The Cap Faction

[Adnamira]

The eight dart makes sense from the practical side of things too. I mean it must cut down manufacture not having to match and sew eight panels together.

 

[St. Valentine]

Frank, great Caps. both looks very good! What is the different between your first Cap from Bela and the new one! It´s the liner heavier?
Or what´s drops the sides down!

Thank you Manfred! I suppose it´s the structure of the Tweed together with the heavier flannel-type lining. Maybe the Herringbone is stiffer due to it´s different pattern?

Frank

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Yep Seabass, I figure one of Mamie Blue's caps is in my future. Just waiting a bit to see if something turns up in a fabric that I really want and the right size. How do they run? True or (+) or (-) ?

Go for the size in cm (metrical system). Then it is true to size. You just have to measure your head and convert from inch to cm.

The other sizes were source for some confusion here.

 

[Chepstow]

Thank you Manfred! I suppose it´s the structure of the Tweed together with the heavier flannel-type lining. Maybe the Herringbone is stiffer due to it´s different pattern?

Frank

Frank, that makes sense!

 

[Johnny J]

Great caps!! Can you post up the link?

 

[Chepstow]

Great caps!!

+1 - Very sharp!

 

[Adnamira]

These look alright, but seller could have taken more photos and said what the lining is.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/James-De...Men_s_Accessories_UK&var=&hash=item746d5f428e

Also, there are some Harris Tweed City Sport Caps on sale at Hartford York. These are the smaller sized newsboy, unlike Woodfluters current ones, which are a fuller style.

http://www.hartfordyork.com/product/6629?utm_source=Nextopia&utm_medium=Nextopia&utm_campaign=Next

I wonder if I could talk them into sending me one of these for $45

http://www.hartfordyork.com/product/2239/newsboy-caps

 

[Adnamira]

I tell you what, Wigens throws an occasional curve ball. Most of their caps are pretty standard, wool or linen with stitched down brim and polyester linings. I found a wool one the other day with a cotton lining, and now I just found this little number. It's got not one, not two, but three snaps on the brim... and no lining at all! Looks like the Swedes get the interesting ones.

http://sivletto.com/system/search/product.asp?id=7155&c=100&page=1&rnum=21

 

[Razzman]

The prices at Hartford York are outrageous!

 

[Razzman]

I tell you what, Wigens throws an occasional curve ball. Most of their caps are pretty standard, wool or linen with stitched down brim and polyester linings. I found a wool one the other day with a cotton lining, and now I just found this little number. It's got not one, not two, but three snaps on the brim... and no lining at all! Looks like the Swedes get the interesting ones.

http://sivletto.com/system/search/product.asp?id=7155&c=100&page=1&rnum=21

The wool blue patchwork Wigens I have also has a 3 button brim.

 

[St. Valentine]

I tell you what, Wigens throws an occasional curve ball. Most of their caps are pretty standard, wool or linen with stitched down brim and polyester linings. I found a wool one the other day with a cotton lining, and now I just found this little number. It's got not one, not two, but three snaps on the brim... and no lining at all! Looks like the Swedes get the interesting ones.

http://sivletto.com/system/search/product.asp?id=7155&c=100&page=1&rnum=21

Looks like an interesting shop!

Frank

 

[Adnamira]

The wool blue patchwork Wigens I have also has a 3 button brim.

Goodness, I think maybe the cotton lined newsboy I ordered may have them too. It will be dandy if it does. I'm not sure that their newsboy style has enough volume to make unsnapping the brim very useful, but there is something satisfying about pops - while waiting in the doctors or dentists, you can sit there and fidget, popping and unpopping and driving everyone mad.

Well, there you go, a lot of the wigens newsboys seem to have those three pops http://sivletto.com/system/search/product.asp?id=6768&c=100&page=3&rnum=32 They certainly don't do things by halves.

Did you manage to sell your Wigens, Razzman? Watching some on ebay that are going for a very good price, they don't seem to sell that well. I looked at them for a long time, not sure if I liked the look of them, but am really chuffed with the one I got... the ruggedness and strength of the cap appeals to me.

 

[Adnamira]

They seem to have some good online shops in Sweden. Haven't got the cap yet, but I was very impressed in dealing with Hepcat.se - their postage was a lot cheaper than Silvetto for me... and they fixed up a mistake I made with an order, straight away, responding to me at 7:30am in the morning their time.

 

[Adnamira]

The prices at Hartford York are outrageous!

Yeah, they seem to be pricey, so it surprised me those City Sports were going for $45. I think those Anthony Peto caps are a high-end product - that merino herringbone is a high quality fabric... but still.

 

[St. Valentine]

It might be the Merino and maybe it´s a fine cap but I find a "luxury newsboy" not very authentic. After all it´s supposed to be a working class stiff´s headgear, isn´t it? [huh]

 

[Adnamira]

It might be the Merino and maybe it´s a fine cap but I find a "luxury newsboy" not very authentic. After all it´s supposed to be a working class stiff´s headgear, isn´t it? [huh]

Someone suggested here earlier that newsboy caps should be over $200 so that the ruffian class weren't able to wear them. And those Mr Freedom caps are that money too, made of vintage fabrics I guess. But yes, I'd be a little scared to go out in a $200 cap... even though, I am in fact a Merino Wool Grower, and would love everyone to be wearing merino wool caps. Just out of interest, I received an average of 1300 cents for my wool this year. It averaged 17.5 micron and yielded about 79%. To put that in perspective, the wool they make tweed caps out of is probably in the 24 - 28 micron range; cashmere is in the 14.5 - 15.5 micron range. So a cap, even quite a large one usually weighs less than 500grams, take out the lining and the bill, just say 400 grams max. Say it is made out of 17.5 micron wool - underwear grade merino wool. 1300 cents X 100/79 = $16.45/kg times .4kg = $6.58 of raw wool paid to the farmer. Then of course you have to add freight, processing, manufacture, retail, which is probably the biggest proportion of the cost etc. The wools used in tweed caps would be worth a third of that at most... but inspite of that, it would not seem that it would costs hundreds extra to make something out of merino as opposed to cheviot - you are only talking $3 or $4 difference in the raw fibre and finer micron wools produce more fabric per kilo, because there are more fibres per kilo, so processing costs would actually be cheaper for the finer wools.

 

[St. Valentine]

Maybe it´s just me but those caps were always in tweed to me. Must be because my late father used to wear them like that. I am just trying to get used to the summer version of caps in linen or silk. Don´t know, summer always says "hats " to me... [huh]

 

[Adnamira]

Which is wise. I prefer caps for comfort and look, but they are no good for sun protection. I like tweeds too for caps... tweed is interesting to look at. I think a few of those Retro Sport caps probably have merino in them... the lighter suiting style fabrics - merino wool would have been used in dress caps of the 20s and 30s too - a lot of them in the photos look like suiting style fabrics rather than just tweeds.

 

[St. Valentine]

Bela (Hepville) had a nice grey cap with red stripes (very fine ones) on Etsy which looked like suit fabric. They are beginning to grow on me and I think I will have to try one to see if it works for me...

 

[Adnamira]

I was looking at several caps from different makers, including Hepville, that used Reid And Taylor fabrics, and found this on their website. 'Families of products based around 17.5 micron wool, wool & cotton, cashmere and silk draw their inspiration from Reid and Taylor's rich heritage and the design team give full expression to this heritage whilst remaining sensitive to the requirements of today's designers and garment makers.' 17.5 is fine though, even for a suit... I suspect their tweeds and herringbones are probably from broader merino types and crossbred meat type sheep. You can probably bet that those Wigens caps that are marked lambswool are probably imported from wool from around the world; after-all the UK only accounts for 2% of the worlds wool production... so expect there are a blend of wools from all over the world, a lot from British Breed cross Merino sheep, in anything that isn't marked Donegal or Harris tweed. Wool ranges from gossamer to carpet, and like wine made from different grapes, varies in qualities depending on the breed of sheep. Highly crimped fine wool produces fabric that is quite stiff, like what you see in suits; whereas wool of a similar micron with a bolder crimp produces silkier, body hugging fabrics. The reason that hat people caps sit differently to tweed caps has a lot to do with that - they have a lot of Rambouillet (French Merinos) in the western US, and although woollen would be a lot finer than the tweeds.

Tweed is interesting in relation to tartan cloth. Both fabrics originated in Scotland, but tweed is a woollen fabric (fluffy, mixed length fibres) and tartans are a worsted fabric (flat, smooth, fabric with long fibres only). A reason I'm interested in caps is my interest in the fabrics. I'm really only paying much attention to tweeds for the first time as a result of the City Sport and Wigens caps I've bought recently. It makes me realise that the coarser wools have their place in the scheme of things, and the focus as a woolgrower perhaps shouldn't be to just get finer and finer all the time.