Lock & Co.

[belfastboy]

Hello,

I recently signed up to this site and today had the good fortune to find a nice old hat in a charity shop here in Inverness, Scotland.

I’m just wondering if anyone is able to identify what kind it is? I’m a total newbie and don’t even know if it’s a fedora or a trilby or if it’s a women’s hat or what!
I’ve uploaded some photos to a hosting site.

https://imgur.com/a/nP4PKwa

One thing I’d didn’t take a photo of, the leather sweat band inside was broken and on the inside was a handwritten date of 30/1/68 so I assume it dates from then.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

It looks to be fun casual hat that I would call a Trilby. The demarcation between a Fedora and a Trilby usually sits at the 2" width for the brim. 2" and under is a Trilby over 2" it becomes a Fedora but that is open for discussion or argument. Having a leather sweat is a good sign of better quality as it is hard to say if the hat is felt or wool. Lock & Co is a quality maker that I am not real familiar with so not sure if they made wool hats. I am sure others will chime in with an opinion. If you like the hat then wear it and have fun with it.
PS Benromach is my favourite whisky distillery of the moment.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Hello,

I recently signed up to this site and today had the good fortune to find a nice old hat in a charity shop here in Inverness, Scotland.

I’m just wondering if anyone is able to identify what kind it is? I’m a total newbie and don’t even know if it’s a fedora or a trilby or if it’s a women’s hat or what!
I’ve uploaded some photos to a hosting site.

https://imgur.com/a/nP4PKwa

One thing I’d didn’t take a photo of, the leather sweat band inside was broken and on the inside was a handwritten date of 30/1/68 so I assume it dates from then.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Interesting hat. The self felt band is common, but its form of being doubled back on itself is unusual (to me). The tag makes me wonder if it’s a blend of fibers (wools, furs, or a combination). It’s definitely a casual hat, and you wouldn’t be wrong calling it a fedora or a trilby. My understanding is that the use of the word “fedora” wasn’t common in the UK until relatively recently. The maker is well-known and has made hats in a wide quality range. Typically, women’s’ hat will have the “bow” over the right ear and mens’ will have it over the left. If it fits and you like it there’s nothing wrong with it.

Welcome to The Fedora Lounge!

 

[CurlyJames]

Thank you both for your replies. I very much like the ethos of “if you like it, wear it”! Luckily this fits perfectly.

Thanks deadlyhandsome for the info regarding which side the bow is on being different for men’s and women’s hats.

Belfastboy 59 - I haven’t yet tried any of the Benromach yet. We’re spoiled for choice around here!

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Hello,

I recently signed up to this site and today had the good fortune to find a nice old hat in a charity shop here in Inverness, Scotland.

I’m just wondering if anyone is able to identify what kind it is? I’m a total newbie and don’t even know if it’s a fedora or a trilby or if it’s a women’s hat or what!
I’ve uploaded some photos to a hosting site.

https://imgur.com/a/nP4PKwa

One thing I’d didn’t take a photo of, the leather sweat band inside was broken and on the inside was a handwritten date of 30/1/68 so I assume it dates from then.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Yes it's a trilby. It wouldn't be surprising that it dates from the 60's as they became very popular in the UK after Sean Connery wore one in a couple of early Bonds. His was a Lock & Co. too.

They still offer a similar model...https://www.lockhatters.co.uk/sandown-trilby.html

 

[belfastboy]

Thank you both for your replies. I very much like the ethos of “if you like it, wear it”! Luckily this fits perfectly.

Thanks deadlyhandsome for the info regarding which side the bow is on being different for men’s and women’s hats.

Belfastboy 59 - I haven’t yet tried any of the Benromach yet. We’re spoiled for choice around here!

Just down the road outside Elgin. Well worth a visit. Their 15 yr old just won a medal of some sort...it is definitely good stuff.

 

[rharlow]

If any Lock and Co. fans out there are still reading this thread, you might be interested to know they are offering free shipping at the moment, on account of the store being closed due to the pandemic. For US customers, this works out to a pretty nice discount. I know their felt hats don't get much love on this thread, but I think their caps are great (I have their goatskin Tremelo cap, fantastic!). I'm kind of eyeing their hemp trilby for a summer hat. I like the size/shape/color/ribbon better than any others I've seen (such as Stetson), though this is priced higher. Anyway, not sure how long the free shipping opportunity will last (many other UK menswear shops have temporarily closed their online stores altogether, so Lock may follow soon)

 

[michael78]

Just discovered this thread for Lock & Co, so i thought i post this hat, not sure of date but, it came from and old estate clearance, sell said it was 1930s?...any thoughts appreciated ...PS, the Felt is very Thick.

Mike

 

[Salmosalar]

Three new Locks….

 

[steur]

Just discovered this thread for Lock & Co, so i thought i post this hat, not sure of date but, it came from and old estate clearance, sell said it was 1930s?...any thoughts appreciated ...PS, the Felt is very Thick.

Mike
View attachment 351800
View attachment 351801
View attachment 351802
View attachment 351804 View attachment 351805 View attachment 351806

Nice find, Mike. Hard to tell the age of these hats, since Lock didn't change their sweatbands, labels or liners over the years. So it's anyone's guess really.

 

[steur]

Three new Locks…. View attachment 351920

Very nice. I really like the look and colour of that homburg.

 

[steur]

I've been somewhat critical of Lock&Co hats over the years. I've haven't handled very many of them, but the overall impression I got from them that they were decent enough hats, but not of a quality to warrant the price asked for them. Having a shop for a few hundred years in one of London's most expensive neighbourhoods does come at a premium of course and that's reflected in their prices. They do seem to put emphasis on being the oldest hat shop in the world and not about the quality of the hats, we know what we're doing, don't we? It also may have to do with them outsourcing their hats, I believe mainly from Christy's, who are certainly not the best English manufacturer.
Enter this hat and I need to reconsider my opinion of Lock&Co hats. First the hat.
Lock&Co fedora in grey, called French Grey on the label with a contrasting thin ribbon in black, which is unusual for English hats, which are more commonly adorned with mid-ribbon or wide ribbons. Size 7 (57) with the raw edge brim at 5,7cm and the crown at 11 cm at the center dent. Wonderful hand to the felt and very lightweight at just 84 grams. The crown patch has a plastic covering, so probably post-war.

I'm thinking late forties or early fifties. By the mid-fifties the English hat-industry was already in trouble, mainly due to supply problems (cuased by myxomatosis) and by the mid-sixties it was all but gone. In the years between they struggled to maintain quality. This however is an excellent hat and by far the best Lock&Co I've handled. This one is certainly on par with what I consider the better English manufacturers: Woodrow, Battersby, T&W Lees, Scott&Co and Failsworth. I photographed it brim snapped down, but it works equally well brim up and may have been designed that way actually. A nice bonus, because I bought it for the Borsalino hat box it came in.

 

[Edward]

Three new Locks…. View attachment 351920

I like that Homberg particularly; a very easy style to find lovely vintage examples of all day if you want black or grey. Any other colour...

Nice find, Mike. Hard to tell the age of these hats, since Lock didn't change their sweatbands, labels or liners over the years. So it's anyone's guess really.

Indeed. The thing about Lock is that they cater for the most part to a very specific market as their primary target market: royals, the upper classes, and the likes. A world where people don't dress vintage specifically, but where many of their clothes and cuts haven't changed markedly since 1960. These are not "vintage hats" being revived for today by people like us, but rather a business supply to a customer that never went away. Think Morgan still making cars that look like they're from the 30s rather than a 1930s car restorer and you're close to the mark.

I've been somewhat critical of Lock&Co hats over the years. I've haven't handled very many of them, but the overall impression I got from them that they were decent enough hats, but not of a quality to warrant the price asked for them. Having a shop for a few hundred years in one of London's most expensive neighbourhoods does come at a premium of course and that's reflected in their prices. They do seem to put emphasis on being the oldest hat shop in the world and not about the quality of the hats, we know what we're doing, don't we? It also may have to do with them outsourcing their hats, I believe mainly from Christy's, who are certainly not the best English manufacturer.
Enter this hat and I need to reconsider my opinion of Lock&Co hats. First the hat.
Lock&Co fedora in grey, called French Grey on the label with a contrasting thin ribbon in black, which is unusual for English hats, which are more commonly adorned with mid-ribbon or wide ribbons. Size 7 (57) with the raw edge brim at 5,7cm and the crown at 11 cm at the center dent. Wonderful hand to the felt and very lightweight at just 84 grams. The crown patch has a plastic covering, so probably post-war.

View attachment 353708 View attachment 353709 View attachment 353710 View attachment 353711 View attachment 353712 View attachment 353713 View attachment 353714 View attachment 353715 View attachment 353716 View attachment 353717

I'm thinking late forties or early fifties. By the mid-fifties the English hat-industry was already in trouble, mainly due to supply problems (cuased by myxomatosis) and by the mid-sixties it was all but gone. In the years between they struggled to maintain quality. This however is an excellent hat and by far the best Lock&Co I've handled. This one is certainly on par with what I consider the better English manufacturers: Woodrow, Battersby, T&W Lees, Scott&Co and Failsworth. I photographed it brim snapped down, but it works equally well brim up and may have been designed that way actually. A nice bonus, because I bought it for the Borsalino hat box it came in.

The "hatless" trend in the UK really started in earnest in the thirties, so I'd say you're about right there. Locks have survived where many have gone under because they are playing to a very specific market in the main, people who never followed the "modern world" out of hat wearing...

My experience is that Locks are indeed expensive - Bates are reliably £100 or more less expensive on comparable hats, and they're not cheap either. Part of this is brand, no doubt. They are, of course, also both based (especially Lock) in one of the most expensive places in the world to operate a bricks and mortar store. Many of Lock's core customers especially will fall into the bracket of never having needed to ask a price. (With both Lock and Bates, I've seen people walk away from their stalls at Goodwood revival with two or three boxes of impulse buys. Well heeled crowd, there...) What they do offer over and above many other options in the UK is range of choice. Outside those two, I don't recall seeing a new, furfelt homberg in anything other than black or grey. There's also the service as an intanglibe people are paying for. A friend found a lovely vintage, brown furfelt Lock's bowler on ebay. Dropped in one day with some questions, and they not only reconformed it to fit his head, but declined to take any payment for same as it was a hat that had originally been bought from them. Those sort of intangibles often are associated with the big money....

If I was buying a new furfelt from either Lock or Bates, I would do my homework first; I did once look at a line Bates were doing that I was 99% certain were basically rebadged Christys - in which case, I'd buy the Christys, TBH. (Christies occasionally get a bad rap which I've always found to be wholly unfair). By no means are either of them bad, they're fantastic new hats, though all of us will have our own point at which we will decide the upcharge isn't worth it. Nevertheless, I'm still glad there are people out there who are spending the big money with them. Even if I never do or can't ever afford them, much like Savile Row tailors it's still a positive that they're still there.

 

[michael78]

I've been somewhat critical of Lock&Co hats over the years. I've haven't handled very many of them, but the overall impression I got from them that they were decent enough hats, but not of a quality to warrant the price asked for them. Having a shop for a few hundred years in one of London's most expensive neighbourhoods does come at a premium of course and that's reflected in their prices. They do seem to put emphasis on being the oldest hat shop in the world and not about the quality of the hats, we know what we're doing, don't we? It also may have to do with them outsourcing their hats, I believe mainly from Christy's, who are certainly not the best English manufacturer.
Enter this hat and I need to reconsider my opinion of Lock&Co hats. First the hat.
Lock&Co fedora in grey, called French Grey on the label with a contrasting thin ribbon in black, which is unusual for English hats, which are more commonly adorned with mid-ribbon or wide ribbons. Size 7 (57) with the raw edge brim at 5,7cm and the crown at 11 cm at the center dent. Wonderful hand to the felt and very lightweight at just 84 grams. The crown patch has a plastic covering, so probably post-war.

View attachment 353708 View attachment 353709 View attachment 353710 View attachment 353711 View attachment 353712 View attachment 353713 View attachment 353714 View attachment 353715 View attachment 353716 View attachment 353717

I'm thinking late forties or early fifties. By the mid-fifties the English hat-industry was already in trouble, mainly due to supply problems (cuased by myxomatosis) and by the mid-sixties it was all but gone. In the years between they struggled to maintain quality. This however is an excellent hat and by far the best Lock&Co I've handled. This one is certainly on par with what I consider the better English manufacturers: Woodrow, Battersby, T&W Lees, Scott&Co and Failsworth. I photographed it brim snapped down, but it works equally well brim up and may have been designed that way actually. A nice bonus, because I bought it for the Borsalino hat box it came in.

Hi mate, you've got some beltin!! hats mate!

 

[Maurizio]

Hello everybody.

I signed up on this interesting forum to share my Lock customer experience of this easter with you.

I had been dreaming of buying a bowler hat from Lock for years, and I often consulted their website. During a consultation I notice that the old price of 385 pounds - already very high - is suddenly updated to 445 pounds after the pandemic lockdown. I write an email of protest, saying that I intended to buy one but I was afraid for this increase. A courteous lady replies, saying that she would have kept the old price exceptionally for me.

Very kind, then.

I finally arrive in London and immediatelly I went at the shop. I thought I would be served by an elderly and experienced male salesman, typically British and gifted with humor. Instead I am served by a young saleswoman, very nice and kind, but not what I wanted. I tell her that I want to buy a bowler hat, she measures me with the conformateur, she goes to the laboratory and after many noises of hammers she comes out with a bowler hat perfectly adapted to my head. Good.

I ask her to stamp the initials of my name and surname inside, but she tells me that the special machine is broken and she doesn't know if it will ever be fixed. My perplexity increases ...

I go back to the hotel and what do I notice? An internal label where the color of my bowler hat - black - is indicated as NEGRO. That is, in Spanish. From which it can be deduced reasonably that not only soft hats are produced on behalf of Lock abroad, as told in the previous pages of this forum, but also bowler hats are imported!!!

Not only that: upon careful examination, the workmanship is decidedly inferior to expectations: the inner lining is a thin veil without curls, and the leather strip is actually made of a fake leather or another plastic material.

I give you another element to judge.

In 2008 I bought a smoking cap from them by mail order, paying 185 pounds for it (now it costs 345 pounds, almost double ...). After 13 years of honorable service it was in need of a restoration - there is a seam on one side, and the tassel is very badly damaged - so I brought it to them showing the receipt I still have and hoping to take advantage of their famous customer service (in my immagination, free...). The kind saleswoman takes my smoking cap, disappears for a couple of minutes and comes back saying that they would contact me by phone to tell me if they could do the restoration or not.

13 days go by without receiving any phone calls, and I have to go back to my country. The day before leaving London, I pass by their shop again, speak again with the saleswoman and she tells me to wait a little longer.

On the twentieth day after my first visit, they write to me an email to bring them the smoking cap, and that the replacement of the tassel costs 40 pounds (!!!). This means two things: 1) they probably do not have an internal laboratory even for the restoration of the hats, if they had had one they would have answered me earlier; 2) now I am thousands of kilometers away, considering that the return shipment from London to Europe alone costs - as indicated on their website - 35 pounds, I replied saying that I am giving up the restoration for now.

I'm going to conclude.

I am happy with the experience I had, I was dreaming of a Lock bowler hat and now I own one. The salespersons are kind, and they do their job with care. But at the source there is a company policy that has the sole objective of making money, now at the total expense of the quality and origin of the product, even of the typical one, such as a hard hat. The glorious history, the heritage of the Lock company is now in my humble opinion only a means of attracting wealthy customers who seek the brand, not the quality of the product.

And all this is a real shame.

Thank you for your attention, and please apologize me for my not good english.

 

[Edward]

From your description of the hat you bought's innards, it sounds like you've bought the Town Coke rather than the Extra-Firm Coke (both listed as same price on the website). The website lists them all as having "leather" bands, could it just be unusually shiny rather than pleather? That would seem a big mistake.

It would be interesting to know where the manufacture happens. The UK hat industry is very much not what it was; hats are still made here, but from bodies imported; it's possible your hat was partly made abroad and finished here. Hard to know if they don't say, though. The EU is slowly moving towards more distinct origin labelling as a legal standard, but the UK won't necessarily follow that post-Brexit (save where the EU is a significant target market, of course).

With the smoking cap repairs, relevant to the price of a new one, £40 doesn't sound bad; I'd have been surprise to be honest if they'd done that level of work for free. (Though it would go a long way to justify some of their prices!)

Pursuant to the discussion above re the specifics of a true bowler, I note with interest Locks' website also offers a "Soft Town Coke". An obvious line of evolution from the point where the hat shifted from preserve of the country set to a city gentleman's wardrobe, perhaps, but nonetheless to my mind significant that it is being offered as a premium (if *slightly* cheaper) product by the originators of the bowler.

 

[steur]

I like that Homberg particularly; a very easy style to find lovely vintage examples of all day if you want black or grey. Any other colour...



Indeed. The thing about Lock is that they cater for the most part to a very specific market as their primary target market: royals, the upper classes, and the likes. A world where people don't dress vintage specifically, but where many of their clothes and cuts haven't changed markedly since 1960. These are not "vintage hats" being revived for today by people like us, but rather a business supply to a customer that never went away. Think Morgan still making cars that look like they're from the 30s rather than a 1930s car restorer and you're close to the mark.



The "hatless" trend in the UK really started in earnest in the thirties, so I'd say you're about right there. Locks have survived where many have gone under because they are playing to a very specific market in the main, people who never followed the "modern world" out of hat wearing...

My experience is that Locks are indeed expensive - Bates are reliably £100 or more less expensive on comparable hats, and they're not cheap either. Part of this is brand, no doubt. They are, of course, also both based (especially Lock) in one of the most expensive places in the world to operate a bricks and mortar store. Many of Lock's core customers especially will fall into the bracket of never having needed to ask a price. (With both Lock and Bates, I've seen people walk away from their stalls at Goodwood revival with two or three boxes of impulse buys. Well heeled crowd, there...) What they do offer over and above many other options in the UK is range of choice. Outside those two, I don't recall seeing a new, furfelt homberg in anything other than black or grey. There's also the service as an intanglibe people are paying for. A friend found a lovely vintage, brown furfelt Lock's bowler on ebay. Dropped in one day with some questions, and they not only reconformed it to fit his head, but declined to take any payment for same as it was a hat that had originally been bought from them. Those sort of intangibles often are associated with the big money....

If I was buying a new furfelt from either Lock or Bates, I would do my homework first; I did once look at a line Bates were doing that I was 99% certain were basically rebadged Christys - in which case, I'd buy the Christys, TBH. (Christies occasionally get a bad rap which I've always found to be wholly unfair). By no means are either of them bad, they're fantastic new hats, though all of us will have our own point at which we will decide the upcharge isn't worth it. Nevertheless, I'm still glad there are people out there who are spending the big money with them. Even if I never do or can't ever afford them, much like Savile Row tailors it's still a positive that they're still there.

Very true, Edward. My visit to Lock's was a bit of a pilgrimage of sorts and it is a treat to still be able to visit a shop that has been around since the 18th century. And I do understand that having a shop in that area comes at a premium and their usual clients don't care much about whatever the price of the hat is. It would be nice though if all that history, tradition and knowledge was still reflected in the quality of their hats and they would be readily forgiven for the premium asking prices. If all the hats they sold were still the quality of this last one I found, I would sing their praise as the last bastion of fantastic English hatmanufacture, even if they have been sourcing their hats, including the bowler they're famous for, from other manufacturers for a long time. It is indeed wonderful they're still there, like the Savile Row tailors you mentioned, but then again you wouldn't expect to get an off the rack suit for the price of a bespoke from any of them.

Hi mate, you've got some beltin!! hats mate!

Thank you, Mike.

Hello everybody.

I signed up on this interesting forum to share my Lock customer experience of this easter with you.

I had been dreaming of buying a bowler hat from Lock for years, and I often consulted their website. During a consultation I notice that the old price of 385 pounds - already very high - is suddenly updated to 445 pounds after the pandemic lockdown. I write an email of protest, saying that I intended to buy one but I was afraid for this increase. A courteous lady replies, saying that she would have kept the old price exceptionally for me.

Very kind, then.

I finally arrive in London and immediatelly I went at the shop. I thought I would be served by an elderly and experienced male salesman, typically British and gifted with humor. Instead I am served by a young saleswoman, very nice and kind, but not what I wanted. I tell her that I want to buy a bowler hat, she measures me with the conformateur, she goes to the laboratory and after many noises of hammers she comes out with a bowler hat perfectly adapted to my head. Good.

I ask her to stamp the initials of my name and surname inside, but she tells me that the special machine is broken and she doesn't know if it will ever be fixed. My perplexity increases ...

I go back to the hotel and what do I notice? An internal label where the color of my bowler hat - black - is indicated as NEGRO. That is, in Spanish. From which it can be deduced reasonably that not only soft hats are produced on behalf of Lock abroad, as told in the previous pages of this forum, but also bowler hats are imported!!!

Not only that: upon careful examination, the workmanship is decidedly inferior to expectations: the inner lining is a thin veil without curls, and the leather strip is actually made of a fake leather or another plastic material.

I give you another element to judge.

In 2008 I bought a smoking cap from them by mail order, paying 185 pounds for it (now it costs 345 pounds, almost double ...). After 13 years of honorable service it was in need of a restoration - there is a seam on one side, and the tassel is very badly damaged - so I brought it to them showing the receipt I still have and hoping to take advantage of their famous customer service (in my immagination, free...). The kind saleswoman takes my smoking cap, disappears for a couple of minutes and comes back saying that they would contact me by phone to tell me if they could do the restoration or not.

13 days go by without receiving any phone calls, and I have to go back to my country. The day before leaving London, I pass by their shop again, speak again with the saleswoman and she tells me to wait a little longer.

On the twentieth day after my first visit, they write to me an email to bring them the smoking cap, and that the replacement of the tassel costs 40 pounds (!!!). This means two things: 1) they probably do not have an internal laboratory even for the restoration of the hats, if they had had one they would have answered me earlier; 2) now I am thousands of kilometers away, considering that the return shipment from London to Europe alone costs - as indicated on their website - 35 pounds, I replied saying that I am giving up the restoration for now.

I'm going to conclude.

I am happy with the experience I had, I was dreaming of a Lock bowler hat and now I own one. The salespersons are kind, and they do their job with care. But at the source there is a company policy that has the sole objective of making money, now at the total expense of the quality and origin of the product, even of the typical one, such as a hard hat. The glorious history, the heritage of the Lock company is now in my humble opinion only a means of attracting wealthy customers who seek the brand, not the quality of the product.

And all this is a real shame.

Thank you for your attention, and please apologize me for my not good english.

Your story illustrates the point I was trying to make perfectly. A lot of effort is spent in the special "buying a hat" experience, conformateur and all, but sadly it's no longer backed up with an equal quality hat.

 

[Salmosalar]

As Edward says, Lock are v good for offering a wider colour range in traditional styles, such as the Homburg, which has v limited usefulness in the most typical black colour as it makes it overly formal imo for more everyday use. The fawn Homburg I bought from them this year is v nice, but my Hufvud is clearly a much better hat - but then it is 100x beaver and nearly twice the price of the Lock once customs, taxes, shipping etc have been factored in. It also took several months for the custom order whereas Lock was picked up OTR the same day…so swings and roundabouts really….

 

[Bird Lives]

The European headgear to maintain a decent look has established in recent decades an intense exchange of products and manufacturing third parties. Bar none!
This is the reality that even the English hat makers have adopted.
There are very few factories felt in Europe, at least those that produce products of medium to high quality.
Isesa is one of these, in Spain it produces high quality felt hats and also hats very interesting with the brand Signes and others for the European market and to other manufacturers in EU and in other parts of the world.
Lock & Co. famous name in the hats production is one of those companies that seeks to address the lack of felt homemade buying (like many others) by producers of the Old Continent.

I honestly do not think they produce in their own hats, also because the brand ISESA inside the hat, is the witness, according to EU law, the place from which the artifact is produced.
Perhaps a small part of the production is carried out in England, but seeing the catalog, I have even more doubts.
One fact is indisputable: Lock & Co. puts on the market hats over price to maintain the status of quality that has always been a cornerstone to stand on the world market

Hey Daniele, and also @mayserwegener, Hope all is going great for you...I haven't been around much except to lurk...I've been traveling, playing Jazz and moving from the US to Europe, US, Turkey...

Back when you wrote this and Mayserwegener were trying to advise aswell, I was posting articles were folks at Locks had said and same folks had told me directly that my Sandown was made in Manchester.

I don't know, and I'm not pointing fingers, I'm sure everyone meant their best. But now the folks at Locks tell me their felt men's hats are made by Isesa in Spain to their Specifications and some like the Sandown are made on the original blocks sent to Spain...

I'd like to add that Isesa are making some Beautiful Hats...no doubt about it.

Been meaning to write you guys for years...Your knowledge and advice has always been so spot on!! And your instincts were, as always, absolutely correct !

Folks like you are such sincere and valuable resources to the Lounge. Although I haven't posted much...I check in on your writings and posts frequently...Thank you for being there for us.

 

[Bird Lives]

I

Hey Daniele, and also @mayserwegener, Hope all is going great for you...I haven't been around much except to lurk...I've been traveling, playing Jazz and moving from the US to Europe, US, Turkey...

Back when you wrote this and Mayserwegener were trying to advise aswell, I was posting articles were folks at Locks had said and same folks had told me directly that my Sandown was made in Manchester.

I don't know, and I'm not pointing fingers, I'm sure everyone meant their best. But now the folks at Locks tell me their felt men's hats are made by Isesa in Spain to their Specifications and some like the Sandown are made on the original blocks sent to Spain...

I'd like to add that Isesa are making some Beautiful Hats...no doubt about it.

Been meaning to write you guys for years...Your knowledge and advice has always been so spot on!! And your instincts were, as always, absolutely correct !

Folks like you are such sincere and valuable resources to the Lounge. Although I haven't posted much...I check in on your writings and posts frequently...Thank you for being there for us.

Need to

Hey Daniele, and also @mayserwegener, Hope all is going great for you...I haven't been around much except to lurk...I've been traveling, playing Jazz and moving from the US to Europe, US, Turkey...

Back when you wrote this and Mayserwegener were trying to advise aswell, I was posting articles were folks at Locks had said and same folks had told me directly that my Sandown was made in Manchester.

I don't know, and I'm not pointing fingers, I'm sure everyone meant their best. But now the folks at Locks tell me their felt men's hats are made by Isesa in Spain to their Specifications and some like the Sandown are made on the original blocks sent to Spain...

I'd like to add that Isesa are making some Beautiful Hats...no doubt about it.

Been meaning to write you guys for years...Your knowledge and advice has always been so spot on!! And your instincts were, as always, absolutely correct !

Folks like you are such sincere and valuable resources to the Lounge. Although I haven't posted much...I check in on your writings and posts frequently...Thank you for being there for us.

Hello All...
I need to post an addendum to my last post here. I may have misquoted someone at Lock & co. I have a sincere affection for their hats and I don't want to leave this topic this way.

I said their Men's fur felt fedoras were being made by Isesa in Spain now. Well I'm not sure if all are. But my Sandown was and many of the Special Addition "60 years of 007" hats are. They say the new copy of the Trilby Sean Connery wore in Dr No is currently available in its original Greyish Green. And it's made on the original blocks from Locks as are the Sandown trilbys. But the 007 version is a limited numbered addition, made from a special Wool Felt and cost a good bit more than the Brown Rabbit Furfelt Sandown which is in current unlimited production.

I do not know about any other of Lock's Furfelt fedora's origins.

I do have a Sandown which has a tag inside which says Isesa. And it's a fine hat which I love dearly.

As you can see, I've worn it in rain and snow for 8 years and it is still looking good....So Im fine with Lock & Co and would buy from them again without question.

Best...

 

[Daniele Tanto]

Hello All...
I need to post an addendum to my last post here. I may have misquoted someone at Lock & co. I have a sincere affection for their hats and I don't want to leave this topic this way.

I said their Men's fur felt fedoras were being made by Isesa in Spain now. Well I'm not sure if all are. But my Sandown was and many of the Special Addition "60 years of 007" hats are. They say the new copy of the Trilby Sean Connery wore in Dr No is currently available in its original Greyish Green. And it's made on the original blocks from Locks as are the Sandown trilbys. But the 007 version is a limited numbered addition, made from a special Wool Felt and cost a good bit more than the Brown Rabbit Furfelt Sandown which is in current unlimited production.

I do not know about any other of Lock's Furfelt fedora's origins.

I do have a Sandown which has a tag inside which says Isesa. And it's a fine hat which I love dearly.

Hello All...
I need to post an addendum to my last post here. I may have misquoted someone at Lock & co. I have a sincere affection for their hats and I don't want to leave this topic this way.

I said their Men's fur felt fedoras were being made by Isesa in Spain now. Well I'm not sure if all are. But my Sandown was and many of the Special Addition "60 years of 007" hats are. They say the new copy of the Trilby Sean Connery wore in Dr No is currently available in its original Greyish Green. And it's made on the original blocks from Locks as are the Sandown trilbys. But the 007 version is a limited numbered addition, made from a special Wool Felt and cost a good bit more than the Brown Rabbit Furfelt Sandown which is in current unlimited production.

I do not know about any other of Lock's Furfelt fedora's origins.

I do have a Sandown which has a tag inside which says Isesa. And it's a fine hat which I love dearly.

I honestly can't help you much in finding the origin of Lock's production. I have a couple of their hats in my collection, without infamy or praise, made in the UK by one of the many manufacturers then operating in the country.
I don't have recent Lock's to compare, so I'll stop here.
You could hire James to find out what you're looking for...if he's available.
I think it's essential to offer him an exotic adventure and an encounter with a Bond girl, at the very least