Reply To: Are Borsalino hats more stylish than other fedoras?

Again, my point about style is that the differences are quite subtle. Perhaps you are paying more for “better” style shirts, but nevertheless we are not talking about major differences in style. Either shirt is essentially all white. You’d be “hard-pressed” (pardon the pun) to walk into a shul on Shabbos and point out major differences between the mispallelim’s shirts. (Or fedora hats, for that matter.)

IMHO, there is more justification for purchasing a better quality shirt than a better quality hat. The lower quality shirts, in my experience, wear out very quickly and the cost savings of the cheaper shirt is more expensive in the long-term due to the need to replace it rather quickly. Various brands of the less expensive fedora hats sold in the heimishe market, on the other hand, while they don’t last *as* long as a Borsalino do last long enough that the earlier replacement cost is less than the price differential to purchase a Borsalino when considering the time and cost. (And this is without even considering the loss of investment opportunity on paying extra to purchase a Borsalino.)

Also, with expensive longer-lasting hats there is the risk of it being damaged/lost and thus raising your cost even further with an early replacement. With a lower cost hat that has an earlier replacement date in the first place, even if it is damaged or lost it causes you a lower loss than a damaged/lost expensive hat since it is more likely closer to its replacement date anyways – and it cost less in the first place. And the risk of damage/loss with the hats we wear every day, either most/all of the day or at least three times a day, is not insignificant.