Joshbru3
I'll Lock Up
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- Chicago, IL
AnA, great writeup! I do love both hats, however my favorite is the Cavanagh due to the 1930's shape and features. Like you, I love tall and straight crowns. Parker makes some wonderful hats and I can assure you the difference in felt quality, color saturation, and denseness is a factor that unfortunately many American hatters have to deal with. Your Cavanagh most likely doesn't have any beaver in it, or if it does, a VERY small amount. It is most likely a rabbit/wild hare mix which is what most hats from the early 20th century were made out of. Some of the best hats in my collection are rabbit/wild hare. I'm glad you can see that incredible differences between vintage felt and modern day felt. Its just a guess, but I would assume that Parker gets his felt from Winchester in Tennessee. Most hatters get their felt from Winchester as they are one of the only producers of Raw felt bodies left in the USA. Stetson/Resistol makes their own bodies, but I do not believe they will sell the bodies to outside hatters. I could be wrong, but I believe that Stetson/Resistol only makes bodies to use for their own hats. Biltmore used to make their own bodies in Canada but I believe that has fallen by the way side. Of course Akubra makes their own bodies, but again, I think only for their own use. Winchester used to make hat bodies for the Hat Corporation of America starting in the 50's I believe and they used to make some GREAT stuff. Unfortunately due to strict federal environmental regulations, they are unable to used the same dyes as they once could and therefore the color saturation of the hat bodies are not even close to how they used to be. Also, the current day Winchester hat bodies are felted must LESS dense as they once were or as most hat bodies were felted. In order to process the felt through the rollers, hot water, etc, more times to make a denser body, they would have to use more fur, and pay more people more labor to process the bodies for longer. Unfortunately as the worlds population of men stopped wearing hats, the demand for hats dropped and the demand for raw bodies as a whole dropped as well. In order to keep prices low, Winchester can't make the same bodies as they once could. The fur is the same, the process is different and therefore resulting in a different felt body. Winchester was making lightweight bodies for a while, but they were having problems with breakage. I would assume because the felt wasn't felted densely enough.