Why This Hatmaker Sets Fire to His $950 Felt Masterpieces 

Nothing is more satisfying than an artist satisfied and fulfilled with his art. Beautiful.

To all the people calling this overrated and overpriced: there are many people, like myself, who choose to own a few handcrafted, high quality pieces over many mass-produced cheap products that deteriorate fast and don’t quite fit perfectly. So if you’re a craftsperson who has a passion for making anything, please do, because I, and many others, will find value in your work.

They had to age the hat and jacket of Harrison Ford for the Indiana Jones movies. Ford found and helped to create his hat, but forgot to age it. Once on set, he was told it needed to look used, so he crushed it into the white sands under his feet, and then rolled it up a few times, dusted off, reshaped it and was ready to go. The sweat stains came quickly due to the actual weather being warm and standing out in the sun. Though they used three different hats for the movie series, the first movie used the same hat, all stuntmen had hats made into the style Ford helped to create, people who ordered replica hats were very upset that their hats were so much darker than the one in the movie scenes. The actual fix is to literally crush the hat into fine white sand, not cornstarch, sugar or flour, which can rot your hat and destroy it, but instead to take it to a nice white, dry beach, and roll it in the sand, then rub it out and gently put it on, and wear it. Indy's original hat was a darkish brown, turned tan by having fun with it.

I was going to buy one of these, but Fouquet.

"Yeah can I get my hat uhhhhh medium rare please"

“Hats are the pinnacle of elegance” - guy wearing a wifebeater

His hats are thousands of dollars. I just realize that i had no clue what hats cost

The beauty of patina is that it's earned through time. Intentionally distressed art annoys me because it's a statement of impatience. It feels so fake.

This is so hipster, I grew a twirly mustache watching this.

Killed that hat. One could argue that nothing beats time.

Now with so many Hatmakers out there you can get a Custom Fur Felt Hat for $400-$500 not $1200.-$2000 for this Guy's Hats. However in Southern California there are a lot of wealthy People who will gladly pay $1500. for his Hats and of course his association with Neiman-Marcus Stores helps too probably Macy's too. His Family financially helped Nick get started and they are a Fashion Family so it wasn't that hard for him to become a Custom Hatmaker. The Rich get richer!

What an inspiring Craftsman! It takes a lot of courage to strike out on your own and start a business like this. I personally love the look of his hats and I like knowing the products he uses are sustainable.

yep, looks like a burnt hat

I have a collection of hats from ladies leather to wool, casual and dress. Each one is a part of me and I can't think of anything else that is more personal in my wardrobe. This video is so cool I loved watching you work.

The hat looked perfectly fine before he went ahead an burnt the shit

That was a beautiful video about a guy that make hats and with his own style!!! Great work to Zack and Brian, I wish BloomBerg would show more videos like this!!!!!!

Out of the hundreds and hundreds of videos I’ve watched on RU-vid this is in my top 2-3 all time favorites..... and I don’t even wear hats.

4:25 Imagine walking around like that

😱 This is craftsmanship at its best!!! Amazing 😍 It’s soooo beautiful what he’s doing and I love, that art like this will survive because of people like him 🙏🏻

Wow Nick , you do awesome work! Thanks for this video !

Nice ! Good work, very good Congratulations!

, I have worn hats my whole life my grandfather was also a hat man I guess I got it from him .Your right you have to own the look

My 8 year old grandson loves. Real. Hats. He saves his money and buys at the hat shop in Disney springs. He bought a black felt top hat that he wears all the time. He wears an Irish style cap with his family emblem on it. He definitely owns hat wearing. I can’t wait for him to grow into my dads Stetson . Beautiful.

I happen to appreciate the craftmanship Nick Fouquet puts into each of his hats. It's quite remarkable actually. Good on you.

Great video. Great hats too. Love the artwork of both Nick and filmmaker.

I am fascinated by this hat-making process!

More people need to see this video. This video is awesome.

I'm glad the hat community is so small and not being ruined by society for money and quantity.

Customer: well, it doesn't fit and it has a huge hole in it not to mention it's fucking burnt! Hipster: **sweats nerviously** the beauty is in the mistakes.

Awesome crafter, awesome filmmaking. I loved everything about this.

Most amazing thing ive ever seen its always important for a hat to match you

He keeps saying “we” but there’s no one else there 😳

Rare field trip for Bloomberg to see how the middle class makes a living.

Very nice... Love to see the process.

How to abuse the slo-mo button.....dam ....the whole video was slowed down ....thought I was having a stroke

lot of Haters out there, his hats are cool if you cant afford one and I cant, please admire the work,effort,craftsmanship and quality without the negative comments. I don't know of another hat maker in LA that can make you a bespoke custom hat. My mother taught me if you don't have anything nice to say about something perhaps you should not say anything never has this been more true in the age of the internet. Im thankful craftsman like this guy are still making things that you can treasure for a life time it costs more but it is worth it. Way to go Nick ignore the haters and hopefully when I can afford one of your hats you will still be making them.

buy an Akubra for 1/10 of the Nick´s hat price

Beautiful work

Amazing! Terrific.

The hat on fire, so beautiful!

Gotta own it! Totally rad dude👍.

Nice job . Congratulations nick. Saludos desde mexico de un aprendiz de sombrerero. Mi linea de trabajo son los sombreros de charro.

My respect to your art. My hats off to you.

That was awesome!!!

Love the synthesizer work around 5:00

Loved the video!!

Fire resistant hats, for the classy fireman

Awesome, I have to come and meet you sometime! I love hatmaking.

You have to rock hats with confidence no matter the cost. Its like a piece of unique jewelry added to your outfit.

Fabulous work and video.

Why it always in slow motion?

Very interesting video. I had no idea there were so few hat makers. Though I suspect a large part is many people are against furs and leather in general.

You people do not understand what goes into a handcrafted product. Handmade anything is top quality and would probably end up being an heirloom. Mass produced hats fall apart. I make everything and just started making felted hats by knitting them first then hand felting them. Itsa lot of work and the public just doesn't realize it.

As someone who works in a hat shop everything he says is stuff I say to my customers everyday haha

That dude was really cheesy but major props to the cinematographer. Those were some gorgeous shots!!

Stunning!

Just amazing!

Really cool hat he’s wearing with the curvy brim

Amazing hats. Cool dude.

Legend has it after 2 years hat still sits there ..

This was beautiful! Love the process and the crafters vision. Thanks for sharing!

This guy just gave a bunch of more talented desperate artists the fundamentals of hat making. I think there’s gonna be a few for hat makers in America.

//QUESTION FOR HAT MAKERS// Does anyone know if you can do the sanding process like Nick does with any sort of felt, or just top-notch? Thank you in advance for the answer!

Love it!

Where do you get the base felt dome?

Wow... very artistic...

Are they $950 before or after the burning...?

Great job! I would really live to design and make my own hats one day. Lol Keshia

Of course he drives a old pickup 😂❤️

Check out Hornskov Hats from Denmark. They have some pretty awesome videos here on RU-vid aswell

How long does it take you to make a piece a art? How many steps does it take to make a hat without machines?

Awesome

this guy is a boss i need a hat from him

Well I'm down to learn. I collect tons of hats ^^

I would really love ❤️ to learn how 🤔 because I love wearing hats!

Love me some Beaver felt

This video should be titled .. why this hat maker glues in his liners instead of sewing it in?? 7:57

hats off

Super outstanding Bro…!

lovely video, really did enjoy it, was pleasantly surprised this came from Bloomberg though hahah

I respect the craft..

Cool craft

Where do you source your hat bodies?

Nice. VERY nice.

Does anyone know what does he use to set the hat on fire? 🔥 (I suppose rubbing alcool?)

I love what you do

Headwear is very personal a crowning accoutrement to what ever you are wearing, Hudhuds are the pinnacle of elegance and style individually created to cater for your desired dress sense to wear fashionable clothing .

Nothing will ever beat Stetson

I’d love to have one of his hats , but I could get a custom for that much

What a nice guy

He should do a car interior for the truck

How do you burn the fuzz off of things without burning them up like this? Is he spraying it with something?

You gotta own it the very minute you come in.

I love people like this, totally invested in their passion. But i’ll take my Stetson Whippet over any other hat.

“Mad Matter: "Have I gone mad?" Alice: "I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”

Britain is great .I love Britain

wow

spent the last 5 hours making my first hat. and right as I finish this video popped up :) mine was just a simple wet felted hat about doll size. absolutely nothing like he makes

How does one learn the process?

👍🏼