Truth in the X's: What the X Really Means on a Felt Hat

The X on a felt hat used to mean something. At Gone Country, it still does.

What does the X mean on a felt hat?

The X on a felt hat used to tell you how much beaver was in the felt. Over the years the industry turned it into a marketing number, and today a higher X from one brand can hold less beaver than a lower X from another. Most won't tell you — even the makers admit the X system isn't regulated.

How much beaver is in a Gone Country X?

At Gone Country, the X is honest again. On our beaver felt, the number is the beaver: 20X is 20% beaver, 50X is 50%, and 100X is 100% pure beaver.

What is the 8X?

The 8X is different: 100% rabbit fur felt — real fur at a real price, priced like the rabbit it is. No beaver claimed, none charged for.

Who makes Gone Country's fur felt hats?

We grade this way because of who builds them. The bodies are felted by Winchester Hat Corporation in Tennessee, one of only two companies still making fur felt bodies in America, with a waitlist most brands never get off of. From there they go to the Bollman Hat Company in Adamstown, Pennsylvania — America's oldest hatmaker, in business since 1868 — where every hat is blocked, trimmed, and finished by hand.

Real American makers. Real fur content. Real numbers. The way it used to be.

Where can I get one?

Our Fur Blend Open Crown carries the honest X — open crown, in Black, Silver Belly, Chestnut, and Brown. Shop the Fur Blend Open Crowns.