Numbers of 'seconds' in second-hand hat market

[Dirk Wainscotting]

There are several second-hand clothing shops here in the Netherlands which have a fair stock of what look like new-old-stock hats. There tend to be a lot of similar-looking hats, a lot of black homburgs and you can tell that though they were made in the heyday of the hat, they're also relatively unworn.

I've had a few of these and one thing I noticed is that some of them have a peculiar fit. I have one where you can feel that the inner of the hat is out of alignment with the shape of the crown and some have the sweatband sewn in back to front. I've tried a lot of them on and many have faults like this. I suspect that many of these are seconds that were either returned by dissatisfied customers, ended up as unsold stock or were offloaded from wholesalers.

In my estimation a good half of the second-hand vintage hats available are a bit faulty. Either that or I have a misshapen head.

 

[moehawk]

Interesting. I understand that Eastern European Jewish men favor the black homburgs. Maybe the ones you find in these second hand shops are the defective ones from the stock heading toward that market.

 

[Lotsahats]

Interesting. I understand that Eastern European Jewish men favor the black homburgs. Maybe the ones you find in these second hand shops are the defective ones from the stock heading toward that market.

Interesting--I'm not familiar with this type of hat. As a rule, it's mostly Hasidic men who wear hats by type, and the homburg doesn't tend to be the choice. A not uncommon hat is the stiff fur-felt "hoiche" or "high" hat; it might possibly look like a homburg:

Dirk, it sounds to me like someone's found an old cache of factory seconds, as your title implies--hats with some minor flaws that didn't get sold in their day. Might be a nice sideline for you, supplying them to us in the States.

A

 

[moehawk]

My observation was simply a rememberance of something that I had read sonewhere, not meant as hard facts. I think it was in a thread containing an article about European felt production, where a mention was made of the Jewish buyers being a loyal customer base through years of slow hat sales. That one you posted looks really nice, and I could see how it can be confused for a homburg. Do you have more info on it?

 

[Lotsahats]

You know, I'll start a different thread for this one rather than hijack Dirk's thread.

 

[suitedcboy]

Seconds have had a hole punched in the rear of sweatband near the seam of sweatband for many decades. At least north American hat manufacturers.
This marked them for distribution through their outlet store or other sellers of their seconds while being handled in factory.

 

[Duper]

I have 2 Stetsons ordered over the phone sight unseen from the Garland Outlet. A sage Temple and a mink Pinnicle. Both have the hole punch in the sweatband. I paid a greatly reduced price for them over 5 years ago and for the life of me I have no idea what their actual flaws are?

Maybe I just got lucky bit I would order a "seconds" hat from them again.

,,,Mike in Canada

 

[suitedcboy]

Any merchandise that is meant to not compete with retail or to not diminish retail price point can be seconds. If they made a distinction then you have overproduction for order quantity and promotional display items that have no defects as well as the regular quality fail items. The hat outlet ends up with every type of surplus. Lots of their hats are normal production hats with store names stamped in sweatbands. Then there are the hats that are oddities with liners and sweats for one hat model with the buckle and band and seemingly the felt of another quality level.

 

[2075rami]

Seconds have had a hole punched in the rear of sweatband near the seam of sweatband for many decades. At least north American hat manufacturers.
This marked them for distribution through their outlet store or other sellers of their seconds while being handled in factory.

You mean like this?:

I noticed the hole shortly after buying this hat, but never really gave it much thought until I saw your post. I guess my Golden Coach must have been overstock or something, as I haven't ever noticed anything that could be described as a "defect". Interesting information, though. Thanks for sharing!


Sent from my iPhone directly into your brain using Tapatalk

 

[RJR]

Yep,that's a seconds punch.