Hat Blog

Customers Review Hats at VillageHatShop.com

A few months age VillageHatshop.com introduced Product Reviews at their site. Hats at the site have received hundreds of reviews and as a result of the feedback VHS says it will continue to improve their offerings.

Some highlights among the most highly reviewed hats will follow [5 stars is tops]:

For Men:

1. The Jaxon Crushable C-crown Fedora and Jaxon Crushable Pinch-front Fedora have received 32 reviews and 16 reviews respectively. C-crown averages 4.69 stars and Pinch-front averages 5.0 stars (all reviews are 5-star!) These two hats are very similar. Price is $28.95.
2. Wool Greek Fisherman’s Cap has 26 reviews averaging 4.88 stars. $19.95, made in Greece.
3. Indiana Jones Fur Felt has 24 reviews averaging 4.88 stars. $105. (New Indy movie is coming this spring.)
4. Golden Gate Panther has 9 reviews averaging 4.89 stars. $72, made in the USA.
5. Bailey’s packable/crushable hats all receive great reviews. Made in the USA.

For Women:

1. The Betmar Enchanted Cloche has 4 reviews (3 are 5-star and one is 4-star). $52. Many of the Betmar hats have been reviewed.
2. The Plaza Suite Bryant Park has 3 reviews, all 5-star. $125.
3. All the Canadian made sur la tete cotton berets – 10.5-inch Beret, 11.5-inch Beret and the Pointelle Beret – have good reviews. $12.95, $13.95, and $24.95 respectively.
4. The Lanakai by Scala is available in a large selection of colors and is very highly reviewed.
5. Ivy Caps and Eight-quarter Caps are very popular with women right now. The reviews have mostly been great.

For Either Men or Women:

1. Virtually every Beret has been reviewed and people like them all. The big winner is The Jaxon Basque Beret with 11 reviews - all 5-star! We import this beret directly from Basque Country, in the Pyrenees Mountains in Spain. $48.
2. The Kangol 504 Cap has 15 reviews averaging 4.87 stars. $33.60.
3. The Maroon Fez with a Black Tassel has 6 reviews, all 5-star. We offer many different fez/tassel color combinations in this same quality all-wool Fez. $16.95.
4. The French Pith Helmet and the Indian Pith Helmet have of 4 reviews each - 5 are 5-star and 3 are 4-star. $28.95.
5. The USA made Deerstalker (Sherlock Holmes) Hat has 7 reviews averaging 4.43 stars. $25.95.

By far, the Jaxon line is the brand with the most reviews. People seem are nuts for these hats.

Importantly, you no longer need to take VillageHatShop.com’s word alone with regard their products. These customer reviews add a lot of information.

Jaxon Hats Brings The Authentic Basque Beret To North America

Everything we wear is made in China these days, right? Wrong. It’s true that berets – classically European - are made in Asia and sold in droves in North America, but not all berets.

This iconic headgear originally hails from Europe’s Pyrenees Mountains, home of the Basque culture. With the US Dollar consistently losing ground to the Euro and the quality of apparel from Asia getting better all the time, who in their right mind these days would go to Europe for hats? Answer: Jaxon.

“In our quest for the best, we wanted to bring this authentic headwear to our customers where the differences in quality are obvious,” says Jaxon Hats designer Bruce Zales. Pressed for details, Zales begins by lecturing on the making of wool felt, likening it to a kind of “conjuring” where one hatter’s felt-making formula (compressed, entangled fibers making an incredibly strong material) can be “light years” better than another’s. The quality of the wool-felt material is the important starting point in any felt hat, and if that were the only difference it would be sufficient reason to go to Europe for the Basque Beret. But it’s not the only difference. This meaty pure virgin wool beret is “Impermeable” (Waterproof). The sweatband (many berets don’t even have sweatbands) is made from genuine leather (most US importers of European berets have gone to vinyl as a cost saving strategy). The lining is sewn (not glued) to the inside top of the hat, but not on the sides (so that the beret can “breath” on the wearer’s head). Together, these details make a big difference in comfort, looks, and functionality.

Price? Not an arm and a leg, as Jaxon purchases the substantial quantities required for working directly with the factory-no middleman. The retail is $48 and bulk purchasers/resellers can buy directly from Jaxon at $27.50 each with a purchase of 12 units minimum. You’ve got to see these berets to appreciate this value. Stay warm, stay dry, and be cool.

The Jaxon Basque Beret is available in three colors: Black, Navy, and Grey. Five sizes: Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large, Double-extra Large.

Fred Belinsky
www.VillageHatShop.com
www.Berets.com
www.JaxonHats.com

The Fedora

Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney. Clark Kent and FDR. What happened to the Bowler and the Top Hat? After all, for most of the 20th Century, up until 1960 when John Kennedy took off his hat at his presidential inauguration, men were not considered dressed for work without a hat. In that century, the fedora was king (also known as a trilby in Europe) supplanting, in short order, all other styles for men. Although the style is mostly associated with men, the name “Fedora” comes from the heroine of French playwright Victorien Sardou’s drama presented in Paris in 1882. She wore the hat style that would become the hallmark of movie tough guys, Chicago gangsters, private eyes, newspaper reporters--in fact by the 1930s, virtually every man who put on a suit of cloths topped off with a fedora. If you are reading this and your grandfather came from either Europe or North America, chances are he wore a fedora. Today, the fedora is, hands down, the best selling men’s style (we’re talking full size hat-not ball caps and the like). The safari style, a fedora crown with a brim turned down in the front and the back, received a huge boost with the Indiana Jones movies where Indy’s hat was emblematic of the man. When we in the hat business engage our fantasy of men’s hats coming back in general fashion, what we picture is the fedora. The fedora was and can be again, everyman’s hat--the true successor to the bowler. Snap the brim and let your girlfriend know “Here’s looking at you kid.”

Fred Belinsky
www.VillageHatShop.com
www.JaxonHats.com

Jaxon Basque Beret

North American hatters have been importing European berets for centuries.  The term “Basque Beret”, once an indication of the best quality berets in the world, is today used rather carelessly and often is nothing more than marketing lingo – a disingenuous sales gimmick capitalizing on the term’s cache.  The berets may not even have come from Basque country.  Even the best known imported European-made beret slowly eroded in quality over time.  The sweatband is now vinyl and not leather, the sizes are inconsistent, the label is glued to the interior and not sewn, etc.  Jaxon Hats set out to reverse this trend and to reintroduce to the N. American market a true, highest-quality, Basque beret.  The result is their Jaxon Basque Beret.  Don’t be fooled by the price, Jaxon is the direct importer, no middlemen, and the objective is to compete with the popular European import alluded to earlier that has kept its price in the forties and fifties by lowering the quality over the years.

Here are the specifications:  A 148-year old beret manufacturer makes this highest-quality beret in the heart of Basque country in the Pyrenees Mountains.  The material is pure virgin wool, impermeable (waterproof), and is made of the finest quality European-made felt (felt quality and weight is a huge factor in hat making – a hat can only be as good as the quality of the material that is starts with).  The sweatband is genuine leather.  A satin lining is sewn at the interior tip (not on the sides so that the felt will not suffocate your head – breathing combined with warmth is the objective here).  A label that includes the Jaxon logo “ and reads “Authentic Basque Beret” and “Impermeable Pure Virgin Wool” is sewn (not glued) to the lining.  The beret comes in either black or navy blue.  The sizes run small, medium, large, extra-large, and double-extra-large.