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Was wool felt even used...?

Jerekson

One Too Many
Messages
1,620
Location
1935
Easily answered question, I'm sure;

Was wool felt used to make hats during the 40's?

For some reason I had always assosciated wool felt hats with being a modern thing.

The reason I ask is because I was talking to a guy selling a vintage fedora (40's) and he claims that is wool felt. I didn't think this was right...

I wrote him back and asked him about it, but in the meantime I figured I would get some more input. Thanks in advance, for any clarification-

-J
 

besdor

Vendor/Sponsor
Messages
1,727
Location
up north
I was suprised myself to find out that wool was used as far back as 1900 in mens hats . I have old catalogs from companies that showed styles being sold then for 1.00 in wiil. A fur felt hat was 2.95 and up. I'm sure that even a wool hat back then was better than the junk made today.



Steven
www.bencrafthats.com
:)
 

RedPop4

One Too Many
Messages
1,353
Location
Metropolitan New Orleans
Why WOULDN'T they have wool hats back then? Humankind has been breeding sheep for wool for millennia. Remember, as well, that the "Golden Era" as it's so lovingly referred to, was not an easy time for most people. The entire world was in economic depression for nearly ten years, then a war for six more. What people could not get because of financial harship during the Depression, much was rationed during the war.

It's suprising that so many here are so dismissive of wool hats, and full of contempt and condescension as well, that it actually suprises so many that they *GASP* made wool hats. The fur felt was just as expensive then as it is today, so it'd make sense that people of limited means would opt for a hat at a lower price point. This is quite likely, in my uneducated opinion, since the hat was well nigh required in those days.
 

Marc Chevalier

Gone Home
Messages
18,192
Location
Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
Matt Deckard said:
Marc has a very nice [wool fedora] that I started a thread about. He wore it to the Oviatt.

And here it is, as woolly as can be: a 1940s teal blue “College Club Hats” wool felt fedora.


MarcChevaliersVintageHats016.jpg
 

warbird

One Too Many
Messages
1,171
Location
Northern Virginia
All i can say is we had sheep while i was growing up and they all got rained on and every last one of them kept their shape and none of them died from the water.

And they seemed to live just as long as the rabbits, badgers and beavers with fur. Hmmmm.
 

Michaelson

One Too Many
Messages
1,840
Location
Tennessee
warbird said:
And they seemed to live just as long as the rabbits, badgers and beavers with fur. Hmmmm.


Actually longer. You don't SHEAR rabbits, badgers and beavers for their fur.lol

Regards! Michaelson
 
Messages
10,950
Location
My mother's basement
So where are all those vintage wool hats, then? Is it that they were produced in relatively small numbers? Or is it that they were likelier than the more costly fur felt hats to be worn out and tossed in the trash? Or is it that they just didn't last as long? You know, might they have gotten crummy looking a lot quicker than the fur felts did?
 
tonyb said:
So where are all those vintage wool hats, then? Is it that they were produced in relatively small numbers? Or is it that they were likelier than the more costly fur felt hats to be worn out and tossed in the trash? Or is it that they just didn't last as long? You know, might they have gotten crummy looking a lot quicker than the fur felts did?

They were used up and trashed as far as I can tell. Rarely do I see a vintage wool fedora.
Perhaps they traded up and got a fur felt when funds allowed and tossed the wool. People in the golden era had different ideas about looking poor than we do now. When my grandfather bought a new house with hardwood floors throughout, he promptly covered them with carpet because wood reminded him of being poor then. [huh]

Regards,

J
 

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