New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-06-15
THE IRREGULARITIES or SUMNER HATS.
FOREIGN DRAIDs AND NATIVE cHIPs-MACKINAW
BRAIDs MADE BY INDIANS.

FOREIGN BRAIDs AND NATIVE CHlPS-MACKINAW
BRAIDs MADE BY INDIANS.
With the arrival of summer comes also the
hat OF summer Influenced by the songs Of birds and
the delight MANKIND feels in the return OF leaves and
flowers the manufacturers OF head give to their fab
rics decorative sense, and feeling gag and fes
tive than can found in the hats OF sober seasons
While the hats OF the fair OF Lighter material and
ofiarer and more delicate cOors than at other tines
even stern man unbends AMI cOndecends to q play OF
fancy in his hat from which his mind In winter would
recoil with horror. The male emancipation from
restraints of color conservatism displays itself generally
hats Those who eau never rid themselves from
feeling of the sty of being decorOus all times do
not 20 quite far the picturesque straw hat but they
compromise upon color While recognizing the necessity
OF wearing the usual shapes which can alone be consld
cred Dress" they abandon what s sOmbre. Their tall
hat plug" chinneypot" becomes pearl gray, or
awn or dove color; their Derby the same hues
and becomes lighter and curled az the brim Those
exceedingly heavy We5 who handle the ribbons Of four
in-hands even 20 the extreme of Tesuscitating the
loug-fOrgJten white beaver, winch IL cOlcaiy beautiful
and picturcsqucly grotcsque -,
days-the headgcar which is blown OFF the heads Of bald
steamers and Oobs up dersyey with the nag, or
which desCends with painful rapidly the slopes OF inc
eve TO facilitate such evasion the string which
keep from flying off Is deuSon asd snare Tue bus
mess Of supplying NewYOr and its dependencies with
straw largely confined to the blocks on Broadway
in the immediate vicinity OF the Metropolitan Hotel.
TRIBUNE reporter called at store there and asked for in
formation with regard to straws A member OF the
firm said that broadly straw hats could be divided
into two classes those that braided and those
where the straws strips were interviewer on the prn-
ciDaI of cane bottom char We import all braided
hats" he sad or the braid OF which they made.
Braid is rot made anywhere in this country, but is
made IN large quastlties by the Canadian indians, and
their ware bears the name of MacSinaw braid These
Indians also make hats. which come to u;
grade according to the glossness OF the material
and sOftness The prices range from ST. dozen TO
2IS a dozen. The uninsiructed eye would look upon
Macknaw coarse, cheap hat because the braid is
large and attempt has been made to smooth IT, The
colors are natural ana The Indians have an instructive
art and appreciation I'm picking out the most silyery
sravs. Our English braids are Dmstabe, Webster Leg
horn and Alaa. These last two are English limitations
Italian brads We import the braid in length and IL IS
into hats by girls Then there is anton braid and
China braid. one variety OF the former Is called
ance exactly China braid looks something like Mack
naw and piable and SOFT but IL is inferior to the In
dian article. We import Canton and China from tha Cei
lesta Kin gdOm and work ourselves The straw hats
that are woven called chips, and the genuine chip
hats from Massachusetts exclusively, where hun
reds villages have other employment than making
them. They display great variety OF manufacture,
cheap and the rough ones are perhaps the best These
are the large sapeess things often the heads or
eastern tourists on the lakes and mountains.
In this class may also be reckOned the Manas which
are OF fine material closely These come here in
the rough costing $50 DOZEN and we put them on the
block and brim them Sometimes we leave them IN the
natural hues sometimes bleach them white and some
times dye thea Ia various colors This hat OF natural
color looks ks Manila, but II comes from uTa"Oa The
famous Panama hats OF this type, and were woven
like the Manlas from that were blsacaed They
fancy for them has died away, but it
never was general. because they were so costly.
h. was due the extraordinary quality of the weaving
which was close and perfect that any Panama hat
could be 1lled with water and not drop could 0oze
through This could be done not only once but rs long
nat lasted and they were practically everlasting
one would last q man q lifetime and could De BANDED
making q braid vary. Some are of twO some OF three
some OF four sraws The material too is different, rye
straw, wheat straw and rice straw being used"