It's funny to me, a Canadian,
that this even warrants a did-you-know article because everything about the beaver fur/hat making industry is something I learned extensively about in elementary and high school because it was like, a major driver of the European exploration and colonization and therefore significant to the history of my country.
But outside of here it's just a footnote to a fashion trend.
If you're interested in learning more about the ecological impact of beavers, I highly recommend "Three Against The Wilderness" by Eric Collier. He homesteaded in BC in the 1930s-60s and encouraged the re-introduction of beavers after being on the brink of extinction here.
The other interesting but useless fact is that silk top hats (which as the article points out supersede beaver as the fibre of choice) are no longer made - and the technique for making them is effectively lost because they need specialised looms which are also no longer made.
But if you want to go somewhere super fancy like Ascot and look the part, a silk top hat is de rigueur.
There are now a handful of shops that basically have the entire remaining (good) stock and rent them out for an arm and a leg, and take care of them like rare precious things. Which I guess they are.
I was offered a new silk topper when I bought my last Montecristo at Locke & Co. The right corded silk is in rare supply, not the skill.
They asked under £2,000 (not that much more than my Panama) and I was a fool for not taking them up on it.
Very few people are buying Toppers and most people inherit their’s. The British upper classes do not see spending money as proof of anything but foolishness. Extant hats can be repaired and reblocked. Signs of age are not shameful among people who are not nouveau riche.
The market for new hats is tiny. Most sold are plastic and those buying them are none the wiser and appreciate the robustness.
> Factory workers soaked the skins in a orange-coloured solution containing mercuric nitrate; a process called 'carroting'. Vapours from the mercury poisoned the workers' nervous systems, making them prone to tremors, irritability, depression, paranoia, dementia and worse.
This is where the Mad Hatter in Alice Through the Looking-Glass comes from.
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But outside of here it's just a footnote to a fashion trend.
Edit: it's clearer in the seal of the city https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_New_York_City
But if you want to go somewhere super fancy like Ascot and look the part, a silk top hat is de rigueur.
There are now a handful of shops that basically have the entire remaining (good) stock and rent them out for an arm and a leg, and take care of them like rare precious things. Which I guess they are.
They asked under £2,000 (not that much more than my Panama) and I was a fool for not taking them up on it.
Very few people are buying Toppers and most people inherit their’s. The British upper classes do not see spending money as proof of anything but foolishness. Extant hats can be repaired and reblocked. Signs of age are not shameful among people who are not nouveau riche.
The market for new hats is tiny. Most sold are plastic and those buying them are none the wiser and appreciate the robustness.
This is where the Mad Hatter in Alice Through the Looking-Glass comes from.
See also: https://buc-off.com