Hats at Burlington Coat Factory

[Riposte3]

Hey Jake, can you post more shots of your hat? Looks great!

dean

I'll try and put some together tonight after work.

-Jake

 

[Vermifuge]

Yeah a quick search turned this up and this.

Now, i have a question about nutria fur. How prevalent is it in the hat industry and is there any benefit to using it other then it being extremely cheap? I know they are a rodent that can be very destructive to marshes, rivers, bayous, and ponds. I know they have been looking for years to find uses for nutria. They have been going so far as to sell the meat over seas. I hear it’s quite popular in Japan.

Can any one say if it in any way effects the quality of a hat that comes from mixed fur

 

[Vermifuge]

Actually, most, if not all, fur felt hats that come out of the Czech Repub. are made by a company named Tonak which, as far as I know, uses strictly hare and beaver to make their hats. My wife brought me a lovely Tonak back from Prague this past summer.

Nice looking hat! Enjoy.

I just wanted to clarify I wasn’t insinuating the hat was made from dog or cat fur. Just that BCF has been guilty of it in the passed. Some people may not want to do business with them on that fact alone. As far as the hat, I agree it’s a sharp looking hat and quite a deal.

Now can we find them at places other then BCF?

 

[Feraud]

I just wanted to clarify I wasn’t insinuating the hat was made from dog or cat fur. Just that BCF has been guilty of it in the passed. Some people may not want to do business with them on that fact alone. As far as the hat, I agree it’s a sharp looking hat and quite a deal.

Now can we find them at places other then BCF?

There is nothing wrong with pointing it out because BCF has apparently done this in the past. I would not do business with BCF knowing they were using dog or cat fur. I would assume the fur is a by-product of some god-awful meat producing process!

Thanks for the links!

 

[DOUGLAS]

Nicely done Dean no matter what animal it was harvested from

 

[RBH]

Great job DG !

You are becoming quite the hatter.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I have a pair of fur lined gloves from Burlington.

I swear it's rabbit fur!
I will have to check out their hats now, seeing as they have a decent hat for a decent price.
(Made out of rodents)

 

[Riposte3]

Hey Jake, can you post more shots of your hat? Looks great!

dean

Here they are! Enjoy!

Editing note: I'm not seeing the pics consistently, but the addresses are correct and the pics are on the server. If anyone else has problems seeing these let me know, and I'll try something else.

In the meantime, you can go here to see them.

-Jake

 

[deanglen]

Riposte3, thanks for the shots! Don't you love the classic look on a budget?This way you can save money for the big e-bay score. Vintage hats are the best, but these hats make great everyday wear.

dean

 

[feltfan]

Now, i have a question about nutria fur. How prevalent is it in the hat industry and is there any benefit to using it other then it being extremely cheap? I know they are a rodent that can be very destructive to marshes, rivers, bayous, and ponds. I know they have been looking for years to find uses for nutria. They have been going so far as to sell the meat over seas. I hear it’s quite popular in Japan.

Can any one say if it in any way effects the quality of a hat that comes from mixed fur

I posted a couple of vintage hats with nutria fur recently.
I find this felt to be strong, obedient, and attractive.
Don't know that nutria fur is cheap, though it may be
less expensive than beaver. It was certainly an advertised
feature of those old Stetson hats.

Here's a pure nutria vintage hat:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=12167

Here's a nutria blend hat:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=12126

I note that Optimo still uses nutria blend felt. Don't know
who else does. Of course the content of the felt is only one
indication of its quality.

I didn't try the nutria meat down in LA. I stuck to TurDucKen.

 

[Orgetorix]

I honestly don't want to stir up an argument or flame war, but I'm genuinely curious about this. I'm new here; if this has been discussed too many times before, just say so. Some folks have indicated squeamishness about buying from a retailer that sells items made with dog or cat fur. One person said he wouldn't want to promote "cruelty to animals." How is it cruel to kill a dog or a cat to use its fur in clothing or hats, but it's not cruel to do the same to rabbits, mink, beavers, nutria, etc.? (For the record, I'm not an animal-rights person, I think it's perfectly fine to use fur in clothing.) Maybe because I don't have dogs or cats for pets, I don't have the same sentimental reaction to the idea I might be wearing Rex or Fluffy on my head. I just don't see what the significant difference is between these.

offtopic I've also been wondering about the recent passage in Congress of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which prohibits the slaughter of horses for human consumption. Is there a substantive difference, aside from cultural prejudices, between consuming a horse and consuming a cow?

Somebody, please explain to me. I want to be sensitive to the sensibilities of my fellow human beings, but I'm confused.

 

[feltfan]

Some folks have indicated squeamishness about buying from a retailer that sells items made with dog or cat fur. One person said he wouldn't want to promote "cruelty to animals." How is it cruel to kill a dog or a cat to use its fur in clothing or hats, but it's not cruel to do the same to rabbits, mink, beavers, nutria, etc.?

offtopic I've also been wondering about the recent passage in Congress of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which prohibits the slaughter of horses for human consumption.

Short response: Dog and cat fur is not as good as
beaver/nutria/etc. Dogs and cats are smarter (and longer
lived) than the aforementioned rodents. Dogs and cats have
much richer emotional lives. Finally, the rodents are often
real problems to people and need to be thinned, at least from
our perspective.

Morally, you have to put your stake
somewhere or you end up like Orson Welles' character in
The Third Man (note the Golden Era reference).
You can say all animals are the same or that some
characteristics matter to you or not. I have had as a pet just
about every animal you can think of. Dogs in particular are substantially
different emotionally and that matters to me. There are also, of course,
the reports of unnecessary cruelty in harvesting that fur in some countries.
It's not just excess fur that would go to waste if not used.

As for the horses, I understand that to be a complex issue
and defer to those who know the details better than I.

 

[Feraud]

I think our attitude regarding fur or meat comes from our individual perspectives.
I appreciate beaver and rabbit fur hats but would despise a hat made from cat or dog. Having owned them as pets makes me feel like this. Had I grown up with a beaver as a pet I might feel differently about using their fur for decoration.
If that makes me a hypocrite in anyones eyes I can live with it.

 

[Vermifuge]

I posted a couple of vintage hats with nutria fur recently.
I find this felt to be strong, obedient, and attractive.
Don't know that nutria fur is cheap, though it may be
less expensive than beaver. It was certainly an advertised
feature of those old Stetson hats.

Here's a pure nutria vintage hat:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=12167

Here's a nutria blend hat:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=12126

I note that Optimo still uses nutria blend felt. Don't know
who else does. Of course the content of the felt is only one
indication of its quality.

I didn't try the nutria meat down in LA. I stuck to TurDucKen.

In Louisiana the nutria population is devastating marshes and wet lands. There is currently a bounty on all nutria of $5 a tail. Think about that. Individuals get $5 for every nutria tail they turn in. that leaves the rest of the animal for the trapper to do with as he wishes.

As I stated the meat is sold over seas and its fur I us used in the making of hats. I can’t imagine nutria fur fetches a premium. I would assume it’s virtually ‘free’ as the rodents tail probably coved the trapping costs 10 fold to begin with.

 

[feltfan]

I suspect most of that wild nutria is not used for fur.
Nice if it were. But who is actively buying the skins
and making fur for felt from it? Probably they hit the
trash heap or are left in the swamp or are discarded
by the butcher. Looks like a niche for an enterprising Lounger.

Remember that in the days of the vintage hats, nutria was
expensive- imported from Venezuela. Until some clever fellow
decided to farm them in Louisiana. Reportedly it was the
family that owned Tabasco and supposedly they got free
off an island during a hurricane. So now they are a pest.

 

[Vermifuge]

I suspect most of that wild nutria is not used for fur.
Nice if it were. But who is actively buying the skins
and making fur for felt from it? Probably they hit the
trash heap or are left in the swamp or are discarded
by the butcher. Looks like a niche for an enterprising Lounger.

Remember that in the days of the vintage hats, nutria was
expensive- imported from Venezuela. Until some clever fellow
decided to farm them in Louisiana. Reportedly it was the
family that owned Tabasco and supposedly they got free
off an island during a hurricane. So now they are a pest.

it reached a peak in the 80s at almost $9 a pelt. but it crashed along with the rest of the fur industry.

 

[deanglen]

Found this site, from the names mentioned in this thread. Interesting. Probably wholesale only.

http://www.tonak.cz/ang/tonak.html

dean

 

[Orgetorix]

My first hat

I just picked up a tan hat ($35) at Burlington Coat Factory for my first foray into fedoras, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased. I didn't want to spend a lot on my first hat, and I haven't had good luck with eBay. So when I saw deanglen's post about his BCF hat, I thought it might be perfect for me.

The bash wasn't pretty and the ribbon was wrinkled from sitting on the shelf with other hats, but applying a good bit of steam fixed those problems. I put a c-crown bash in it, and I think it looks pretty nice. It's 100% fur felt, has a fake leather sweatband and a satin (probably synthetic) lining, and is marked "H?ºckel Quality Hat" inside.

I have to say I'm pretty excited about it. I kept looking at the hat sitting on my dresser in my bedroom all night, and I enjoyed wearing it on my commute this morning. I'll try to dig out my digital camera and post some pictures later.

 

[deanglen]

I saw those at Burlington and tried one on. I was about to buy it but I saw the grey one at half the cost. Glad you gave it a try! Can't wait to see your pics!

dean

 

[Orgetorix]

I saw those at Burlington and tried one on. I was about to buy it but I saw the grey one at half the cost.

I actually would prefer a grey hat, but they only had a couple that weren't quite a shade I liked--grey with sort of a fish-green tint. Reminds me of a car my Dad used to have, and I never liked the color of the car, either.