As far as Stetson hats being not the quality that they used to be, I think that back in the 1960s and 70s they may have slumped some, but I don't think that is true today. Stetson's come in a wide range of quality from 1X to 100X. They are for the most part made of rabbit fur; wild hare; and beaver fur. The more expensive ones have higher grade furs such as Chinchilla blended in. I just did a price check and found them running from 45 dollars to 5000 dollars for a 100X hat. (Yep, pardner, I said 5000 dollars!) They have just about every price point in between covered as well. They make non-cowboy hats as well, such as the fedora. (read Indiana Jones). By the way Shepler's in Wichita, Kansas has a huge selection of Stetson's and I know that they used to do a brisk overseas trade. I assume they still do. (bit of trivia: The hat man at Shepler's back in the 80's told me that the older a man gets the smaller his hat brim choice. He said he could look at a man and predict his brim size before he asked. He attributed it to creeping conservativism.)