NY Times article on city's hat shops and one on JJ Hats......

[Aureliano]

I posted it too somewhere else yesterday.

 

[Undertow]

I enjoyed that little article. What I found interesting was his seeming "conversion" to hat wearing. I think some of us (not all) have probably had a similar journey prior to discovering a love for hats. It's also interesting how condescending he is about various styles, but then admits he might have been running from masculinity.

Interesting article, thanks for the post.

 

[HatsEnough]

He sure slammed stingy brims, that's for sure.

 

[dhermann1]

Well, there are Mad Men style stingies, and the are hipster super stingies. I like to think he's slamming the latter.

 

[bowlerman]

probably doesn't know the difference yet. (not sure that I'm familiar with "hipster stingies" either, come to think of it.)
In any case I enjoyed his willing-to-learn layman's narrative. Thanks for posting, kaosharper1 and Aureliano.

 

[dhermann1]

Count your lucky stars that you don't have those skinny hipster types with their skinny black jeans, tats, T-shirts, shades, tiny goatees, and super stingy brim straws. NYC is swarming with them.
(Actually, they're not so bad, but they just look pretty . . . what can I say. . . feckless?)

 

[skyvue]

JJ hats will steam your hat and change your ribbon if they have any in their pre-sewn stock.

JJ doesn't only do pre-sewn ribbons. They will work with a length of ribbon if they have it in stock or you bring it in -- I've done just that.

 

[jaco]

From my experience Barbisio made very high quality hats (detailed hand work, fine felt + finishes, fine sweatbands / liners / ribbons) into the mid to late 1970s same with Panizza (the old factory). Borsalino made very high quality hats up to the early 1980s before the family sold the business and the old factory closed. The Italian hat companies in general made very high quality hats for the longest time period. P. & C. Habig out of Vienna also made high quality hats into the late 1970s early 1980s. You see a drop off (less detailed hand work) in the German hat companies like Mayser, Hückel, Peschel and Wegener in the late 1960s early 1970s.

Totally agree: I simplified the whole situation. It's a shame that the hattery art in Italy drop down to almost nothing. Once I was in the Borsalino Museum and in the factory sites of some monza's hatter (the city ancient nickname was "City of hatters")...what a shame..what really a shame.

Regarding different products from different hatters: looking at web sites from some of the named shops I thought different.

 

[MikeBravo]

I don't know when that might have been. To me, out here on the Left Coast, a wider brim bespeaks a working hat. Perhaps I've been around too many Westerns or something but a stingy brim, IMO, is affected. I mean, if it won't keep the sun out of your eyes, why are you wearing a hat in the first place? So, yeah, stingies are for dandies.

When I hear the word dandy, I think of Quentin Crisp. When I think of Quentin Crisp I picture his hats (in this pic as protrayed by John Hurt)

 

[MikeBravo]

On the streets you will see those who affect a dandy look wearing stingy brims.
Then again, non-dandies wear 'em too so go figure..

Maybe it's a geographical thing? Any input from English chaps? Or am I belabouring the point? lol

 

[Aureliano]

JJ doesn't only do pre-sewn ribbons. They will work with a length of ribbon if they have it in stock or you bring it in -- I've done just that.

Good to know. The used to only do pre-sewn in the past.

 

[Mr Vim]

Great article on JJ Hat Center, I bought my first fedora from them in 2004. Ah, memories.

 

[bowlerman]

Count your lucky stars that you don't have those skinny hipster types with their skinny black jeans, tats, T-shirts, shades, tiny goatees, and super stingy brim straws. NYC is swarming with them.
(Actually, they're not so bad, but they just look pretty . . . what can I say. . . feckless?)

Gotcha. I suppose I don't keep up with the terminology, but it seems like 60s mod crossed with early 2000s emo-- perhaps the natural evolution of the two. Anyway, though super-stingies aren't my preference (they do get more wear when my hair/beard are much shorter), it seems like the real problem there is the poly/cotton canvas or awful synthetic material they're putting on their heads!

An argument can always be made that anyone who consciously chooses what they wear aesthetically is, to a degree, wearing a "costume" but I'll go out on a limb and say the hipster stingies appear like the costume came from a seasonal Halloween shop.

 

[mayserwegener]

Totally agree: I simplified the whole situation. It's a shame that the hattery art in Italy drop down to almost nothing. Once I was in the Borsalino Museum and in the factory sites of some monza's hatter (the city ancient nickname was "City of hatters")...what a shame..what really a shame.

Yes it would be amazing if they were still producing at that level. Still they deserve props for making top quality (detailed hand work, fine felt + finishes, fine sweatbands / liners / ribbons) production hats 10 to 15 years longer than other countries.