I will hear something back.

In the mean time the Nový Jičín museum sent me pictures of Dr. Edvard Beneš (president of Czechoslovakia from 1945 to 1948) Hückel Special Homburg hat that was made in 1946 by TONAK.

As the Nový Jičín museum reported it is very similar (quality, construction, color, felt, ribbon, sweat ) to my (1938-45) Hückel Superior Fedora.

 

[Mario]

My oh my...every time I look at that Hückel Superior, it just leaves me gaping for breath! That raw edge blends in so well with the rest of the hat...I can't even imagine the same hat with a bound edge. It's so spot-on... What a beauty!

I have yet to find one single hat in a similar color in my size, wide brim or stingy. *sigh*

 

[mayserwegener]

Yes that one is my prize. I am actually reluctant to wear it at this point.

 

[Dreispitz]

Mayser

Here is the aleady mentioned Mayser. Very nice and thin black felt. Do note the brim binding and the ribbon bow! Recently there was a green Barbisio won on e..y posted by another member featuring a similar bow. The litle bow on the sweatband appears quite Stetsonish, like the whole design.

From the lable and the broadish high quality, thin sweatband, I would put it somewhere 50ies. It will need a bit of steem and cleaning the grease off the sweatband and some exposure to oxigen to repell the codgery odour

 

[Mario]

That black beauty...

I was bitterly disappointed when I found out that it was nowhere near my size... At least it went to a fellow lounger who really appreciates those Mayser hats. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

It's a rare beauty, too, with its tall, straight sided, slightly back-tilted crown..

 

[Dreispitz]

That black beauty...

I was bitterly disappointed when I found out that it was nowhere near my size... At least it went to a fellow lounger who really appreciates those Mayser hats. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

It's a rare beauty, too, with its tall, straight sided, slightly back-tilted crown..

Thank you, Mario!

Here is a picture after some brushing

 

[Mario]

Yes, that's good - keep 'em coming! Show us some more photos, please. I'd love to see one from the front and another one from the side...

I really love the binding and the stitching on the brim.

 

[mayserwegener]

Here is the aleady mentioned Mayser. Very nice and thin black felt. Do note the brim binding and the ribbon bow! Recently there was a green Barbisio won on e..y posted by another member featuring a similar bow. The litle bow on the sweatband appears quite Stetsonish, like the whole design.

From the lable and the broadish high quality, thin sweatband, I would put it somewhere 50ies. It will need a bit of steem and cleaning the grease off the sweatband and some exposure to oxigen to repell the codgery odour

I would say 1950s too. Very nice ribbon and binding treatment. This is the first Mayser I have seen available in this style. Rare win indeed!

 

[Mario]

This is the first Mayser I have seen available in this style. Rare win indeed!

That's the very reason why I first shed the odd tear over the hat...

 

[Mario]

A few weeks ago, there was a feature on German telly about Friedrich Nowottny (a very influential German journalist and TV intendant, very good man), and in a few scenes (late 50s/very early 60s) he sported a beautiful black Fedora very reminiscent of this Mayser.

 

[Dreispitz]

Right, here is another shot from another angle after further cleaning. Excuse the lettuce in the lower background

 

[mayserwegener]

Goldsiegal

This is a interesting one. I am thinking early 60s. The green velour felt is very lush and pliable. It has a high crown, wide brim, no taper with Trachten elements.

 

[Dreispitz]

"

This is a interesting one. I am thinking early 60s. The green velour felt is very lush and pliable. It has a high crown, wide brim, no taper with Trachten elements."

That, too, is a fine one. I like the Trachten/Open Road fusion! Something like Stetson goes Lederhosen! Hollereiduliööö!

Just checked on Goldsiegel. Nothing found, really. I found one record for 30/40ies Chapeau Claque. I´d put the hat 50ies.

 

[Mario]

That, too, is a fine one. I like the Trachten/Open Road fusion! Something like Stetson goes Lederhosen! Hollereiduliööö!

lol lol lol lol lol lol

Heh. Dreispitz is right, that Austro-German-American combo makes for a very special hat indeed. Nice one!

 

[mayserwegener]

Right, here is another shot from another angle after further cleaning. Excuse the lettuce in the lower background

Love this shot. I am also feeling some Italian.

 

[griffer]

BTW, not sure if it has been been mentioned, but Trachten is experiencing a resurgence in high end German/Austrian fashion under the guise of Landhausmode.

Think of it as the Deutsche equivalent of the Polo/Lauren Town & Country style- riding tack in Manhattan, embroidered silk dirndls in Berlin.

Zum Beispiel, sehen Sie hier.

 

[Mario]

Well...I dunno...me, I'm sitting right here in Berlin, but I have yet to come across any embroidered silk dirndls. Maybe I'm simply choosing the wrong hangouts...

There used to be a high-end Loden shop near my mother's place for almost all my life, but it closed down a few year ago. I guess at that time there was no Trachten/Loden resurgence in sight.

But that link ypu posted...that stuff is indeed zünftig!

BTW, not sure if it has been been mentioned, but Trachten is experiencing a resurgence in high end German/Austrian fashion under the guise of Landhausmode.

Think of it as the Deutsche equivalent of the Polo/Lauren Town & Country style- riding tack in Manhattan, embroidered silk dirndls in Berlin.

Zum Beispiel, sehen Sie hier.

 

[griffer]

Well...I dunno...me, I'm sitting right here in Berlin, but I have yet to come across any embroidered silk dirndls. Maybe I'm simply choosing the wrong hangouts...

There used to be a high-end Loden shop near my mother's place for almost all my life, but it closed down a few year ago. I guess at that time there was no Trachten/Loden resurgence in sight.

But that link ypu posted...that stuff is indeed zünftig!

I must defer.

My example was extreme, but I thought I saw and read articles about loden/tracht/landhaus elements in the cities.

But, it has been a couple years since I was in Berlin, and we prefer Austria, and areas like Bad Aussee, where all you SEE is Trachten.