Main Stream Hat poll

[John in Covina]

This is a tuff question in as much we all like if a beloved thing becomes popular. it is nice to be on the cutting edge and help introduce people to something we like.

But sometimes there is a reactionary swing. Like the reaction to the cigar boom some years back. Sometimes to love something too much is to kill it.
On the other side if the hat thing gets too popular several pressures will occur, first the current makers will have difficulty in keeping up with demand. The price goes up. Quality may slip in favor of higher production.
Fly by night hat manufacturing comes in and famous quality brands are being counterfitted.

You may become embarassed by the actions of the newbies caught up in the fad. Hats may become associated with undesireables and get a bad rap.

Registration, and confiscation, back ground checks.

 

[Fedora]

Quality may slip in favor of higher production.
Fly by night hat manufacturing comes in and famous quality brands are being counterfitted.

Heck, how could it get any worse? When is the last time you saw a high quality factory made dress hat? They are currently producing fly by night hats and may as well be a counterfeit as they share little in common with the fine factory hats of yesteryear, made by these same factories, or at least on much of the same equipment.

I think that a sudden demand in hats would actually bring quality factory hats into existence. You would eventually have some companies that would be going for excellence, with its own market. Just like the old days. I think the economics of the situation has not changed that much. IMHO. Fedora

 

[Andykev]

A hat is a hat is a hat, no?

You may become embarassed by the actions of the newbies caught up in the fad. Hats may become associated with undesireables and get a bad rap.

Well, I didn't understand the registration and background check on wearing a hat, but I do recall when the Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark came out..and then ANYONE wearing a fedora was "Hey, it's Indy".

Yes, the return of something under the aura of "celebrity" or "fad" is nice, depending on how far it goes. Seeing a nicely dressed gentleman with a smart fedora always receives a compliment. The kid, on a skateboard, with long hair and sagging pants...that sends another message.

So what if all people from a particular group in society started wearing a fedora as their "sign of recognition" , their "emblem". Be it a gang, political, religious group...you get the idea. Would you still wear your hat for fear of being "labled"?

I wear my hat for several reasons: style, protection from sun, and warmth.

I also say, don't lable a person who wears a hat. It's just a hat, isn't it?

 

[Bebop]

Well, I didn't understand the registration and background check on wearing a hat, but I do recall when the Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark came out..and then ANYONE wearing a fedora was "Hey, it's Indy".

Yes, the return of something under the aura of "celebrity" or "fad" is nice, depending on how far it goes. Seeing a nicely dressed gentleman with a smart fedora always receives a compliment. The kid, on a skateboard, with long hair and sagging pants...that sends another message.

So what if all people from a particular group in society started wearing a fedora as their "sign of recognition" , their "emblem". Be it a gang, political, religious group...you get the idea. Would you still wear your hat for fear of being "labled"?

I wear my hat for several reasons: style, protection from sun, and warmth.

I also say, don't lable a person who wears a hat. It's just a hat, isn't it?

I agree. It is just a hat. Some people that wear cheap wool hats do so because they don't care about hat quality. It may be that they just want a certain look. I have friends that think I am a lunatic because I am willing to spend $200 on a hat. I think that what pushes fashion and keeps it going, is making it affordable to the main stream. Ball caps come to mind.

 

[spiridon]

If it ends up like your analogy of the cigar boom, it could be a "good thing" in the long run.
Yes, the "cigar boom" certainly created many problems for folks (just as you described)....but after the dust had settled a bit there was still a healthy market, and the quality rollers benefitted overall along with the consumer. Perhaps the same could happen in the hat industry?

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Then, of course, the "stigma" still exists:

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/01/03/PH2006010300786.html

That looks like a decent fedora, too. The next day, he wore a ballcap to court!

karol