Club Obi Wan

Old Hat! Why the heady days are over - As the retirement this week of iconic hat-makers John and Harry Greenhough so poignantly demonstrates, the era of hat-wearing has peaked. Terry Kirby explores a world of felt, formality and fedoras...

You can read this here

I'm sure these two gentlemen are some of the creme of the crop among their peers, and deserve the accolades, but I also believe they sure think quite highly of themselves to believe their leaving the industry will cause the hat wearing public to end the 'era of hat making/wearing'. Maybe they need to check out all the NEW folks who are creating masterpiece headwear, and folks are buying them by the hundreds, let along the generations of hatmakers who are STILL around struggling to keep up with the demand.

Personally, I've never heard of these guys, so their impact of leaving the business is exactly nill in terms of 'impact' with his hat wearer.

There. I feel better now.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson,

Terry Kirby, the writer of the article, was speaking very specifically of the end of an era in hat making in the UK in Denton. I think he went on to provide a good cursory survey of the state of hat wearing in the USA and UK that was very fair and balanced. When I read it, I did not take anything the Greenhough's said as pretentious or self-aggrandizing. If anything, I found them poignant, and still passionate about a trade they had invested quite a bit of their lives.

"We kept going longer than most, while around us somebody was closing every few months. But then suddenly it hit. We diversified into knitwear for C&A - but even that was undercut by cheap imports.''

"We've kept our hands in on the machines, but it's all virtually automatic now," said Mr Greenhough. And there was a note of sadness in his voice as he said: "We didn't want to see the business fade away, after we had built it up over the years, but at least it has become part of the tradition of Brashers, which has been going for 120 years."

The article goes on in a more optimistic tone:

Now, the wheel has come full circle. But while a certain type of hat is "in" for a certain type of young man, there are a few other occasions when men wear hats: … But it has got to be a very strict dress code indeed before you see men wearing hats at more formal occasions.

Dylan Jones, editor of GQ magzine, is not a hat wearer himself but believes there is money to be made in hats again. He said: "In simpler times, hats helped to give men a civilian uniform, along with a suit and a furled brolly. Men haven't really felt the need to wear hats since the Sixties, when it suddenly became unbelievably uncool to wear a bowler.

"But these days you only wear a hat if you want to draw attention to yourself. Thankfully, the fad for baseball hats seems to be over as more men wear hooded tops. The person who could get British men to wear hats again would make an extraordinary amount of money.''

A great article Ren. Thanks for sharing. It is always interesting to read about the ever evolving history of hats.

I have to agree with Hemingway Jones. I also found the article to be an interesting vignette on hats and the wearing of hats, the most recent chapter of which happens to be marked by the retirement of the Greenboughs. I think the decline in hats points to a larger trend in society in general, one that I find a bit lamentable. This past January a close friend of mine, a retired Marine First Sergeant of 26 years, and a civil service employee of an additional 20 years, passed away. He was honored at the funeral with a Marine color guard and attendants. Among the mourners were some of our co-workers, who thought it appropriate to wear a t-shirt and jeans to the services! At that point I really regretted wearing a conservative suit instead of my full dress uniform, including my hat!

Sorry to wax philosophical about a fedora, but that is one of the things that attracts me to the Indiana Jones saga. Indy is a man who wears a suit when a suit is appropriate, a tux when a tux is appropriate, and fedora and leather jacket when they are appropriate. Indy’s hat is something of a symbol to me of a time when tipping your hat was indicative of good manners and of a more defined social etiquette that we totally lack today. To me Indy—and his hat— embodies that positive side of our culture.

On the lighter side, I’d like to have taken my bullwhip to my co-workers after Stan’s funeral!

Good points made regarding the 'end of an era' and the influence of these gentlemen to the hat trade.

It certainly looks to me like the hat is still worn in society. The majority wear baseball caps that are not to my liking but there is little to argue that it is not a hat! Ugly? Yes! Technically a hat? Yep. The fedora wearing minority(us) do cling to the old ways but we are anachronisms..and proud of it!

The statements that really caught my eye were:

One of the rare consolations of age is the hat. At my age, a man can suddenly start to wear a hat in the street without attracting violence.

and,

There's something about a young man in a hat which brings out the worst in those physical critics out there. I've worn hats for years and have the bruises to prove it.

It is a sad occurence when people are victims of violence for any reason, especially for sporting a hat.

ClintonHammond wrote:"The fedora wearing minority(us) do cling to the old ways"

sometimes a hat is just a hat....

Very true. However, sometimes a hat can be more than just a hat.

Strange to be talking about a 'peak' or even a 'decline' at this point. Hats have been increasingly on the way out since the 60s...

Rob wrote:Strange to be talking about a 'peak' or even a 'decline' at this point. Hats have been increasingly on the way out since the 60s...

Yup, and fedoras like we like have been gone for a very long time.

I don't know if the bowler (derby) would ever come back. (For those who are familiar with Laurel & Hardy, this was their hat of choice.) Be interesting if it did...

Glurrk wrote:I don't know if the bowler (derby) would ever come back. (For those who are familiar with Laurel & Hardy, this was their hat of choice.) Be interesting if it did...

And it was also the choice of John Steed. Not to mention Malcolm MacDowell in "A Clockwork Orange."

I really like bowler hats and have one. It takes a very dressy look to pull it off.

Well, sorry HJ, I didn't read it the same way you did. Oh well. Regards. Michaelson

Michaelson wrote:Well, sorry HJ, I didn't read it the same way you did. Oh well. Regards. Michaelson

Just good spirited debate between two old friends. HJ lifts his glass to toast, sees that it is empty and reaches for some JD. Michaelson raises a full steaming cup of Joe.

No debate. When I read that article, they could have said the sky was blue, and I would have disagreed with it. (grins) Yep.....fill up the cups again!! High regards! Michaelson