What “20X” Actually Means (and Why Felt Grade Matters More)

Walk into almost any hat shop and you’ll see it stamped somewhere on the box: 3X, 5X, 10X, 20X, 100X or even 2500X. Most people nod along like they know what it means. Most don’t. For a long time, that confusion worked in the industry’s favor. We’d rather clear it up than profit from it.

Where the X rating came from

The X system dates back generations, to a time when it loosely tracked how much beaver fur was in a felt blend – beaver being finer, more durable, and pricier than rabbit. More X’s, in theory, meant more beaver, which meant a better hat.

That system hasn’t been standardized in decades. No industry body today enforces what a maker can or can’t call “10X,” “20X,” or apparently “2500X.” Ask yourself what a number like that could possibly represent. A hatmaker can print almost anything on a box, which means the X rating, as most of the industry uses it now, tells you far less than it used to, and far less than most customers assume.

So what matters…

If the number itself isn’t reliable, where should your attention go instead?

• Fiber content – what the felt is actually made from, and in what ratio
• Density and hand-feel – how tightly the felt is pressed, and how it feels in your hands
• Shape retention – a well-made felt hat holds a crease and a curl for years, not months
• How it ages – quality felt develops character over time instead of just breaking down

None of that shows up in a number on a box. It shows up in how the hat is built.

Why we’re not keeping this a secret

Some brands guard their felt blend like a trade secret. We understand the instinct, but we don’t share it. Customers deserve to know what they’re buying, not just take a number on faith. So when we talk about felt grade, we’ll tell you what’s actually in it, why we chose it, and what it means for how the hat performs and ages. Not because we have to. Because it’s the right way to do business.

That philosophy runs through everything we build – and it’s about to matter even more. Our Gateway Edition, launching this fall, is 20X for a real reason: it’s made from felt that’s genuinely 20% beaver fur. Not a marketing figure pulled from thin air – a real ratio we can back up, because we know exactly what’s in it and we’re not afraid to say so.

The bottom line

A number on a box can mean almost anything. Craftsmanship can’t be faked – the shaping, the finishing, the decisions made long before a hat reaches a shelf. That’s what we want you judging us on. The X is just where the conversation starts.

— Caleb