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 The festival season is in full swing and vacation season starts soon.  Consumers attending festivals or going to the beach or on vacation need hats for sun protection.  The Jazz Fest in New Orleans just finished and the wholesale has that vendors bought gives us a good insight to what to expect this year in hat demand for the summer. 

For the most part hats were inexpensive and durable.  However, the hat festival goers will pay more money for is super widebrims—five, six, and seven inch brims.  These hats have the traditional swinger shape with brims getting wider every year.  This season sees two super widebrims with seven inch brims.  The first is a toyo hat with plenty of bounce for that high fashion look.  Basic colors of white, black, and natural are available and they are always the most popular colors. 

Wholesale price is $12.00 dollars, which means the hat retails around $25.00.   Normally this is beyond what a person attending a festival wants to pay for sun protection, but this hat is fashionable and women are seeing value in it for wear all summer.  Besides, the hat is showing up in plenty of fashion magazines, but not easy to find at the mall. 

The second seven inch brim hat is a fabric hat often referred to as a ribbon hat.  Wide ribbon-like bands of grosgrain are continuously sewn to create the widebrim that is crushable and packable.  Great for vacationers, this hat can stuff into a suitcase and pop out ready to wear at the beach or vacationing.  The sassy wide brim hat goes anywhere very conveniently without taking up a lot of space.  Expect big results for these summer women’s hats this season. 

Sales were even brisker in 5 inch wide brims at an inexpensive wholesale price.  These cute hats use toyo to provide some sun protection in a stylish look that also retails easily because of low price.  Fashion colors like turquoise and pink are available, but white, black, and natural again sell best. 

Straw hats dominated Jazz Fest with stingy brim fedoras surprising with strong sales.  Why a surprise?  Because these small brim hats offer practically no sun protection.  Celebrities and musicians wearing the hat made it so popular that everyone wants the look.  Straw fedoras are unisex so these hats have an unlimited audience.  Prices are also good starting at $4.50 wholesale, which lets them retail under $10. 

Durable lindu straw hats are big for the vendors at Jazz Fest every year as well as for French Quarter shops.  Best sellers are gamblers (especially with a 4 inch brim), safari hats, and pinch front outbacks.   Most have a chinstrap so your customers are not chasing their hats on a windy day and the lindu straw is exceptionally durable, making the headwear survive even sudden down pours. 

There are plenty more festivals in the line up this year for outdoor vendors.  Retailers new to the game may want to start on a small scale with a booth at a flea markets, school or church picnics, ball game, or street fair.   In addition, shop owners can get in the action because vacationers and anyone heading to the beach will want sun protection.  Hats are a rising star in fashion accessories so add some headwear to your shop and take advantage of an accessory that peaks in the summer when other items often slow down.

I love the creative process. The possibilities are endless! The freedom of choosing what to make, how to make it, and what materials to use, is very refreshing. As a busy mom, it is my jewelry making that I turn to for my personal rejuvenation.

I hope that the jewelry I make allows people who have been otherwise unable to wear accessories be able to finally put some on comfortably and be able to feel pretty!

Random Facts About You?

I am a stay-at-home mom to two little girls.

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 Memorial Day is drawing near and that marks the official opening of summer sales and the vacation season.  Festivals are in full swing as well as church picnics, baseball, auto racing, and so many other outdoor events.  With all of this fun going on outdoors, one thing retailers can count on is hats selling to provide relief from the sun. 

FEDORAS

Each season sees some innovations in headwear and this season is no exception.  Let’s begin with fedoras.  Both stingy brim fedoras like Frank Sinatra wore and the fifties fedoras like our dads and granddads wore are the “in” thing.  Yes, celebrities have been showing up in magazines wearing fedoras for the last couple of years, but now the look has caught on in a big way and popularity is mushrooming. 

Vendors retailing at festivals are gobbling up fedoras, especially straw fedoras.  You might wonder how much sun protection can you get with a stingy brim fedora?  It makes no difference.  Musicians are wearing them, celebrities are wearing them, and this has a big impact on especially the younger shoppers. 

The favorite fedoras for festivals and casual wear in the sun are straws.  For the most part, they are inexpensive—wholesaling between $2.50 and $5.50.  This gives vendors room to make money and still offer the hats at prices anyone attending festivals is comfortable with. 

But evenings out call for a different fedora.  The range of designs has really expanded with the popularity growth of these hats.  New designs include prints covered with clear sequins that add shine.  Floral prints and animal prints are a big hit here.  Speaking of sequins, the sparkle hats that have been around a few years are on top again—this time in fedoras.  These are great for the gals, but what about the guys?

Solid colors and pinstripes are popular for guys, and don’t forget the Bear Bryant look with houndstooth patterns.  Also the straws mentioned earlier are unisex hats that appeal to guys and gals alike. 

COWBOY HATS

Still leading in popularity, cowboy hats seem timeless especially in the summer heat when straw western hats peak as a favorite in sultry weather.  A major change this season is the introduction of more cowboy hats made in Mexico.  China has dominated the cowboy hat business the last several seasons, but several factors are influencing price, making the Mexican hats far more affordable. 

Actually, most products from China are seeing significant price increases.  Economist Magazine reports factory wages have increased 69% from 2005 to 2010.  Wage growth is expected to continue by 17% per year until 2015.  Add to that higher cost of materials, transportation, and an unfavorable currency exchange and the result is major changes in the cowboy hat business. 

Raffia straw and toyo hats are slowing because of higher prices and lindu straw with western hat shapes and distressed coloring are filling the void along with Mexican hats already mentioned.  Still, cowboy hats are a major player in the summer headwear business and something that needs to be in your hat selection for customers involved in outdoor activities. 

WIDE BRIM HATS

The wide brim hat continues to grow in popularity, with each summer season drawn to ever widening brims.  This summer seven inch brims are not uncommon.  The super widebrims with a sassy bounce are definitely high fashion.  This year a 7 inch ribbon hat is grabbing attention because this headwear delivers the fashionable look in material that is crushable and packable, so easy to travel with your customers on vacation. 

Continuously sewn wide bands of grosgrain ribbon create the hat that has wonderful color options for the season.  Two-tone white and black are new and quickly rising to the number one color choice. 

What’s the most popular wide brim hat?  Our style number, HTC677.  The hat has a crocheted look with a 4 inch brim and a choice of excellent fashion colors.  But what attracts retailers more than anything else is the low wholesale price of $5.75.  Everything from festivals to a day shopping or going to the beach is an opportunity for this headwear to shine. 

Include these wholesale widebrim hats in your millinery selection for an economy model.  Believe me! They sell!  From there add a range of wide brim hats all th

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If youve been looking at jewelry for any length of time, youll know that it is a very personal choice which can be made very complicated if you are looking to buy for someone else. That being said each style of jewelry as their own benefits: for instance rings are extremely personal, and can be quite beautiful however its very easy to lose them down the drain.

Earrings on the other hand are much more understated but still the problem is you can lose them or lose parts of them very easily. The solution in this case if you are prone to losing smaller jewelry pieces, might be cubic zirconia bracelets.

Indeed, this is a main reason that many people choose bracelets over earrings or rings: their size.

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Everyones worried about who Pippa Middleton is going to marry. Geez, leave the girl alone! Shes  beautiful, intelligent and accomplished, so Im thinking she wont have any problem landing a hunk of a man like her sister landed Prince William.

Although weve heard that she and Prince Harry may have a thing for each other, its not true. But what is true is that Pippa has a long line of men vying for her attention. Recent reports  say she has a celebrity crush! In an interview with Shortlist Cee Lo Green said, Yeah, Ive got to go for a duchess or something. Ive got to aim forwhats her name? Pippa? P

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