Eugenia Kim Hats and the Hemingway influence

I knew that the new Spring/Summer 2012 line of men’s hats by noted NYC hat designer Eugenia Kim  was great to look at with stingy brim lids in laid-back hues made from cool, natural materials like toyo and raffia. After all, they were created exclusively for HartfordYork.com, and the Mr. Kim line has been selling fast.

What I didn’t know was there’s an Old Man and the Sea connection. According to a sidebar article in the March 2012 edition of Nylon Guys, Eugenia Kim used the nautical imagery from the novel as the basis of her men’s hat line, Mr. Kim. The natural materials used in making the fedoras were said to be island-related and the color palette (which for instance includes a deep ocean navy with The Blue Jimmy, a cotton driver cap) culled from descriptions written by “Papa” Hemingway.

Think I’ll spend some time in my library tonight. Although with Hemingway, you don’t even need to crack a book for a great short story — remember this one: “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.”

Thanks for reading,
Steve Singer
CEO Hartford York

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Earth Day in my Organic Hat

Earth Day 2012 is this Sunday, April 22, and I’ll be celebrating it in eco-friendly fashion: by wearing The Mojave, a gambler style hat made from naturally harvested, 100% organic raffia straw from Madagascar.

I’ve taken a few tips from EarthDay.org (after I completed their Footprint Calculator, an eye-opening couple of minutes!), and will also up my “Acts of Green” by trying to find even more sources of local food than I already buy from, and will increase composting and recycling wherever possible.

I haven’t used a rain barrel in my vegetable garden, but will do so this year. I’m pretty good with other small energy savers like turning off lights and laptops, and using LED bulbs instead of standard light bulbs. I saw something mentioned on the Earth Day site that I’d never heard of before in terms of saving energy: using stairs instead of the elevator for a couple of flights — that’s something I’ve done (once in a while) but only as an added bit of exercise.

It’s good to know I can look great and feel virtuous in a hat too. It doesn’t even have to be a straw hat. I mean, just look at The True Organic Scala Ball Cap. It’s a completely classic look with with one significant advantage: a low environmental impact because the cotton is grown without chemicals or pesticides and is hand gathered and naturally processed.

Thanks for reading,
Steve Singer
CEO Hartford York

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Johnny Depp in a Cowboy Hat

Johnny Depp, who is usually seen in his tattered fedora, was wearing a black cowboy hat when he joined Marilyn Manson in a concert for Revolver magazine’s Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles.

After viewing the performance of Sweet Dreams as well as a rendition of The Beautiful People, I can honestly say I liked the hat the best. Although Depp’s guitar work rocks, I’m not a big fan of Manson’s shock rock delivery style. Apparently the two are friends, have teamed up before and are in fact performing  together again on the singer’s upcoming album with a version of You’re So Vain by Carly Simon.

The choice of cowboy hat (with large white feather in addition to colorful trim) seems an odd choice for the venue, although the broad brim might have had something to do with it as Depp was performing incognito at first. The man looks good in hats and it was nice to see him in a style I don’t think I’ve seen him in before.

Now, I wonder if Depp would consider playing with someone a tad more tuneful, like Michael Feinstein, Michael Bublé or Harry Connick Jr. Of course, with those fellas, he’d probably need a nice, new fedora.

Thanks for reading (quietly),
Steve Singer
CEO Hartford York

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Great Golf Hat

Product reviews that you submit to Hartford York are edited for clarity, spelling and length; however, one top review from customer Gary M. of Frederick, MD, deserves its very own blog post.

Gary purchased The Outback, a raffia straw hat by Scala with leather chin cord and broad, sun-shielding brim. I like this hat for its comfortable wear (there’s an elasticized sweatband) and casual style. Gary’s full review reads as follows:

This is one of two hats I ordered that came out of the box looking great — better even than the online pics. I ordered The Outback as a replacement golf hat, selecting it in part because of the chin string. Had to bail from the golf cart one too many times when the wind whipped off my previous straw golf hat, sans chin string. Plus, we’ll be on a cruise in about a month, and I figure if the wind blows your hat off then, I’d only be able to chase it so far . . . anyway, I’ll consider raffia weave in the future. Rugged but polished, fits great.

One note, I measured 22.5″ and was in-between M & L size, and opted for the larger size because of my experience with sweatbands similar to this one where a M was a bit snug. I thought it would make more sense to go with the L thinking the snug fit would translate into L feeling more like M; sort of worked out that way, but I believe the M would have worked as well because of the construction.

Aside from that, I found on my first outing with it, that while the string sort of duels with my cigar while bending over a putt and sometimes clips off the ash, I found a careful positioning of the cigar as it passes through the string opening mitigates the conflict.

I’m very satisfied with the hat, and plan to wear it as First Choice while out hitting the crap out of those little, white, round & dimpled friends of mine, against whom I otherwise harbor no ill will. Great golf hat!

Now that’s what I call a review!

Thanks for playing,
Steve Singer
CEO Hartford York

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Straw Hats for Men

We’ve got more five-star customer reviews to share, this time on perfect-for-summer straw hats.

The one pictured here is a Makins fedora called The Lyceum. Made from Japanese Bu straw, you really won’t believe how light this very classy hat is until you put it on your head. The blue with white multi-striped band is, using the word of a satisfied customer “magnificent”, and if you like your hats made in the U.S.A., then you’ll appreciate that this hat was made in New York City.

Joel W. called The Montecristi Pork Pie, a Panama hat by Biltmore, “a great lid.” Since he spends time in southeast Asia, he says it’s important to wear Panama hats “of high quality because of all the heat and humidity.” His assessment of The Montecristi Pork Pie? “This one rocks!”

Another Biltmore straw hat received a five-star review. Customer Enoch B. said he likes the quality of The Ventilated Panama hat, a pinch front fedora with an interesting dimensional brim and cooling open mesh crown. The great look comes in at a great price too. What’s not to like?

Keep those customer reviews coming. Let us know what makes you happy — and we’ll continue doing just that!

Thanks for reading,
Steve Singer
CEO Hartford York

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