Modern fur felt Bowlers

[RichardH]

I recently bought a new fur felt Christys' bowler and I was pleased by the brim, which is fairly close (though not perfect) to the old style brim curl/binding. Though they obviously use a nylon grosgrain ribbon, the curl is much better than any of the other bowlers I've looked at, including Lock, which is somewhat shameful given that Lock invented the style. The stitching is done by hand in the classic way and is therefore almost invisible, unlike those horrible machine stitched monstrosities for brims you get with most cheaper modern bowlers. The front and back curl isn't as flat as classic bowlers, but it is flatter than at the sides, and significantly more ribbon shows on the sides than at the front.

It sits fairly low, and I'm quite satisfied with how the hat looks, as taller bowler crowns tend to be more conspicuous and look a bit anachronistic imo. This is a bowler hat I could conceivably wear on the street in daily life. One difficulty, though, was that the left side of the brim was curled at slightly too high an angle, creating a slight asymmetry. I steamed it a little and pulled it down slightly to correct it in less than 2 minutes, no big deal. Still, seems like a fairly avoidable problem given that it's a premium quality hat.

I recently contacted Patey about their bowlers. The bowlers they show on their website look pretty exceptional, and I wanted one made with the classic goss underbody. Sad to say, though, they don't offer their town weight bowler in larger sizes, and the heavy goss bowler is too expensive.

Argh, I HAVE to get me one of those for christmas! Congrats to you, it looks fantastic on you!

 

[bowlerman]

Saw some cool bowlers this morning at Worth & Worth, part of their new hats for the fall.

Describe! No pics yet on the website!

 

[newturnofphrase]

Didn't need reshaping, fit perfect right out of the box. I guess I have an average shaped head. Only problem, as mentioned, was that the brim was a little off kilter, possibly from shipping.

Argh, I HAVE to get me one of those for christmas! Congrats to you, it looks fantastic on you!

Thanks! You should go for it, or drop a very specific hint. They can be had on ebay and from hatsandcaps.co.uk for less than 100 GBP, so don't pay more than that. The wool felt one is also a good buy, same style but in wool and less money. Just avoid the fashion bowler like the plague.

 

[Clockwork Fan]

One difficulty, though, was that the left side of the brim was curled at slightly too high an angle, creating a slight asymmetry. I steamed it a little and pulled it down slightly to correct it in less than 2 minutes, no big deal. Still, seems like a fairly avoidable problem given that it's a premium quality hat.

I was curious as to what you used to steam the brim and how much steaming you used. In other words was it just enough to move it and then you let it set again? And how long before it was completely hard again?

 

[newturnofphrase]

I was curious as to what you used to steam the brim and how much steaming you used. In other words was it just enough to move it and then you let it set again? And how long before it was completely hard again?

I used an electric kettle with some water in it. I placed the slightly misshapen underside portion of the brim in the steam for about 15 seconds or less, holding the hat sideways to prevent the steam from building up in the crown and from sinking in anywhere else, and making sure the area I wanted to reshape got heated up and was well softened. It softens incredibly fast. You want it to be malleably softened, but not lank and not wet. I then gently pulled the brim down where I wanted it to set (it was a very slight correction), and held it for few minutes while it cooled, dried, and re-hardened. When I released it, it sprung back slightly, but I had compensated for that possibility and it ended up exactly where I wanted it.

On a bowler I would only recommend kettle steaming for small adjustments like that, anything more major and you can do more harm to the shape of the hat than good. I have no experience with other felt hats, so I couldn't say what to do with them. In this case, it was just a slightly more curled side which made the hat subtly asymmetrical, something I only noticed a few days after it arrived, and which I assume is because it is a handmade item.

I purchased it from Village Hats UK (not the US store, see link above) because they ship to Canada and offer a low price, but in hindsight I would recommend getting one on ebay, or requesting royal mail from VH, because with me VH used a very expensive shipping company that billed me when the item arrived. I might also have gone for a wool bowler, as I'm not convinced the quality of contemporary fur felt Christy bowler is really that much better than the wool variety, and so may not be worth the slightly higher cost. It might be more durable, haven't had an opportunity to compare, but anecdotal accounts say they are equally stiff with identical shape and trim.

 

[newturnofphrase]

Here is a diagram I made of the problem:

The circle shows how it was asymmetrical, and the arrows show where I steamed and pulled it to get it to perfect shape.

 

[kolchak]

Hi. This is my first post on the forum. There is a lot of useful info here - thanks!

I am currently looking for a bowler and have been poking around. Does anyone know if the fur felt Wegener Melone that they sell is hard like the Christys hats? I had a chance to try on the Christys fur felt non-riding hat and it was an unusual size - I couldn't fit into my usual 7 1/4 so I tried 7 3/8 and it was just a tad loose. The Wegener has a 57 cm and I'm tempted to order one but I am still looking for a store here where I can see it and try it on - but none found yet.

I did try on this new fur felt Melone from Katharina Sigwart's YVA hats in Berlin - she makes them custom to order and she said she'd make it with a harder shell if I preferred. It has a real swoop to it. $300 +
Pic:

When I was in Chicago just for the heck of it I tried on a combination wool and felt (felt brim...?) bowler from Goorin they called 'The Banker.' It seemed to be well made, nice and hard and good finishing but alas it had no curl at all - it was straight brimmed. It had a nice 5" height but it wasn't the classic look I wanted. At $200 + also I would expect a 100% fur felt hat. They had a fun grey derby called the 'matt clayden' with a 1 3/4" brim that was actually a cool hat but made out of wool and again not exactly the look.

Any info on the Wegener would be much appreciated!

 

[Clockwork Fan]

I'm trying to post a photo of my latest bowler and the uploader flags the image with an exclamation point inside a red circle and there seems to be no way to go any further. What am I doing wrong? Anybody?

 

[kolchak]

I'm trying to post a photo of my latest bowler and the uploader flags the image with an exclamation point inside a red circle and there seems to be no way to go any further. What am I doing wrong? Anybody?

Try cut and pasting the 'IMG link for message boards' directly into your text and don't use the pic uploader. Thats what I figured out just an hour ago lol

 

[Clockwork Fan]

Which means I need to use a hosting service for that. Stay tuned....

 

[Clockwork Fan]

Okay, here goes nothing:

 

[kolchak]

Alright. I found a couple of new model Wegener Melone at a very small hat store in Kreuzberg. The black I tried on was a 56 and the grey was a 58. I'm a 57 so neither fit. The hats had that swoop or dip in the front and back - these hats wouldn't 'lay flat.' The grey looked good, however they hadn't much artistry in the side curl (let alone a sharp d'Orsay). On a positive note they are completely hard and far lighter weight than the Christys I tried on. They are 100% fur felt and made in Germany (hand finished but I don't think that means totally handgemacht.) The Christys appears a better hat from a quality standpoint maybe due to its equestrian functions, but these were more comfort fitting. Here are the two Wegeners -

I'm looking at going vintage but I still want to see whats out there that's still being made.

I tried on a Beaver Brand in Chicago as well and I liked the shape but the stitching made it uncomfortable to wear. Sadly, I heard they went out of business recently.

 

[bowlerman]

Wow, kolchak! Some nice examples of modern bowlers there. Those Wegeners look nice, and the work of Katharina Sigwart is super!

I have mentioned this in a few other threads, but I have actually come to prefer modern pencil curls to the D'Orsay when it comes to bowlers, especially if there's a bit of western flair to them.

My first custom hat was a sturdy, western weight wool felt bowler by Knudsen Hats. In retrospect I wish I had the knowledge and/or experience to go with fur, but the dimensions and shape were just wonderful.

http://www.knudsenhats.com/hats.html

You can see me wearing it as the third place recipient of their 8th photo contest here lol :
http://www.knudsenhats.com/photocontest/oldwinners8.html

 

[kolchak]

Wow, Knudsen makes some really interesting bowlers. I came across this vintage pic from an ebay auction - the person was selling the vintage bowler to the right, but I'm looking at the tall one on the left. Knudson's 'Black Bart Derby' is close. The hat in the pic looks more rigid and the sides of the hat go straight up, however - no taper at all. The pic is 1906 ish.

And in my ongoing effort to try on as many 'new in store' fur felt bowlers as I can, here is the new Mayser I tried on at a hat shop just around the corner. In terms of quality, its a couple steps down from the Wegener. Also no variation in the width of the brim curl at all. Its so soft looking it could almost be a unisex hat. Pardon the iphone quick pic (and the hat was too big so it sat kinda low):

 

[mayserwegener]

Kolchak, Thanks for posting the Wegeners and Mayser. Wegener also makes riding Top Hats and Bowlers. I believe they still have a master hatter on a limitted bases. If possible can you find out when these Wegener Bowlers (Melonen) were made? I don't like Mayser's new direction. They are targeting the hipster market but they still have a couple of nice models like the City Finale.

 

[kolchak]

If possible can you find out when these Wegener Bowlers (Melonen) were made?

I'll go to the store tomorrow and ask. They're in hat designer Cornelia Plotzki's small retail space in the Bergmannstrasse. I'm fairly certain these are brand new.

Thanks for the info, too. It makes sense to me that they still have a master hatter on premises. The Wegener Melone are the best of 'new current' Bowlers that I've seen so far. The form is classic and very stiff and they are much lighter more comfortable than the Christy's Bowler which is heavy and harder to fit. I like the shape better than the Stetson or Beaver as well. But they don't come cheaply. You can order this hat in black for 202 Euro shipped (that price includes 34 Euro shipping but with waver of the 19% flat tax since you are having it sent to the US.) The grey (which I really liked) is 210 Euro shipped.

There is a really nice brown one with dark brown leather band and awesome brown silk lining too. Its like 230 Euro.

 

[mayserwegener]

Thanks! I was thinking the store might have had the stock sitting around for a few years. There is a post in the German - Austrian thread about a Wegener accepting custom hat orders. Someone had a Homburg made there recently. Those prices seem high so you may want to check online. In my opinion it is best to go vintage if you can. German and Austrian eBay have some really nice Melone at low prices (20-50 EURO) . Many are from east Germany sellers so you might want to do some flea markets / antique shops outside of Berlin.

 

[kolchak]

Thanks! I was thinking the store might have had the stock sitting around for a few years. There is a post in the German - Austrian thread about a Wegener accepting custom hat orders. Someone had a Homburg made there recently. Those prices seem high so you may want to check online. In my opinion it is best to go vintage if you can. German and Austrian eBay have some really nice Melone at low prices (20-50 EURO) . Many are from east Germany sellers so you might want to do some flea markets / antique shops outside of Berlin.

Thanks! I am moving towards buying vintage hats, but I really, really want to try on a black Wegener Homburg in my size. I like to support what makers are left anyways if I can find a hat worth buying.

As far as brand new fur felt Bowlers - in Prenzlberg yesterday, I tried on this Guerra Bombetta they call the 'City Bowler':

Its nice. Construction is ok and its good and stiff felt, but the Wegener is better still.

 

[mayserwegener]

The Wegeners do have more vintage like blocking (I especially like the gray one). The ability to make Bowler hats (Derby, Melone, Bombetta, ect.) disappeared around the early 1960s. My favorites are the light weight (115 - 125 grams) ones that were produced in the first third of the 20th Century. Like this 125 gram J. Hückel´s Söhne Plume Melone.

 

[kolchak]

Wow! That is just gorgeous!

Can I ask how tall is the crown on that hat?