Originally Posted by
Tankertrashnav
Funny, I don't remember Gieves being any more expensive than City, Alkit, etc, and my recollection is that Moss Bros were a bit dearer than most. My first hat was a Gieves, and it wasn't a patch on the Bates one I bought later. I also had Poulson and Skone shoes as mentioned by Fareastdriver - haven't heard that name in years.
We had a chap on my OCTU course who had a Burtons No 1. Of course all we brand new would-be officers were very snobby about this and looked down our noses at him. He didn't care, before joining the RAF he had worked for Burtons where he was learning the trade. He said they had a contract with Moss Bros whereby Burtons cut out the uniforms ready for stitching and Moss Bros finished them off and sewed in their labels so the only real difference was that the Moss Bros uniforms were about double the price of Burtons.
Thanks for the input! What would you say were the main differences in between your Gieves or Bates SD Cap?
P.S. Do you still have your Gieves hat?