It's a Win-Win.....

We all hear a lot about the sun protection and fashion aspect to hats. I can tell you that over my career with Dorfman Pacific, which is over 30 years, I have seen many different aspects of my third love-HATS. (Now that my wife and son are appropriately recognized) I see another great opportunity for we in the headwear industry.

This opportunity is to make people more aware of the benefits of hat wearing as it pertains to the prevention of skin cancer and premature aging. As I see it, we have a responsibility, as parents and grandparents, to lead by example and wear more hats so that the next generation won’t endure the ravages of melanoma as we are experiencing now. To this end, I also want to see a concerted effort on the headwear industry to actively and aggressively pursue more substantive relationships with organizations such as the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) and/or the Skin Cancer Foundation.

The benefits derived from this type of association will speak volumes to consumers and retailers. It will be a classic example of Win-Win-Win-Win.

I see the next step to be a unified effort from THA with a game plan and resources devoted to make this happen.

Who is with me on this?

F&M Giovannio Hats

Hats are hot!
Fashion Editors are using more hats in their editorials than ever seen in recent years. They especially like bold prints and tie dye patterns. Extra large brims are very popular this season, for both Derby and casual sun hats. Not to be forgotten are the very popular trend caps: golfer or driver and mod caps. The excitement in hats seems to be continuing into fall. The trilby continues to be seen both on the street and in the stores. Important shapes continue to be the driver and mod caps along with a growing desire for small face framing felt cloches.

Whats your favorite hat?

June 10th, 2009

What's your favorite hat?
That's a question I get asked a lot. The answer is I have a lot of favorite hats.
Remember, I sell hats for a living and I have many favorites for various reasons. But they all don't look good on me. So I have my personal favorites and they all have one thing in common. The brim size is always 2 inches or less, never more. You can guess that sun protection is not my goal. It is just that my face gets lost in those big brim hats. Sometimes you can see these guys with the long jaw and the big brim hat on his head looks fantastic. That guy is not me. To me, the biggest trick in finding the right hat for you is finding the right brim size. Then it gets easy. For example, I have 3 hats in my closet now that I wear, depending on where I go. They all have a 2 inch brim, like I said, but one has a pinch front crown, one has a center crease crown, and the other is a traditional pork pie crown. Oh, and I like the snap brims. Lately, I have been wearing the brims up. But sometimes that is too much "rock'n'roll" for a corporate event, so in those times I snap the brim down. If I can figure out how to put a photo on this blog site, I'll attach the hat I've been wearing lately. The brim size is an inch and three quarters.

Bob Broner