Performative hat makers on social media are annoying.
Im not sure if this is just a niche the algorithm is feeding onto me or if its an actual occurrence most individuals with my interests see but for every beautiful piece of detailed craftsmanship ill see online, 5 gimmicky hatters will come right after. Ive also come to notice amongst most of these hat makers they LOVE to hastily jump onto trends to make shitty looking hats trying to capitalize off a design for views.
Biggest example is WildHats, their most reposted/reuploaded video across their accounts is their recreation of Arthur Morgans hat from the Red Dead Redemption series, plenty of Hatters have made accurate replicas of this worn out style of gambler, as for WildHats…it looks like shit.
This is not like a “The dimensions of the brim are off” or “the shape of the crown isnt 1:1” problem, it is a completely different hat, its like charging $500-$1000 for a fedora and claiming its a Diamondville Cattleman. (Im not even gonna get into the drama about their gold nail bs or the rude comments they make)
As for other examples, alot of sellers obsess over skull/voodoo culture due to the influence it has had on western media/film.
Now i know the obvious solution is blocking them, ignore the content and move on, regardless its still pretty annoying that alot of creators online are attempting to turn it into just another trendy internet slopfest.
I dont like assuming the love someone has for their craft but to me and i hope some of yall understand where im coming from, it seems alot of these creators dont share that passion in their work and more so the money it generates. Is that bad for business? No, but it is very often projected on what you make.