Where to buy traditional german hunting hat?

[wernerhelm]

Does anybody have a link to or a recommendation on where to buy a traditional german hunting hat?

[Diz]

Wernerhelm, I found some on Amazon listed as "Traditional German Alpine Hats". How traditional they actually are I will leave for others to decide. Thanks, Diz

[sharps4590]

I believe this is the one I have but mine is green. It was a gift from one of my sons and I'm not certain where he got it.

https://www.ernstlicht.com/250-hats/...enker-hat.html

I also have these two. Of these I like the brown one better. FYI, the brown one ran a bit big.

https://www.ernstlicht.com/250-hats/.../felt-hat.html

http://www.germansteins.com/german-country-hat-brown/

[mike ford]

You can try WWW.frankonia.de. This is Frankonia Jagd, formally Waffen Frankonia. Their Wuerzburg store was my favorite store in the whole world. They have an Export operation, but I never went through them( except once while still "in country"). It is hard to find the Export section, you may have to look around a bit. To look at the hats, search for "jagdhut". Try not to get distracted by guns.
Mike

[Axel E]

wernerhelm, What kind of hat do you call " a traditional german hunting hat"? I assume you, like most Americans, say "German", but think "Bavarian". Bavaria is just a quarter of Germany at best, with the Alpine region even smaller. To think that local Bavarian attire like short Lederhosen, Alpine hats, October Fest, and other accoutrements, is typically "German", is like thinking Texan fashion, habits and customs are typical for the entire USA, including New England. but even within the Alpine region of Bavaria and neighbouring Austria, hat shapes and colors differed from valley to valley, village to village, as folk costume, Bavarian "Tracht", prescribed.
See my answers to questions on "German hunting attire in "Waidmannsheil!", # 54,55.
In most of Germany other hat shapes were /are popular , quite often fedora shaped. On this site you find quite an assortment of hunting hats popular in Germany:
http://www.hatshopping.com/
https://www.hutshopping.de/Hutshoppi...ete.html#Start
These hats are all Bavarian/ Alpine shapes:
https://www.hutshopping.de/Tiroler_B...by_Lierys.html
https://www.hutshopping.de/Ur-Tiroler_Hut.html
https://www.hutshopping.de/Paspol_Trachtenhut.html
https://www.hutshopping.de/Steiermark_Trachtenhut.html
https://www.hutshopping.de/Tiroler_Jagdhut.html
https://www.hutshopping.de/Dreispitz...t_Klassik.html
https://www.hutshopping.de/Klassisch...achtenhut.html
https://www.hutshopping.de/Schwarzwa...r.html?fa_dd=4
https://www.hutshopping.de/Alpen_Fil...by_Lierys.html
https://www.hutshopping.de/Ausseer_H...y_Wegener.html
Other hat shapes are popular too all over Germany. In the northern 2/3s the "Forsthut", also called "Fuerst – Pless – Hut", is very popular. It was until recently part of the official forester's dress and still is the official hat of the DJV, the German hunters association:
https://www.hutshopping.de/Forstunif...y_Wegener.html
These are worn with the brim shaped individually, most often back and right side down, left and front up.
You will be dressed correctly with any of these many hat shapes all over Germany.

[wernerhelm]

to all thanks for the links.
Axel-- I really enjoyed the article and the pictures on the hunting attire that was in the Waidmannsheil!.

[Kiwi_bloke]

Hi guys
My wife many years ago brought home the exact hunting hat that her Dutch Uncle Frans used, (he hunted in Germany where his clients were farmers). Trouble was, it was a little small. You run the same risk if you get something by Ebay.de and etc.

Firstly I obtained a flexible tape measure from a clothing shop. It cost very little. I have ordered Barbour tweed flat-caps online using this to measure first and they have always fitted perfectly.

Just recently I purchased a Hat Mate hat stretcher sold by Hats by the Hundred. Obtained online for a very modest price. It is made out of wood but is lightweight. You steam the hat lightly when you next boil some water in a jug. Insert the hat stretcher and wind up a simple screw by hand. Leave to cool and dry overnight and you've gone up a hat size or so, according to how much pressure you wind in.

There are other ways of stretching hats, such as wetting them and wearing them until dry, but the hat stretcher works a treat - also left in place to maintain hat shape. BTW, old fashioned hat stretchers used a wooden block shaped like a human head. Also hats were displayed on wooden heads - both types known as a block-heads. So now you know what the term means.

If the hat is oversize, you can bring about a certain amount of correction by slipping a flat strip of leather or even cardboard inside the hat band.

Hunting hats are an important part of German hunting tradition. In German a hat is called Hut, (pronounced "hoot"). A hunting hat is a Jagdhut. If you add small badges and similar, they're called Hut Schmuck. So now you know what it originally meant when someone in the US, (where many Germans emigrated to), called you a Schmuck. You're an ornament! (perhaps you weren't being as useful as you could be). I would think that the Yiddish term originally had the same meaning.

So don't be a Schmuck. Buy your hat from a German/Austrian hunting shop or you may only get an online imitation meant for the Oktoberfest.

[kcordell]

One of my favored stores is http://www.kettner.de/ . Located in Koln... have a great hat section. I bought Jagdhund hats, jackets...fantastic quality.

[Axel E]

Kettner, formerly Eduard Kettner, Koeln and Suhl, is not in Koeln any more. After several failures it was split up into several independent companies. While "Kettner, Austria" runs several gunshops in Vienna, Innsbruck and other Austrian towns, "Kettner, Germany" is now a subsidiary of Grube KG, Hützeler Damm 38,D-29646 Bispingen, https://www.grube.de/ . Under the "Kettner" label they sell hunting equipment, but no guns any more, mail order only, no shops.

[DreyseM65]

Interesting discussion. I am glad Axel provided feedback. Most hats in the US are indeed of the Bavarian style, creating a completely false impression of what is 'German'. My Prussian parents taught me at a young age that Bavaria is not Germany.....lol. :-)

This is where I bought my Schützenhut from;

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...wOaxEtEUXIBxOA

Frankonia Jagd (Waffen Frankonia), if I recall correctly, used to have a store in the Darmstadt area when I lived in Germany in the 80s.

This discussion just added a great errand when I am in Germany in a few weeks. Will have to check to see what stores are in the Kassel, Koblenz, Mannheim, Heidelberg area.

[kcordell]

Axel,

When did they close the store in Koeln?

[Axel E]

Frankonia Jagd (Waffen Frankonia), if I recall correctly, used to have a store in the Darmstadt area when I lived in Germany in the 80s.
Will have to check to see what stores are in the Kassel area.

There is a Frankonia store in Kassel too, at Kurfürstenstrasse 1, near the old central railway station.
Others in central Kassel:
PW STORE GmbH & Co. KG, Wilhelmsstr. 25
JM Jagd + Mode GmbH, Ständeplatz 13

[Axel E]

Axel,When did they close the store in Koeln?

The sad story of Kettner's way downhill:
Founded 1865 by Eduard Kettner, rival brother of Franz Kettner.
1884: start of mail order business
1925: sold to the Buehring family, relatives of C.G.Dornheim
2001: sold to the (German) investor DIC
2003: 1st bankruptcy
2004: Kettner Austria , Kettner Swiss, other branches and most stores sold
2006: Kettner Germany with shops in Köln, Berlin, Oldenburg, Münster and Hemer sold to the French investor Financiere A.V.R. and renamed "Kettner International".
2008: 2nd bankruptcy.
2009: Remains bought by Schmid Industrie Holding, owner of Kettner Austria too. German mail order service closed down, replaced by the Austrian online shop.
June 2012: All shops in Germany closed down and/or sold.
September 2012: The "Kettner" trademark and label transferred to Grube G.m.b.H.

[kcordell]

Hmmm...makes sense. I was there around 2008. Was a great store...sad. Agree with you on Frankonia....great store and Diana in Budapest are also favorites.

[mike ford]

Don't forget the store in Wurzburg, I spent many happy hours there, it was the "home" store. The news of Kettner's fall is truly sad, they supplied a lot of the products sold in the Rod and Gun Clubs and sometimes had a display at the annual Rod and Gun Clubs of Europe conventions.
Mike