Hats are hot again!

[Indiana MarkVII]

As if this community never forgot, the AP just ran a story on how hats are popular again.

http://www.hatlife.com/newsletters/2011 ... 1/art2.htm

[jlee562]

Pretty sure they picked up that article from the SF Chronicle, because I feel like I remember reading that....

[maboot38]

Every few months another article comes out talking about how hats are in again, and every few months it's the same thing....the article is wrong.

Hats are not back in folks. Wear them if you want because you love your hat. I personally think they look great.

But don't think for one second that a news article will change the simple fact.....hats are out, uncool, unpopular, a punchline.

Instead of reading the articles, look around. The day you don't stand WAY out in a crowd for wearing a fedora....THAT's the day hats are in. Not the day there's an article in the local paper about some new hat shop opening or how K-fed, Justin Timberlake and Johnny Depp wear them so they must be cool again.

Love your lids and wear them with pride, but leave the rose colored glasses at home. We are all too school for cool.

[nicktheguy]

To a degree I agree with the hat fad being in - only just because there are more celebrities wearing them now - mostly pork pies and snap brims - with the occasional fedora in the mix - I am happy to see on the campus I work at there are more traditional hats than baseball caps.

Regardless of what's in or out - I long for the days when dressing up is more than a t-shirt and untorn jeans or yoga gear.

[jlee562]

I humbly disagree with Maboot. If you take a walk around San Francisco, you will see a TON of hats. Most of them cheapie wool felts or priced shangtung straws, but they are definitely in as a seasonal fashion accessory. Take a look at a fashion blog. Hats were showing up on the runway this year. Hats are more popular this year than they have been in any year in recent memory.

[maboot38]

I humbly disagree with Maboot. If you take a walk around San Francisco, you will see a TON of hats. Most of them cheapie wool felts or priced shangtung straws, but they are definitely in as a seasonal fashion accessory. Take a look at a fashion blog. Hats were showing up on the runway this year. Hats are more popular this year than they have been in any year in recent memory.

Disagree.

They ALWAYS show up on runways. So to celophane dresses and hats made out of 40 bird skeletons. Doesn't mean they're "in".

They are a novelty, an accessory like a lip piercing or a decent pair of Chuck Taylors, maybe a Vera Bradley handbag.

They aren't mainstream and will still command ridicule from the cool kids, if not outright "what the heck is he thinking" glances.

Don't get me wrong, I love me some fedora, but I've no illusions about their standing in society.

[Michaelson]

Well, down here in Tennessee they've been 'in' for several years now, so if it's a passing fad, it's pretty well entrenched in my neck of the woods.

Regards! Michaelson

[nicktheguy]

Yeah Maboot, there are more kids wearing hipster hats than baseball caps in the Pacific Northwest these days.

[maboot38]

Yeah Maboot, there are more kids wearing hipster hats than baseball caps in the Pacific Northwest these days.

I think you'll find that's not true. Maybe in your circles.....

Maybe there are more than last year, but more then baseball caps......I'm sure that's an exaggeration. No way baseball caps get outnumbered by other types. I'll eat my hat if that's the case.

And Michaelson...good to hear there are folks around where you are with some taste, but head down to Knoxville to the University and walk around campus. I doubt you'll see much of it there either.

[Strider]

This article perpetuates a ridiculous stereotype that has bothered me for years. This one:

Hats made their slow exit when President John F. Kennedy showed up to his 1961 inauguration with a bare head

NO, he gave his inaugural address hatless. He arrived at his inauguration clearly rocking a high silk topper, and wore it the rest of the day. Check it out:

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/jfkhat.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In fact, Kennedy actually revived an inaugural hat-wearing tradition. President Harry S Truman and Vice-President Alben Barkley both donned the usual silk toppers for Truman's inauguration in 1949; but Truman's successor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who frequently went hatless throughout his eight years in office, wore a homburg rather than a top hat to his 1953 inauguration, and even that was little-seen by the crowds in Washington that day, according to the Washington Post.

As far as I know, Kennedy was not a voracious hat wearer during his presidency, and with that quip about the fact that neither was Eisenhower, the fact may be that these two presidents going hatless the majority of the time (not at their inaugural addresses) may have been the major contributing factor to hats making a decline. Both Presidents were insanely popular, Eisenhower having been the subject of the first draft to get a common citizen to run for President (The "Draft Eisenhower Movement"), and well ... we all know how popular John was.

[Michaelson]

And Michaelson...good to hear there are folks around where you are with some taste, but head down to Knoxville to the University and walk around campus. I doubt you'll see much of it there either.

Old friend, I personally use NOTHING they do on the UTK campus as a litmus test for ANYTHING, and I work for them.

Now, walk around the CITY of Knoxville....as well as Chattanooga. Memphis, or Nashville and report back what you see....

Regards! Michaelson

[maboot38]

Now, walk around the CITY of Knoxville....as well as Chattanooga. Memphis, or Nashville and report back what you see....

Regards! Michaelson

Oh I wish I WERE in the land of cotton this time of year, especially this year. We find ourselves short on Civil war history here in Boston, more short than we find ourselves in the proper hat department!

[Michaelson]

Yeah, it's going to be a LONG 4 years for the CW re-inactments, that's for sure!

Regards! Michaelson

[VP]

Hats are back when the streets look like this:

[Strider]

Word.

[maboot38]

Amen. Until then "hats are back" is nothing more than a title to an article every few months in some magazine or online journal.

[Michaelson]

Using THAT comparison, that's a statement I can agree with.

[jlee562]

I humbly disagree with Maboot. If you take a walk around San Francisco, you will see a TON of hats. Most of them cheapie wool felts or priced shangtung straws, but they are definitely in as a seasonal fashion accessory. Take a look at a fashion blog. Hats were showing up on the runway this year. Hats are more popular this year than they have been in any year in recent memory.

Disagree.

They ALWAYS show up on runways. So to celophane dresses and hats made out of 40 bird skeletons. Doesn't mean they're "in".

They are a novelty, an accessory like a lip piercing or a decent pair of Chuck Taylors, maybe a Vera Bradley handbag.

They aren't mainstream and will still command ridicule from the cool kids, if not outright "what the heck is he thinking" glances.

Don't get me wrong, I love me some fedora, but I've no illusions about their standing in society.

Of maybe you just get ridiculed because you're not cool?

I jest, good sir, I jest!

You might be able to spot "a" hat on a runway show on a given year, but I am not exaggerating when I say they are popping up more frequently. Paul's Hat Works, mentioned in the original article, actually opened a satellite store in downtown San Francisco. Like I said, LOTS of people are wearing hats.

The statement that "they are not mainstream" simply is not true in my city. Of course, we're known for not being mainstream too.

[Dr. Nebraska S.]

I would say that stingy-brim hats, whether straw or cloth, have become quite common here in the greater Los Angeles area among teenagers and college-age men (and women, too). I've seen such styles of hats for sale at many of the popular chain stores at malls, and two different malls here have shops devoted entirely to non-baseball-cap hats. I'd say such styles of hats have become quite popular around here.

Having said that, I'm not seeing many people wearing wide-brimmed fedoras as many of us here do. I've never been that much interested in being part of the "In-crowd", so no worries here.

Best wishes,
NS

[maboot38]

Of maybe you just get ridiculed because you're not cool?

I INVENTED cool!

The statement that "they are not mainstream" simply is not true in my city. Of course, we're known for not being mainstream too.

So you're saying hats ARE mainstream? I'm just not buying it. I was on the coast in February which is prime hat season. I think I was the only person hearing a hat, period. So now maybe "more" people are wearing them....say from 0.5% to 0.9% or something like that, but I still guarantee more men's heads are uncovered than covered, and a majority of those that are covered are not covered by a hat with a brim of any kind.

[Indy35]

Hats are back when the streets look like this:

Totally agree with this. But I will say this... here in DC and surrounding areas I do notice a few more Fedoras and Caps then in most places, and more now than even a few years back. Actually when I started in my office I was the only guy wearing a Fedora, now there are several. And i have people asking me all the time where to find a hat like the one on my head. But price is often a sticking point when they find out they're $100 plus, or in the case of my Adventurebilt a bit more. Its more a novelty for some, than a necessity like it is to those of us here.

[jlee562]

Of maybe you just get ridiculed because you're not cool?

I INVENTED cool!

The statement that "they are not mainstream" simply is not true in my city. Of course, we're known for not being mainstream too.

So you're saying hats ARE mainstream? I'm just not buying it. I was on the coast in February which is prime hat season. I think I was the only person hearing a hat, period. So now maybe "more" people are wearing them....say from 0.5% to 0.9% or something like that, but I still guarantee more men's heads are uncovered than covered, and a majority of those that are covered are not covered by a hat with a brim of any kind.

If your definition of "being in" is comparing hat wearers to "the golden age," then I would agree that they are not "in." But I think measuring whether or not something has become a trend or fashionable by a quantitative metric of 50.1%, is a false standard.

I happen to believe that the increase in hat wearing, which I have observed in San Francisco - including many young men and women in the Haight and the Castro - as well as an overall increase in the visibility of hats in runway fashion shows, and among certain celebrities, certainly constitutes a resurgence in hat wearing.

You saw one hat in February? I was at a school dance function in February at my University and there was about a dozen hats. No, not a majority by any means, but a year or two ago, I was the only one who wore a hat. Like I said, Paul's Hat Works has expanded their business, and they're dealing in $650+ custom hats. Goorin Bro's has expanded, they have three San Francisco stores and one in Berkeley. That doesn't happen if more people aren't wearing hats. You can't open a retail store in Union Square, as Goorin did, if they're not selling.

[jkdbuck76]

Men are funny: I have three Indy hats and I wear them until Summer, then I put them away until Fall.
In any case if you wear yours, other men will start to wear them at work, or at church, or if you live in a small town.

Gearheads, other men are waiting for YOU to be their William Wallace and lead them and to let them know that wearing a hat is OK.

[Indiana Jeff]

Gearheads, other men are waiting for YOU to be their William Wallace and lead them and to let them know that wearing a hat is OK.

Um, I'm not getting hanged, drawn and quartered over any hat!

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

[Michaelson]

I have three Indy hats and I wear them until Summer, then I put them away until Fall.

...and that's when you should be pulling out your straw fedora for the hot summer months.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=51124" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Regards! Michaelson

[Long John Tinfoil]

Aside from the vendors, why do we care whether hats are in or out? I wear mine daily, was wearing them before Raiders came out (Yes, apparently I'm an old fart.) and will continue to wear them when an Internet connection is some kind of implant.

LJ

[Michaelson]

I'm right there with 'ya, LJT!

HIGH regards! Michaelson

[Long John Tinfoil]

[Michaelson]

Us 'old farts' gotta stick together.

HIGH regards! Michaelson

[Renderking Fisk]

Leave it to The AP to tell us something that we already knew.

I've been following the news on the internet for at least a decade and every couple of years there is a surge stories about how fedoras were back. That makes the assumption that they were ever "out" to begin with. There are some stories that are indeed written that say just that, but they're more of an attack against the men who wear them. The writers of those pieces usually scribble about how fedoras are out are usually effeminate weasles who get their marching orders from GQ.

Fact is, we don't need these people to tell us anything. I don't need THEM to tell me something I already know like water is wet, the sun is hot, and fedoras are back "in" again.

Gearheads, other men are waiting for YOU to be their William Wallace and lead them and to let them know that wearing a hat is OK.

I've been that for a couple of years now, and I'm hear out on a limb with my guts hanging out. Where's yours and your fedora?

[Alathea_Squared]

I got a "Cool hat!' comment today from the guy at my local gas station. I know him well enough in passing that he wouldn't have said it if he didn't mean it. It was a day booster. There is another hat wearer in the office that has come out of hiding, and we recently hired an older programmer that asked about the hat and mentioned that he's been looking for a jacket for a long time. He told me he doesn't have time for another hobby, since he plays chess, has 6 homeschooled kids, and writes on the side.

[Mitch LaRue]

Aside from the vendors, why do we care whether hats are in or out? I wear mine daily, was wearing them before Raiders came out (Yes, apparently I'm an old fart.)

Us 'old farts' gotta stick together.

Kudos, gentlemen! I couldn't agree more...


Popular culture is so filled with temporary fashion-crazes that are here today and gone tomorrow... what should we care if the masses who subscibe to those tastes acknowledge whether we're "IN" today (or not)?
As has been said many times: fads may come and go, but style is forever!


The only other wisdom I can add to that would be that long after these fads and crazes have since gone the way of the dodo, it will the old farts that will linger the longest...

[Indiana Bugs]

Hats are back when the streets look like this:

If you go by the fact that just about every man has his head covered in this picture, then today, ball caps aren't even in, never mind fedoras. Most men toady don't wear anything on their heads. Not all, just most. And then when you compare ball caps to fedoras you can see that fedoras are definitely not 'in.'

[Indiana Jeff]

Fedoras will be in when there's no longer a need to write article attesting to the fact. Sort of like reading an article that jeans are 'back in'.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

[Strider]

I think a lot of movies exaggerate the amount of fedoras that were in circulation back in the day. Sure, they existed and were definitely a huge part of a man's attire, but it was the depression. Not everyone could afford a fedora. Shoot, newsboy style caps were just as accepted on a man's head as a fedora was (look at Hooker in The Sting or James Braddock in Cinderella Man), and those who did have fedoras did not all have immaculate, perfectly shaped, clean looking hats. Rich people had those, if you were rich during the depression, that is. Others had what they could find or afford, and many of them were pretty well worn, since even hat cleaning and re-blocking was a luxury then. Many were too poor to afford a hat at all.

I think modern day filmmakers use the fedora to communicate that: "Hey, this picture is set in the 30's or 40's. See the hats? Yeah, 30's-40's, I swear."

I just don't think that "every" man in those days rocked a fedora or didn't leave the house.

[Long John Tinfoil]

Good point. I just did a quick search for crowd and street scenes from the 30's and 40's. In many almost everyone wears a hat of some sort, but fedoras don't make up the majority except in some scenes where it's likely got a lot to do with the kind of activity going on - financial districts look different from street markets, for example. Often the men not wearing hats are clearly "at work" - merchants at their stores or stalls in some cases, office workers looking out of windows and doors in others.

It looks like fedoras are generally outnumbered by flat caps, straw boaters, bowlers, etc., although I get a sense that "most" had a fedora, bowler or even a homburg style for special occasions like funerals, political events or hangings - a "Sunday-go-to-meeting-hat, if you will. Interestingly, quite a few of the Depression-era photos of men looking for work or traveling/migrating/on-the-road show them in what must once have been their "best" hat, often a fedora.

LJ

[maboot38]

Fedoras will be in when there's no longer a need to write article attesting to the fact. Sort of like reading an article that jeans are 'back in'.

Exactly. That's what I've been trying to say. The only thing "in" about hats, specifically fedora's, is ARTICLES about fedora's being in.

I'm watching the Boston marathon, watching the runners run by thousands of ordinary people on the side of the road....haven't seen a fedora yet.

So no...the fedora is not back gents. It might be back on your head, but it isn't "back", and no article or new hatshop opening changes this. Those of us who wear fedoras are considered "that hat guy". That's just the way it is. When that doesn't happen, then hats will be "back in".

[nicktheguy]

It's not "Back" because it's never been "out". The hat has always been available and people have always been buying it in various degrees. How can something be out if it's never been gone?

[maboot38]

Nick, I think this is all going over your head.

Hat's are not "popular" with the general public. This is just a fact. Just because some people buy them doesn't make them popular. They're in your circle, you wear one every day, and for some reason you're seeing some people wearing them. However, they are a novelty for most. They stand out. They attract attention. The make people double take and say either "wow what a hat" or "what on earth are you wearing?". Very often they'll say the first and think the second.

Look at the picture above again. That is what it means for hats to be popular, in, hot, etc.

I'm willing to bet a fraction of one percent of the population wears a fedora.

Next time you are in a crowd, take a photo, and let's count the fedoras. I'll even spot you the castro. You can take the photo there. There's a rally of some sort every other day there, no? Take a pic of any gathering and let's count 'em. if we see more than 3, I'm calling shennanegans.

[Dr. Nebraska S.]

Maboot38, I understand your point, but is a screen grab from a fictional movie (sp., Road to Perdition) the best standard for what is popular? I might recommend perhaps posting a photograph from the actual time period in question.

Even then, I would call such prevalence at that time of wide-brimmed hats more than just "popular"--I would call it a "standard." Baseball caps would not even be considered a comparable standard to the photo above. Yet would someone say that baseball caps are not popular today?

I wouldn't say that brimmed hats are comparable in popularity to baseball caps. And fur-felt hats like mine are still anomalous. When I first moved to Southern California about 7 years ago, I never saw any hats except baseball caps. Nowadays, there isn't anywhere public I go to without seeing some men in those cloth stingy brim hats or Panama-style straw hats. For me, from no examples 7 years ago to some examples every time I go out would be what I would call a relative increase in popularity where I live.

Best wishes,
Nebraska Schulte

[maboot38]

Maboot38, I understand your point, but is a screen grab from a fictional movie (sp., Road to Perdition) the best standard for what is popular? I might recommend perhaps posting a photograph from the actual time period in question.

Even then, I would call such prevalence at that time of wide-brimmed hats more than just "popular"--I would call it a "standard." Baseball caps would not even be considered a comparable standard to the photo above. Yet would someone say that baseball caps are not popular today?

I wouldn't say that brimmed hats are comparable in popularity to baseball caps. And fur-felt hats like mine are still anomalous. When I first moved to Southern California about 7 years ago, I never saw any hats except baseball caps. Nowadays, there isn't anywhere public I go to without seeing some men in those cloth stingy brim hats or Panama-style straw hats. For me, from no examples 7 years ago to some examples every time I go out would be what I would call a relative increase in popularity where I live.

Best wishes,
Nebraska Schulte

I know that isn't an actual historical photograph, but of course we've all seen actual historical photos in which hats are just as prevailant. I'm also not making a baseball hat to fedora comparison.

I'm talking exclusively about fur-felt hats here...and although I will agree that you might see one or two more than you used to, saying they are "hot" is an overstatement to say the least. We're still more likely to be the brunt of a joke wearing a fedora than we are to be genuinely complimented or ignored, and I'm guessing you won't see more than 1 in 1000 wearing one if you average everything out. Not exactly HOT as I see it.

Like I said though, i do love the look, and am a big fan of the fedora, but I'm not so in love with them as to have any illusions that most people either don't care about them, don't want them, or downright think less of those who wear them as someone trying to be trendy by following the example of moviestars and pop icons. That we AREN'T trying to do this is of no import.

Does that mean I won't wear mine? Nope.....but when someone says "Nice hat", more than half of the time they don't mean nice hat.

[jlee562]

Why is the standard for hats being "in" a picture from a fictional movie?

Again, the idea that the criteria for hats being "in" amounting to a vast majority of people wearing hats on the street is a FALSE STANDARD. But this completely arbitrary metric, suits are not "in" or considered fashionable because 99.9% of people don't wear suits all the time. You can't simply say that because so many people wore hats in the 20's-40's that they're not "in." Culture is not constant and what the standard was "back then" simply does not apply to today's time. Likewise, one cannot say "Cars were not popular in the 1920's, as evidenced by the fact that most people did not own them." There was far less diversity in terms of clothing, and the culture was almost completely different. The comparisons are simply not valid.

You may want to claim hats are not "popular with the general public," but it is also a simple fact that hats have increased in profile and popularity over the past few years.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/ar ... 326844.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How many fedora type hats do you see in the Coachella crowd? There's at least 7 that I can see, not counting the two ladies in wide brimmed sun hats in front.

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/fa ... shion-2011" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How many hats in this fashion photospread? Despite the fact you want to claim hats are "not popular," being featured in nearly a 3rd of the shots in a photo editorial which shows current fashion trends flies in the face of your premise.

And oh, a rally every day in the Castro? Uhh, no, we live our lives every day. Get real.

[nicktheguy]

Nick, I think this is all going over your head.

Hat's are not "popular" with the general public. This is just a fact. Just because some people buy them doesn't make them popular. They're in your circle, you wear one every day, and for some reason you're seeing some people wearing them. However, they are a novelty for most. They stand out. They attract attention. The make people double take and say either "wow what a hat" or "what on earth are you wearing?". Very often they'll say the first and think the second.

Look at the picture above again. That is what it means for hats to be popular, in, hot, etc.

I'm willing to bet a fraction of one percent of the population wears a fedora.

Next time you are in a crowd, take a photo, and let's count the fedoras. I'll even spot you the castro. You can take the photo there. There's a rally of some sort every other day there, no? Take a pic of any gathering and let's count 'em. if we see more than 3, I'm calling shennanegans.

Yes Maboot I am so completely dense that this topic goes over my head - that's because I have a hat on it to keep me from being enlightened

I could take a picture near me that would show way more than 3 people wearing fedoras - but that's near a Jewish temple so that would not be fair - there are a lot of hats there -

While I agree that fedoras may be scarce to view in public - I do see more "hats" over baseball caps these days - Hats being a combination of pork pies, straw feds, panama hats, tilley's, fedoras, etc. Baseball caps will never wain in popularity - but I do see more people thinking about what they wear on their heads these days than even 10 years ago. I think that fedoras are becoming more "accepted" into the mainstream than before. But this is all going over my head I suppose. You have your beliefs about how rare fedoras are in public and I have my views that I see more fedoras than I used to. I don't see swarms of 'em - unless it's around the temple -

Personally I don't care what people think or who's wearing what before I go out - I choose what to wear when I want to wear it. That includes fedoras, panamas, and even baseball hats - and yes I own more baseball caps than fedoras. I guess that makes me a hypocrite.

[maboot38]

Why is the standard for hats being "in" a picture from a fictional movie?

Come on guys, stop with the "why are you talking about a photo from a movie thing". Fine, ignore that picture. Use this one:

Again, the idea that the criteria for hats being "in" amounting to a vast majority of people wearing hats on the street is a FALSE STANDARD. But this completely arbitrary metric, suits are not "in" or considered fashionable because 99.9% of people don't wear suits all the time. You can't simply say that because so many people wore hats in the 20's-40's that they're not "in." Culture is not constant and what the standard was "back then" simply does not apply to today's time. Likewise, one cannot say "Cars were not popular in the 1920's, as evidenced by the fact that most people did not own them." There was far less diversity in terms of clothing, and the culture was almost completely different. The comparisons are simply not valid.

I'm not making that exact comparison, just stating that we'll know they are "in" or "hot" when they are not viewd as anything more abnormal than a coat or a pair of shoes. Those pictures simply illustrate a time when this was the case.

You may want to claim hats are not "popular with the general public," but it is also a simple fact that hats have increased in profile and popularity over the past few years.

If I have 2 apples, and you give me one, I have 3 apples. So the number of apples I have as increased, yet I wouldn't be so bold as to say I have a LOT of apples. Saying that the number of hat wearers has increased doesn't mean that it is a "hot" item. Dora the Explorer is "hot". Facebook is "hot". Those stupid skinny jeans that look like they are impossible to get on around the ankle and never appear to fit anyone..those are "hot". North Face down jackets are "hot".

Fedoras are not "hot". They're just slightly more common than they were ten years ago. So is hepatitis C.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/ar ... 326844.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How many fedora type hats do you see in the Coachella crowd? There's at least 7 that I can see, not counting the two ladies in wide brimmed sun hats in front.[/quote]

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/fa ... shion-2011" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How many hats in this fashion photospread? Despite the fact you want to claim hats are "not popular," being featured in nearly a 3rd of the shots in a photo editorial which shows current fashion trends flies in the face of your premise.
[/quote]

Sorry, I'm just not seeing it. I see sunglasses and hoodies and a backwards baseball cap, and some women in hats, but I don't see what you're suggesting.

And oh, a rally every day in the Castro? Uhh, no, we live our lives every day. Get real.

Take it easy, homes. Nobody is insulting you. It's a part of San Francisco that has a lot of activism, just like Cambridge here in Boston. It wasn't mean as a joke or insult, just that crowds gather there often.

[maboot38]

Nick, I think this is all going over your head.

Hat's are not "popular" with the general public. This is just a fact. Just because some people buy them doesn't make them popular. They're in your circle, you wear one every day, and for some reason you're seeing some people wearing them. However, they are a novelty for most. They stand out. They attract attention. The make people double take and say either "wow what a hat" or "what on earth are you wearing?". Very often they'll say the first and think the second.

Look at the picture above again. That is what it means for hats to be popular, in, hot, etc.

I'm willing to bet a fraction of one percent of the population wears a fedora.

Next time you are in a crowd, take a photo, and let's count the fedoras. I'll even spot you the castro. You can take the photo there. There's a rally of some sort every other day there, no? Take a pic of any gathering and let's count 'em. if we see more than 3, I'm calling shennanegans.

Yes Maboot I am so completely dense that this topic goes over my head - that's because I have a hat on it to keep me from being enlightened

I could take a picture near me that would show way more than 3 people wearing fedoras - but that's near a Jewish temple so that would not be fair - there are a lot of hats there -

While I agree that fedoras may be scarce to view in public - I do see more "hats" over baseball caps these days - Hats being a combination of pork pies, straw feds, panama hats, tilley's, fedoras, etc. Baseball caps will never wain in popularity - but I do see more people thinking about what they wear on their heads these days than even 10 years ago. I think that fedoras are becoming more "accepted" into the mainstream than before. But this is all going over my head I suppose. You have your beliefs about how rare fedoras are in public and I have my views that I see more fedoras than I used to. I don't see swarms of 'em - unless it's around the temple -

Personally I don't care what people think or who's wearing what before I go out - I choose what to wear when I want to wear it. That includes fedoras, panamas, and even baseball hats - and yes I own more baseball caps than fedoras. I guess that makes me a hypocrite.

Good lord allmighty, why is everyone getting their panties in a bunch over this? NOBODY IS SAYING YOU CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK!!!!!

All I'm saying is that the original post indicated that hats were "hot" now. I'm saying that a couple extra hats here and there doesn't make them "hot". I'm not criticizing your fashion sense, I'm not calling anyone stupid, and I'm not calling anyone a hyporcrite. I'M NOT SAYING ANYTHING ABOUT ANYONE! What I'm saying is that hats aren't "hot".

[Michaelson]

Oh YEAH!!!????

Well, your mother was a hampster, and your father smelled of elderberries!!!

[nicktheguy]

Nick, I think this is all going over your head.

Hat's are not "popular" with the general public. This is just a fact. Just because some people buy them doesn't make them popular. They're in your circle, you wear one every day, and for some reason you're seeing some people wearing them. However, they are a novelty for most. They stand out. They attract attention. The make people double take and say either "wow what a hat" or "what on earth are you wearing?". Very often they'll say the first and think the second.

Look at the picture above again. That is what it means for hats to be popular, in, hot, etc.

I'm willing to bet a fraction of one percent of the population wears a fedora.

Next time you are in a crowd, take a photo, and let's count the fedoras. I'll even spot you the castro. You can take the photo there. There's a rally of some sort every other day there, no? Take a pic of any gathering and let's count 'em. if we see more than 3, I'm calling shennanegans.

Yes Maboot I am so completely dense that this topic goes over my head - that's because I have a hat on it to keep me from being enlightened

I could take a picture near me that would show way more than 3 people wearing fedoras - but that's near a Jewish temple so that would not be fair - there are a lot of hats there -

While I agree that fedoras may be scarce to view in public - I do see more "hats" over baseball caps these days - Hats being a combination of pork pies, straw feds, panama hats, tilley's, fedoras, etc. Baseball caps will never wain in popularity - but I do see more people thinking about what they wear on their heads these days than even 10 years ago. I think that fedoras are becoming more "accepted" into the mainstream than before. But this is all going over my head I suppose. You have your beliefs about how rare fedoras are in public and I have my views that I see more fedoras than I used to. I don't see swarms of 'em - unless it's around the temple -

Personally I don't care what people think or who's wearing what before I go out - I choose what to wear when I want to wear it. That includes fedoras, panamas, and even baseball hats - and yes I own more baseball caps than fedoras. I guess that makes me a hypocrite.

Good lord allmighty, why is everyone getting their panties in a bunch over this? NOBODY IS SAYING YOU CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK!!!!!

All I'm saying is that the original post indicated that hats were "hot" now. I'm saying that a couple extra hats here and there doesn't make them "hot". I'm not criticizing your fashion sense, I'm not calling anyone stupid, and I'm not calling anyone a hyporcrite. I'M NOT SAYING ANYTHING ABOUT ANYONE! What I'm saying is that hats aren't "hot".

OH YEAH!!! They keep your head warm in the winter and cool in the summer
Try wearing a fur felt hat in the summer - it'll be hot!

[maboot38]

Oh YEAH!!!????

Well, your mother was a hampster, and your father smelled of elderberries!!!

Is there someone else up there we can talk to?

[Michaelson]

No, and my mother can't come to the door either, so go away.....

[nicktheguy]

Oh YEAH!!!????

Well, your mother was a hampster, and your father smelled of elderberries!!!

...I told him we already got one!.....Now go you silly English King and don't bother us anymore!