squeak, Where a minhug comes from is irrelevant as far as you and I are concerned. We must follow our fathers minhugim, it is as simple as that. There is no need to “research” its background, putting aside whether what you call urban legend is in fact true or not.
If you look back into the not too distant past, Chasidim and Litvaks didn’t dress differently from each other in any significant manner. The Chasidim continue to dress as they traditionally have and the Litvish were forced at some point, for whatever reasons, to change. They weren’t wearing a fedora, suit and tie in Lita 150 years ago.