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I understand where y'all coming from, I am myself very particular when it comes to suits and suit separates. I know forums like Styleforum often look negatively on mass-produced brands, such as Canali, and look positively on bespoke and or niche brands, such as Sartoria Catangia or Cesare Attolini. But here's the thing, brands like Canali are high quality compared to common mass-market brands, such as H&M or Banana Republic. I am honestly not looking for hats that are equivalent to bespoke or to Kiton. I chose to research Miler because it seems like a brand that is middling quality at an affordable price, compared to other hat brands. I just want some further opinions from people who actually have experience with the brand itself. Most in Styleforum don't talk about canali, they talk about bespoke. I don't want to spend anything above $300 on a hat, and $300 is pushing it as well. And for vintage, styleforum does have a large community of people who wear vintage... and I do agree that vintage is higher quality more often than not compared to modern. But when I see people where vintage, no matter if it's a custom hat or a Mariano Rubinacci blazer...for many who are not experienced in this niche group, the clothing just looks used, from goodwill. When I see those in this forum wear vintage.... it looks used, hence the name, or when I see people from the gentleman's gazette youtube channel wear their clothing, despite the clothing being high quality, especially Raphael's, it still looks old, worn-out, and cheap. For the general public, Vintage just looks like it comes from goodwill. I have a vintage Savile Row blazer.... styleforum approved, but then when I began wearing it in public I had to explain to myself, that this is not some cheap used suit, but it's vintage. I am not crapping on those who like vintage on this forum or styleforum, and yes I do wish that the hatbands on Stetson are actually Full grain leather of quality and the satin hat bands be actual satin and not polyester... But I don't want to shell half a thousand on a hat or a boot or a couple thousand on a suit. I just want to hear those who have experience with Miller Hats.com.
I’ve owned at least five hats from Miller Hats. To stick with your suits analogy, Miller is like Stafford suits from JC Penny and not at all comparable to Canali. The Miller beaver would be like a Chaps wool suit…nicer than some cheap polyester suits, but still not a “quality” suit. Their owners might be completely satisfied with them, but that doesn’t mean those fused suits are objectively good quality. To some people a suit is a suit and a hat is a hat. Some would say they are made of the same materials so how different can they be? Wool is wool. Beaver is beaver. Most can’t tell a fused suit from a full canvas suit. Some cheap mass market suits add pick stitching etc. to mimic better suits, but such details fail to elevate a cheap suit to quality suit.
We aren’t steering you to the $2,000+ hats, but what would you say to someone who wanted to buy a new suit and wanted to spend $250 for it? To some people a suit is a suit and to some people a hat is a hat. I’ve been unimpressed with every Miller I’ve seen, but it might be perfect for you. Only you can determine value.