How popular is the fedora in 2011? Are hats seeing a resurgance finally?

[FedoraFan112390]

What do you think?

 

[fmw]

I think there is a very slight increase in interest in felt hats in general. Very slight. The baseball cap still reigns supreme for some inexplicable reason.

 

[facade]

Speaking as a daily fedora wearer in the NYC area, the news of the resurgence has been greatly exaggerated. Until dress hats reach the mainstream there will be no resurgence.

 

[martinsantos]

We can find more people using hats than 10 years ago - everyday I see 2 or 3 guys with fedoras. But is impossible to say this is a "resurgence" of hats. Here, at least, hats are strongely associated with old men.

 

[scottyrocks]

I think there is a very slight increase in interest in felt hats in general. Very slight. The baseball cap still reigns supreme for some inexplicable reason.

Oh, its explicable. Theyre comfortable. Theyre cheap. Theyre disposable. They say 'meaningful' things on them. Everyone wears them. Therefore, everyone wears them.

Every baseball cap is not the same, much like fedoras. They vary in quality of construction, materials, and style of construction. When I was wearing them, I didnt wear just any old cap. It had to have one of two very specific styles, and made a certain way with certain materials. Same thing, for me, for fedoras.

 

[scottyrocks]

Speaking as a daily fedora wearer in the NYC area, the news of the resurgence has been greatly exaggerated. Until dress hats reach the mainstream there will be no resurgence.

Thats for sure. Although the locals where I frequent, both at home and at work have gotten used to me, there is virtually no one else wearing a fedora. In the neighborhood of my work environment is the only place I'll see one very occasionally.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

I do my part by wearing mine an showing men that hats are cool. Many wife's will point me out an say wow love your hat the seed is then planted. Being different is hard to do an it take effort to break the ball cap habit. Let's face it finding Fedora's in today world takes effort.

 

[Alex]

Same here, scotty. Old men wearing cheap wool fedoras is all I see in my town, if any.

 

[facade]

Oh, its explicable. Theyre comfortable. Theyre cheap. Theyre disposable. They say 'meaningful' things on them. Everyone wears them. Therefore, everyone wears them.

Every baseball cap is not the same, much like fedoras. They vary in quality of construction, materials, and style of construction. When I was wearing them, I didnt wear just any old cap. It had to have one of two very specific styles, and made a certain way with certain materials. Same thing, for me, for fedoras.

They are also a perfect product. They appeal to men of nearly every age. They require no skilled artisans or fashion designers to create. They don't require expensive materials or the killing of animals. The customer generally has a limited expectation of quality and they match the style of dress (sloppy) of the vast majority of America.

Since people no longer dress as a rule, there is really limited appeal to dress hats. To make the dress hat mainstream again would require a cultural shift. Unless such a cultural shift happens, hat manufacturers are never going to get behind dress hats in a big way, so there will never be a resurgence. To push the dress hat requires losing customers of the baseball cap. 'Wear a man's hat instead of a child's beanie with a brim'; even if they don't overtly say that, its inherint in the message. Pushing fedoras would be risking the golden goose.

 

[fenris]

Over here where I live, hats are sloooowwwllly becoming the trend... the hipster trend - meaning stingy brims and non-felt fedoras (straw, synthetic materials, etc). I have yet to see a local wearing a wide-brimmed fedora.

Apparently the only wide-brimmed hats over here are either cowboy hats or outback-style hats... and not many people actually wear those.

I live in a tropical country; we don't even have any hats being sold here that are fur felt. Also, I think the highest price anybody here would pay for a hat is only around $20... why bother importing any fur felt hats, right?

But there is one store that sells felt hats - and that's wool felt, not fur felt - and most of their wares are cowboy hats... they did have the DP Indy hat before (which I almost bought). Imagine, that's the only store that's even close to selling REAL hats. Also, the hats they sell are overpriced. Can you even imagine buying the wool DP Indy fedora for almost $60??? Yep! That's how they price those hats over here. Well, they did run out of all the Indy fedoras so someone must be buying them.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

They are also a perfect product. They appeal to men of nearly every age. They require no skilled artisans or fashion designers to create.

http://http://www.strictlyfitteds.com/blog/

Great fitted list require a lot of skilled artisans and designers.

 

[DJH]

Very rare to see fedoras in my area (south NH, north MA) so it is nice to see an occasional one. A week or so ago I was working my bridal show booth and a father of bride was wearing a fedora that he said was a Pendleton.

Actually, the next hat I buy is going to be a black Phillies baseball cap. To add insult to injury, I'll be wearing it backwards a lot of the time too Hats with brims are hard to wear when using cameras.

 

[Fletch]

I'd say they're reaching marginal acceptability - they're beginning to lose their outgroup connotations but they're not yet common.

To hop on my pop music hobbyhorse, it's like hearing a 1930s recording in a tv spot - it's okay to do now, but not quite a trend.

This, I think, is a good thing...

 

[FedoraFan112390]

I think within the next decade or so they're going to become more and more common.
I know a lot of men--from my age (20) to their 30s who at the very least have a fedora, non-ironically, and some who even wear them at least sometimes.
For whatever reason, my generation has begun to embrace fedoras.

 

[casechopper]

You might want to look into berets or flatcaps. You can still get a very stylish look without the brim of your hat getting in the way. There's a photographer selling berets herehttp://home.avvanta.com/~rgphoto/2004/basqueberet.htm An 11" or 12" would really be perfect for camera work.

Very rare to see fedoras in my area (south NH, north MA) so it is nice to see an occasional one. A week or so ago I was working my bridal show booth and a father of bride was wearing a fedora that he said was a Pendleton.

Actually, the next hat I buy is going to be a black Phillies baseball cap. To add insult to injury, I'll be wearing it backwards a lot of the time too Hats with brims are hard to wear when using cameras.

 

[kaosharper1]

I've seen more, but its hard to call it a resurgence. On the bright side I have several of my friends who are now expressing real interest in wearing one but they haven't gotten the guts up to do it yet. But I'm hopeful.

 

[facade]

http://http://www.strictlyfitteds.com/blog/

Great fitted list require a lot of skilled artisans and designers.

Crafting a baseball cap does not require a skilled hatter, just some cheap labor in a foreign country. While baseball caps do come in a number of variations, they are not subject to the level of constant reinvention that fashionable pieces are and the decorations for the vast majority of baseball hats are licensed from third parties. Therefore the baseball hat manufacturer doesn't really require such a skilled workforce as would be required with dress hats.

 

[Engrishman]

Over here where I live, hats are sloooowwwllly becoming the trend... the hipster trend - meaning stingy brims and non-felt fedoras (straw, synthetic materials, etc). I have yet to see a local wearing a wide-brimmed fedora.

Apparently the only wide-brimmed hats over here are either cowboy hats or outback-style hats... and not many people actually wear those.

I live in a tropical country; we don't even have any hats being sold here that are fur felt. Also, I think the highest price anybody here would pay for a hat is only around $20... why bother importing any fur felt hats, right?

But there is one store that sells felt hats - and that's wool felt, not fur felt - and most of their wares are cowboy hats... they did have the DP Indy hat before (which I almost bought). Imagine, that's the only store that's even close to selling REAL hats. Also, the hats they sell are overpriced. Can you even imagine buying the wool DP Indy fedora for almost $60??? Yep! That's how they price those hats over here. Well, they did run out of all the Indy fedoras so someone must be buying them.

The Philippines, in general, never really had a history wearing the fedora. Two reasons: Heat and Rain. And not necessarily apart. I mean, when the mark of high fashion is a translucent garment woven from the fibres of a pineapple leaf (barong tagalog, I'm looking at you), it's not hard to see why felt hats of any kind would be shunned.

Hot, moist summers under a felt fedora and not only will you feel like collapsing into a puddle, all your hair will fall out. Monsoon-class rainy seasons during "winter" and your fur felt will soak through and warp like mad once the torrential rain stops. That, and the lack of the other two seasons... well, that's tropical countries for you.

The last time hats (and stupidly hot overcoats) were fashionable in the Philippines has to date back to the colonial era, when the mestizos who went to Spain for Universidad brought back the top hats with them. Then the revolution happened. You can see some of the national heroes, like Rizal, holding a top hat, but they seem to vanish off the face of the islands relatively quickly.

The ONLY "dressy" hats I can see being practical in the Philippines would be the Panama or Milan. Or some other variation of a thin, breathable, woven straw. And only during summer, or during sparse sunny days during the rainy season. The problem is that that currency in the archipelago is relatively weak, and a nice Panama would either cost a small fortune or your firstborn sold into slavery.

I do have a wide-brimmed panama for that very purpose, though. PB is a life saver when it comes to nicely-discounted hats to take on trips to developing tropical nations.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

You need to spend some time looking at the site I posted ball caps at this level are not cheap many cost 75 dollars an up. With many special liners and color ways. It's not a market that the average hat person knows about much like the Fedora market. I know because I work with young guys who wear the caps and the dig my Fedoras too.

 

[Tiller]

Also, I think the highest price anybody here would pay for a hat is only around $20... why bother importing any fur felt hats, right?

I think this is the story generally everywhere. Is the fedora seeing a resurgence? Undoubtedly if by fedora you mean the cheap style that are found in Wal-Marts, Target, and other such stores then the answer is yes. It's no big insult really to the people who wear them, since such places are where most people are going to buy said hats.

As far as what many here would consider a "proper" fedora, the market it smaller. Half the reason it's smaller is simply a matter of cost. Besides people who are set financially, or who are single with no dependents, who is going to spend well over $100 dollars, (any many of us are spending $300, $400, and $500 and up on a custom hats) on something that is essentially a clothing accessory? I have a friend who enjoys hats, but who doesn't have anything above a nice wool hat that he bought at an outdoor supply shop. Why? He is 28 years old and has a wife and four kids to feed.

A ball cap cost what? Somewhere between $10- $40 bucks on average depending where you buy it, and what emblem is on the front. Is it really surprising that more people buy them? Is it surprising that the fedora hats that are king right now tend to be made of polyester, or paper straw?

Is the fedora hat coming back? Yes! Is the higher end coming back? Yes it is. But as long as the cultural tendency is to buy cheaper inferior products the can easily be replaced, the polyester "punk" fedora will be king, and the fur felt fedora will be the dominion of the collector, and enthusiast.

With all that said though I will say that I know quit a few people my age who are interested in hats in general. Of these I'd say maybe 25% have a proper fur felt hat, but they wear it sparingly for a simple reason. It's their good hat.

Around here the wool felt hunting hat is the dominate hat outside the ball cap. In fact my father and I where members of a hunting club known as "the Felt Hat Club", which was founded by my Grandfather and a few of his friends (sadly it ended simply because most of the members got long in years).

Hat's like this are common here, especially around hunting season. I'm guessing the cost is somewhere between $30-$60 bucks in most places.