65.01 - Hat-forms, hat bodies and hoods of felt, neither blocked to shape nor with made brims; plateaux and manchons (including slit manchons), of felt.
(A) Hat-forms, hat bodies and hoods of felt, neither blocked to shape nor with made brims. Fur-felt hat-forms, hat bodies and hoods are usually made from the fur of the rabbit, hare, musk-rat, nutria or beaver; wool-felt hat-forms, etc., are usually of wool or the hair of the vicuna, camel (including dromedary), etc. In some cases felts are made of mixtures of these materials, sometimes mixed with man-made fibres. After suitable processing the fur is applied evenly to a cone-shaped former by suction and, in the case of wool, by entwining the carded fibres on a double cone. (This latter form when cut in two at the widest part provides two cone-shaped hat-forms.) After spraying with hot water or steam, the shaped forms are removed from the cones. These forms, which are still in a loosely-felted state (not normally found in international trade), undergo a series of hardening and shrinking processes to produce fully-felted, approximately cone-shaped hat bodies. The heading also covers hat bodies which have been tip-stretched to form rounded crowns, sometimes with parallel sides but more usually with sloping sides and an incipient brim. These latter may be distinguished from blocked hoods because, when placed upright on a flat surface, the brim does not project from the crown at approximately a right angle (see heading 65.05). Certain of these unblocked hat bodies, hoods, etc., of this heading are sometimes described as half capelines. (The articles known as full capelines, however, have been subjected to a blocking process and fall in heading 65.05.) Classification in this heading is not affected by processes such as pouncing, dyeing or stiffening. The heading includes certain very light and thin hoods known as "chemises" or handkerchief felts, used for fixing to rigid hat foundations. (B) The heading also includes : (1) Felt plateaux made initially in the form of wide-based cones, and then stretched to the form of flat discs about 60 cm in diameter. These felt discs are often cut into pieces and then sewn into the shape of a hat or cap. Military or other uniform dress caps are sewn from this type of felt. (2) Felt manchons usually made of fur on a cylindrical form (between 40 and 50 cm in height and about 100 cm in circumference) by a suction process similar to that used for making fur-felt cones. They are normally used by milliners, and are classified in this heading whether in cylinders or slit into rectangular form. The rectangular-formed felt is cut into pieces to be used as trimmings or sewn together into the shape of a hat or cap.
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