Is the $1,600 Bottega Veneta Hat Actually Kind of a Bargain?
There aren't many four-figure garments you could consider a "bargain" but, of them, Bottega Veneta's $1,600 hat has to be up there. Sure, we're grading on a curve but there's a case to be made here.
Bottega Veneta's humbly titled Aviator Hat is exactly what it sounds like. We're talking a supremely luxe remix of a familiar piece of headwear (sometimes called a trapper cap) with its plush lining cut from indulgent shearling and exterior body woven from supple nappa leather in Bottega's typical intrecciato style.
That's a lot of fanciness happening on one hat. Shearling is perhaps the world's most expensive form of fluff given the extreme ardor necessary for its cultivation — weighed down further by an ethical quandary — while nappa leather sits among the upper crust of exquisite leathers and is more commonly utilized for luxury car seats and handbags.
Given all this sumptuous stuff, the fact that the hat only costs $1,600 on Bottega Veneta's website is comparatively considerate.
Let's preempt the argument. Of course, that's more money than us ordinary folks can or should ever justify for a piece of headwear. But from a more distanced POV, it's kind of a deal. A deal in the sense that anything that costs less than you expect it to cost is a deal, I suppose, but even the loosest deal is still a deal.
We're not just talking any ol' fur-trimmed hat, remember. This is top-tier shearling sewn to some of the world's finest leather not only cut to taste but handwoven by trained craftspeople. It's obviously an indulgence to the nth degree but when it comes to clothing of this caliber, what isn't?
Shearling's presence, plus that of Bottega's signature woven leather, typically boosts retail prices up towards the five-figure mark — a Bottega shearling jacket runs close to $10.000 — which is why a generous reading allows us to consider it impressive that the hat only costs a single rent payment or so. Only one!
Of course, anyone choosing between rent or this hat is well aware that the former makes way more sense in the real world. But we aren't in the real world here, we're in the world of $7,000 Jenga sets and barely-there shoes priced at a very-there $1,000. And in this world, an ultra-luxury hat for $1,600 is kind of a bargain.
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