“ROLLER-BOWLER” HATS BECOME POPULAR IN N.Z.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 84, 11 January 1950, Page 4

“ROLLER-BOWLER” HATS BECOME POPULAR IN N.Z.

Although women in the Bay of Plenty may not have experienced them yet a small piece of felt bashed into shape and sold as a “rollerbowler” at something like 15/- is enjoying a good deal of popularity these days iu some parts of New Zealand. Started Somewhere It came to this country just under two years ago- from Britain. But no one knows where it started. It wasn’t P^ris—it may have been New York—but it was probably London. One London manufacturer sold 2400 “roller-bowlers” the first week it apeared. In Wellington, one of the larger retailers sold 376 dozen in the first three months after its debut. Milliners stress the fact that the hat is enjoying so much popularity here because of its simplicity of design and appearance. It is blocked to suit the contours of the .head, and the brim is rolled over. It can be worn with feathers ribbons, or veiling—or without anything. With a few juvenile or adolescent trimmings it can be worn by “Junior Misses” of 16 or “darling debs” of 20. Stick a feather in it and it suits the 40-year-old mother of five children —or the grandmother of 70. Recently a milliner sold a “rolierbowler” to a 70-year-old grandmother—and it suited her. Summer Version The summer version of the “roller-bowler” is now making its appearance. It is produced in either straw or cotton. The straw “rollerbowler” is made by hat manufacturers —the other can be crocheted at home. Retailers, of course, hope that few crocheted hats will make their appearance—every one means a loss to them of the 15/- the wearer would normally pay for a manufactured article.

They hope that all home-made hats will not gain in popularity—although recently numbers of women have been experimenting with home-made, smart-looking hats of crepe paper and cellophane.'