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The hat is as popular as it has been in a long time, yet it has not been a fixed part of the men’s wardrobe for decades. You wear one today because you want to, not because it is the done thing. Into the 1950s it was still a matter of course for men always to go into the street in a hat, or at least a cap. Which of the two adorned the head depended more on occupation and social rank than on personal taste. Labourers wore caps, office workers hats, and better-off gentlemen hats in any case. Adenauer’s Homburg counted as the businessman’s hat. Black, grey or dark blue with a business suit, brown when travelling or at the weekend. Caps were reserved for sport, cycling or walking. The decline of the hat began in the 1960s, when the young rebelled against the world of their parents and grandparents. Student protest and a loosening of manners were not thinkable in a correct hat. Wild manes, long sideburns and beards were now the last word, and a shaved neck, along with the hat, counted as old-fashioned or even reactionary. At most a crumpled slouch hat or a beret à la Che Guevara fitted the picture.
Why the hat is back
Today hats are worked into an outfit with no baggage at all. That has a lot to do with various pop stars who have been wearing them again for some years. Among older musicians hats were always popular anyway, the felt lid serving as a replacement for a vanished head of hair. Think only of Udo Lindenberg, who has not gone bare-headed for decades. But awareness of the dangers of UV radiation has also led to hats and caps being widely worn again in summer. And in autumn and winter the warming effect of felt, fur or tweed is appreciated. Fans of the gentleman look prefer classic hats and caps, which are most authentically supplied by British firms. The emphasis is deliberately on supplied, since many a model that looks thoroughly British comes out of German production. There are still manufacturers in Britain, but as they have become rare the factories often supply competing hat shops with one and the same product. Anyone who wants to know exactly where his hat comes from has to go straight to the source, to the hat factory or the hatter.
Makers in Germany and Britain
The best known German maker is probably Mayser of Lindenberg. Founded in 1800, a small workshop grew into a factory that was already producing 250,000 hats a year by the end of the nineteenth century. In Lauterbach in Hesse sits R & M Wegener. The hat and cap works was founded in 1816 in Hamburg-Altona and moved to its present site in 1884. It has produced there ever since. The range covers every current shape, and a large part of the top hats sold in England are made there too. Both makers sell their products directly, online or, in Wegener’s case, in their own outlet. The most individual way to buy a hat is from a bespoke hatter. In Germany Jürgen Eifler was one of the best known. In the shop of the hatter, who died in 2019, only individually made headwear was sold; the goods on display were samples. He used hare felt alone as a material. Otherwise he used velvety velour, and Scottish tweeds for his caps. At prices between 200 and 400 euros the bespoke hat from Cologne was no dearer than a good branded product, and on top of that Eifler refurbished his creations once a year free of charge. Delivery took between 14 and 18 days; for caps he needed two to three weeks.
Anyone not ready to go straight to bespoke can buy off the peg with a clear conscience, and even do it from home. There are numerous hat shops online with an enormous choice and good prices. A man who has never bought a hat and does not know his way around should perhaps still prefer a specialist shop. There the customer learns the important basics about fit, materials and care, and on top of that a hatter can repair headwear, alter it, or even make it. Most larger cities have well stocked hat shops, and in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg or Cologne often several. The famous London addresses count as a place of pilgrimage for fans of British style. In Jermyn Street, the street of the shirtmakers, Bates offers a large choice of classic models. Also in the West End is Patey, a less known but no less distinguished firm. Its history goes back to 1695 and everything is still made in its own factory. To measure as well, if you wish. The best known hat shop in London and the primus inter pares is surely Lock & Co. Founded in 1676, it counts as the oldest hat shop in the world and one of the oldest family-owned shops anywhere. Its customers have included countless gentlemen, among them Admiral Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Winston Churchill and Charles Chaplin. The English royal family buys here too. If you are buying a hat for the first time and do not know your hat size, you can have your head measured with an instrument called a conformateur. Besides the circumference it establishes the shape of the skull. That matters above all when stiff hats such as a bowler or a top hat are wanted, since they have to be fitted to the contour of the head. The curve of the brim is supplied to your wishes as well, as it was for the hats for The Avengers. At Lock & Co., incidentally, the bowler is called a Coke. That has nothing to do with the American drink; the name is pronounced “cook” and goes back to the customer to whose specification the first bowler was made in 1849.
Felt, wool felt, hare fur
Good men’s hats are traditionally made of felt. There is wool felt and felt from hare fur. Wool felt is somewhat cheaper, but it is not as fine as hare felt and it shrinks more. The quality of felt can be judged by touch; good material feels soft and flexible. Anyone looking for a proper rain hat should reach for models in waxed cotton or proofed cotton gabardine. A felt hat can also be protected against rain with a finish, which makes it a little harder to the hand. On cheap hats the sweatband is often made of synthetic fabric or imitation leather, but silk, wool or leather are more pleasant against the forehead. Whether cloth or leather is also a practical question with a sweatband. With a leather one the hat sits more firmly on the head; the cloth alternative wears more airily. Sports hats are mostly made of woven wool, tweed for instance. They can be rolled up and pocketed when no headwear is wanted. Caps too are often sewn in tweed, and they also fit well into a jacket or coat pocket. Caps have the further advantage that they give the wind less to catch.
The summer classic: the Panama
The summer classic is the Panama hat. Its home, contrary to what the name suggests, is Ecuador. There the raw material for the hats, fibre from the toquilla palm, is plaited by hand. The finer the weave, the better and dearer the result. A Panama in coarser material can be had for around 60 euros, while luxury models of the highest quality run to 1,000. Depending on budget and expectation, the hat lover may choose his price class. The hat is probably called a Panama because European engineers and businessmen discovered it as protection against the Central American sun during the building of the Panama Canal at the end of the nineteenth century. The canal was completed in 1914 but only officially opened in 1920, after the end of the First World War. Since then the Panama has stood, together with a linen suit and white spectator shoes, for summer elegance that defies the heat in style. The list of famous Panama wearers is long, taking in several American presidents, English prime ministers, artists, writers and actors. The last both in private life and in various roles. Lock & Co. carries Panamas too, since they are a fixed part of the English gentleman look. Charles, then Prince of Wales, bought his there as his father and other members of the royal family did, at the legendary hat shop that lies a few minutes from St James’s Palace.
Etiquette and care
When hats and caps were still everyday clothing for the majority of men, everyone knew the etiquette of the hat. Those rules have almost completely been forgotten today. At most it is known that headwear comes off in church. But what about a greeting? In the past you lifted the hat in the street in greeting, and held it in the hand while talking to ladies. Only in cold weather could it go straight back on. Indoors in private the head is bared, but not in public buildings, on public transport or in shops. On longer train journeys the hat is taken off and put on the rack, where one still exists. In a lift the hat stays on, largely for practical reasons: when it gets crowded there would be no room for a hat in the hand among the people. Caps are generally not raised in greeting, but like hats they come off in the appropriate rooms. In general, baring the head counts as an expression of respect or even deference. Good hats last for many years. Felt hats should be dusted now and then with a special brush, curved like a sickle so that the brim can be cleaned better. A good clothes brush will do as well. It is kinder to the material to take the hat off with both hands on the brim. In greeting that is not possible, and then it is gripped on the crown with the fingertips. In the long run that can damage the hat. When wool felt hats get wet, they have to dry slowly in an airy place. Even with every care they may then shrink. With hare felt that does not happen, or only after a long time and to a very small degree. A hatter can put it right by drawing the piece over a wooden head block and stretching it into shape with steam. There are hat stretchers for home use as well, the Hat Jack from Lock & Co. for instance. With it and some steam the hat can be let out a little around the headband. When the lining of a hat is worn through after many years, a hatter can renew it. Whether that is worth doing depends on the quality of the felt and of course on how much you love your hat. Hats are combined with the rest of your clothes by rules similar to those for shoes. Dark hats in black, grey or blue belong with the office outfit and black shoes, brown hats with a sporting suit in woollen cloth or with a combination of tweed jacket and corduroy trousers. Only black models go with a dinner jacket, a Homburg, a fedora or, for the brave, a black bowler. With full evening dress goes the black silk top hat, and a collapsible one is perfectly welcome. With morning dress a black top hat covered in silk or wool is right, but never the collapsible kind. At the races grey top hats are the first choice, though snobs turn up their noses at them and prefer antique models in black. Ideally you inherit one; otherwise you have to bid a lot of money for one at auction.
Caps, top hats and special shapes
Top hats are generally worn only with full evening dress, never with a dinner jacket or a stroller suit. Caps of every kind belong to the casual sphere, the one exception being the Basque beret. It is the darling of artists, intellectuals and revolutionaries, but it also works with a dark suit when travelling. And anyone who likes may put it on with a dinner jacket and a trench coat. The classics among British caps are the flat tweed cap, popular with shooting men, riders and target shooters, the more voluminous eight-piece cap, which goes with a wax jacket and breeks, and the deerstalker, better known by its nickname as the Sherlock Holmes cap. That striking model is particularly practical in rain and wind, since it shields the face and the neck and can warm the ears when needed. Wearing one does call for courage and a feeling for eccentricity, though.
