fedoracentric
Banned
- Messages
- 1,362
- Location
- Streamwood, IL
Agree with all of the above, tommyK. I've had the same experience with the two Premiere Stratoliners I bought. As Alan said and you reiterated, the "recipe" has been lost. All those skills and manufacturing processes developed and refined over several centuries and handed down through generations of craftsmen went away almost overnight. Hatco may have the blocks, flanges and die stamps that Stetson used, but the techniques and quality control, from the type and origin of the fur all the way through the final manufacturing processes, can't compare to those of just sixty years ago.
It simply isn't financially logical to try and recreate the "old days" felt quality. Not enough hats get sold to put that much time and effort into the felt. It's just a sad but hard fact.