I often get asked what a person needs to be able to take care of their hats. I finally decided to put together the most essential hat care tools into Aaron’s Hat Care Set. First in the set is a soft bristled brush. This is good to have for all your hats but especially helpful on felt hats. You have a choice of a light color or a dark colored brush. There is no difference in the brush other than you wouldn’t want to use the same brush that you use on your black hats as you do on your white or silver belly hats for fear of transferring black felt dust onto your light colored hat. Next is the Hat Jack. Again, this item is especially useful on felt hats but also on any hat that may shrink or you need to stretch. Simply choose the appropriate size. Lastly, is the Scout Felt Hat Protector. As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, this can be used not only on felts hats but nearly any hat or cap to help protect is from the rain, snow or even some stains.

Aaron

I always recommend that if a customer will be wearing their felt hat regularly in rain and snow they may want to consider spraying on some weather protection in the form of our Scout Felt Hat Protector spray. I have used this on felt hats with no problems for five years but never tried it on any other type of material. Well, this weekend I picked out a new Kangol 504 Wool to add to my hat collection. It was raining heavily out so I decided to try using this spray on my new Kangol cap. Over the course of about 15 minutes I sprayed on four coats of spray. It didn’t make the soft cap stiff and it didn’t change the color one bit. The end result was a new cap that can be worn in the rain without concern.

Pick up a can and start spraying your hats today.

Wow, what a week it’s been. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to blog. Fortunately though, many of you have started your Christmas shopping. Also, our latest newsletter went on Thursday morning. Be sure to sign up for our hat newsletter so you don’t miss out on special announcements for the holiday shopping season.

Here’s a quick rundown on this week’s hat deliveries:

• Greek Fisherman cap in black wool. All sizes back in but are selling very fast.
• Kangol 504 for kids in the flannel color.
• Kangol Furgora Bin. All sizes in black.
• Tilley Casablanca in black. Sizes small through XL for women.
• Stetson Explorer in brown mix. Sizes small through XL.

This list is just the more popular styles we received this week. If you have some free time this weekend do some hat shopping at Aaron Hats…either for yourself or to give as a gift.

Have a great weekend,

Aaron

It seems our inventory continues grow every week, both with existing and also new hat brands. In an effort to make these new hats easier to find on our web site, GetaHatOn.com, I have created two new categories. These new hat categories are under the “Shop by Style” menu. They are for Ascots and Bomber Hats.

If you are ever looking a specific hat just drop us a note and we’ll let you know what we can find for you.

Thank you for your business.

Aaron

In late summer, we seemed to get an unusually high number of funeral directors visiting our store and they were all looking for the same hat…the Homburg. I found this great description of the Homburg from Wikipedia:

A homburg is a stiff felt hat that is superficially very similar to the trilby or fedora, since both can have a crease from the front to the back of the crown, known as a “center dent”. The homburg usually has no pinches, and has a brim with the edge sharply turned up all the way around. It is typically made from wool or fur felt and has a grosgrain hatband and brim treatment with an optional feather. A variant form is the “lord’s hat”, which lacks the edge ribbon, and may, optionally, be pinched.

It was popularized by Edward VII after he visited Bad Homburg in Hesse, Germany, and brought back a hat of this style. Like the trilby or fedora, the homburg was once quite popular and is still available in almost any color, but the most common colors are black, grey, and brown. In Britain a black homburg became widely known in the 1930s as an “Anthony Eden” after the Government Minister of that name.

In formality, the homburg ranks just below the top hat, and above hats such as the bowler or fedora. It is appropriate (often with a topcoat) with a stroller, or with black tie.

The “Godfather” hat, as it is sometimes referred to in American popular culture, was made popular by many legendary gangster and mafia movies made in Hollywood. It was also made famous as a trademark of British comedian Tony Hancock. Flower power pop group Procol Harum had a hit single “Homburg” in 1967 about the hat. The biggest names in the world of “hip-hop” brought it back into style in the late 1990s and is still popular with many artists of today. Many of the hats sold as “Godfather homburgs” have a wider brim than a regular homburg, with the brim rolled up more on the sides, like a bowler.

Check out our Homburg aka the Dobbs Fleetwood.

Get a Homburg on,

Aaron

and it wasn’t even close. Kangol outsells every other brand of hat we have. Month after month you, our customers, continue to order more Kangol hats than any other brand. This is certainly a testament to the campaign Kangol has waged to give the people what they want. No empty promises here. It’s really quite interesting when you look at the demographics of the Kangol voter. They include men across all age brackets and most recently the women of America have really come on strong for Kangol. Let’s not forget to mention the young voters across the country getting their parents to buy from the growing collection of Kangol hats for kids. Even through this troubled economy you have continued to support Kangol with your hard earned money and we thank you for it. Now let’s get the rest of the economy going with our commitment to support the other candidates like Bailey of Hollywood, Stetson of Texas and Henschel of Missouri.

With the snow flurries we had this week in North Conway I figured it was time to bring in the Tilley Winter Hats for the season. For the ‘08/09 winter season Aaron Hats is bringing back the Tilley TW2 Winter Hat, the Ladies Casablanca Hat and the Tilley Fedora. Also, brand new for this year is the Tilley TW5 Soft Shell Winter Hat. This has a nylon shell with polar fleece backing. Unlike the other Tilley winter hats this one is machine washable just like the summer Tilley’s. All of these Tilley hats are insured against loss for the first two years and guaranteed for life not to wear out.

Aaron in his Tilley TW2 Winter Hat last year.

These hats are due to be delivered next week but you can place your order now and be guaranteed one before the snow flies again.

Have a great weekend.

Aaron

You’ve been asking for it for a couple years and they’re finally here…Kangol hats and caps for kids. You’ll find a lot of the most popular styles for adults now made in children’s sizes. You’ll get the same great Kangol style, fabric and quality. The most famous Kangol cap is the 504 which is now available in a dozen colors. You’ll also find a wool beret, a baseball cap with the Kangol logo and a military style cap. You can find all these in the Kangol section of our web site or the Children’s hats section.

Kangol Hat For Kids at Aaron Hats

In the latest issue of InStyle magazine there’s an article about using vintage or retro touches in your wardrobe. I think they give some great advice. They don’t tell you to go out and buy a complete vintage outfit, instead you should use a vintage item to add to your current wardrobe. Add a vintage belt, handbag or jewelry nad you’ll add some unique yet classic style to your outfit. Though the article is really geared towards women it can certainly apply to men as well. Guys could add a vintage pair of cuff links, a pocket square in your blazer or a nice classic fedora. You do need to be careful with your fedora though. You need to make sure the dimensions of the hat are appropriate for you. Just because you score a vintage fedora in your size doesn’t mean you should wear it. Some really old fedoras can have very tall crowns and wide brims. If you’re only 5′4″ and 130 lbs. you wouldn’t want to wear that hat. You’ll look like you’re playing dress up in your fathers hat. A new fedora that works well with a lot of men is the Stetson Chatham. It has a 4″ crown and a 2 3/8″ snap brim which fits a wide array of men’s shapes.

Get a vintage inspired hat on,

Aaron

PS: If you’re looking for a nice vintage inspired suit, check out the three piece suit featured on page 27 of the November issue of GQ magazine. Very cool.

Here’s a quick rundown on what arrived here at Aaron Hats today, Oct. 16:

Stetson Nostalgia, color Caribou, sizes 7 1/4 & 7 3/8, sizes 7 1/8, 7 5/8 & 7 3/4 still pending

Charlie 1 Horse Night Ridger, color Black, sizes small, medium & large

Stetson Saxon, color Black, all sizes now in stock except 7 5/8