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Fedora Hats

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They have style, look good with casual dress, suit and tie and just about anything. Wondering what the opinion is here?Does anyone know where to buy one. Are vintage fedora hard to come by? Any web sites that deal with them?

Thanks
 
There are lots of hats to be found on e-Bay and once you know what you are looking for, there will definitely be some bargains to be had there. Isaac has mentioned Art Fawcett, Optimo Hats are also a premium maker, Delmonico Hatters, JJ Hatters, Goorin Brothers (and there are lots of others) all have good web presences.

If you are unable to get to a store and check the hats out personally spend as much time as you can looking at different models and try to speak with a salesperson or two- obviously different hat styles are more (or less) suited to different facial characteristics.

I wear a hat practically every day- protection from the cold in winter and from the sun in summer.
 
Wish I could help but SWMBO reserves the right to pass judgement on any hat I want to buy. We only shop local. You would be surprised at the number of hats I thought were acceptable that she vetoed. I was shocked when the pork pie that I hated was one she insisted on. I have received many positive comments on that hat since.
 
There are lots of hats to be found on e-Bay and once you know what you are looking for, there will definitely be some bargains to be had there. Isaac has mentioned Art Fawcett, Optimo Hats are also a premium maker, Delmonico Hatters, JJ Hatters, Goorin Brothers (and there are lots of others) all have good web presences.

If you are unable to get to a store and check the hats out personally spend as much time as you can looking at different models and try to speak with a salesperson or two- obviously different hat styles are more (or less) suited to different facial characteristics.

I wear a hat practically every day- protection from the cold in winter and from the sun in summer.
Thanks for the advice. My skin on my head burns easily. My baldness makes growing my hair longer impossible, so I have to wear hats to protect my head. I have always liked the look of a fedora, even before Indiana Jones.
 
I love such general questions.
Opinion: Hats are awesome, I wear one every time I step out the door. Keeps the rain off your head (and glasses), prevents sunburns, regulates your temperature (heat loss threw head) Fantastic things. Fedora is a great choice.
Where to buy one? Well yes I do. Now what is your price range? Do you already know your hat size? Without that information I can recommend a few web pages
#1 http://www.villagehatshop.com/ This is a great we page for entry level hats. Jaxon is a good brand name. Fir felt is better than wool.
#2 http://www.hatsdirect.com/ or http://www.everythingaustralian.com.au/ have Akubra Hats. Some of the best factory produced fedoras on the market today. "Federation" is a Indiana Jones style hat, "Squatter" is a great wide brimmed hat, "Campdraft" is the same as the old Stetson "open road". If you want it with a crease in it already the "Stylemaster" is a good choice and of course they have a model called the "Fedora"
#3 Custom made hats. They are the most expensive hats for a reason. They are made to your head size and shape. You can choose the height of the crown, width of the brim, colour, bow, how its bashed, everything. Years down the road, when it is starting to show wear you can send them back for servicing. If you choose a beaver hat it can last you your lifetime. I have four, all made by Art Fawcett http://www.vintagesilhouettes.com/ But I have been reading some good thing about a new guy out there and because he is new he is charging really cheap. http://www.northwesthats.com/Home.html But I have no first hand experience with him.
For some reference material on Fedoras check out http://www.thefedoralounge.com/ you will learn more about hats then you ever thought existed.
Johnny
 
Sorry for being so naive.

My hat size is 7 1/2. I like black and brown colors. My price range is up to $150 dollars. A wide brim fedora in the Humphrey Bogart style crease (I'm not sure what that style of crease is called.) is my preference. I know hats are made from felt, natural fibers like straw, and different animals like beaver and rabbit, and those determine the price.

I realize that finest quality hats can cost way over my price range. But I'm looking for a good, durable hat that has style, but doesn't cost much. If those a mutually exclusive terms, I apologize for my ignorance and innocence. Just looking for hats that look good and protect my head. Not looking to be ridiculed because I speak in general terms.
 
Look at Akubra hats from Australia. David Morgan in Washington state has them, although not all styles, or you can order from Hatsdirect.com in Australia. I have had good service from both. For a first timer I would recommend this route.

I have a few from Art Fawcett, and while top notch, they are custom made and a bit out of your price range.

The Akubra hats are made from the fur of the Australian Hare and are second only to beaver. I have more Akubra hats than any other type and they hold up well. One model, the first, and has seen the most wear I had a somewhat more casual style, the Banjo Patterson is about 5 years old and still looks new.

Myer the Hatter in New Orleans is good as is Paris Hatters in San Antonio. They both often have some harder to find models of traditional American brands as Stetson.
 
Wish I could help but SWMBO reserves the right to pass judgement on any hat I want to buy. We only shop local. You would be surprised at the number of hats I thought were acceptable that she vetoed. I was shocked when the pork pie that I hated was one she insisted on. I have received many positive comments on that hat since.

I wish I could shop local, but the only thing you will find in this part of the country is western style. I do have a couple of nicer Stetsons and an older Resistol that look good, but for fedora types I have to go on line.
 
That's what I was looking for Steve.

[SIZE=+0]Bogart style. Do NOT buy the Akubra Bogart. It doesn't actually look like any of the hats Bogart wore in any movie...ever. If you want a Casablanca look you can pick up the Federation IV in Moonstone Grey for 148.954 US shipped. http://hatsdirect.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi?view=44&returncat=Fedora+Hats&returnpage=0[/SIZE][SIZE=+0] The hat comes open crowned (domed) so you have to crease the crown yourself. So you can put a diamond crease in there just like Humphrey had. Now if you want a little more brim and a little darker colour try the Squatter in Steel Grey http://hatsdirect.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi?view=56&returncat=Fedora+Hats&returnpage=1 Same price shipped. The colour is neat, it looks black at night and a dark grey during the day (I have one myself). If you are afraid of creasing the crown yourself there are a few videos you can check out on-line.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0][/SIZE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozJKQVCgeZ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ9Gh_AuA4g&feature=c4-overview&list=UUKlTo4TtOrnD-u8z-d0DoGg
Sorry I could not find a diamond crown creasing video. but you get the idea.
here are a lot of photo's of what I am talking about
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?22275-THE-DIAMOND-AUTHORITY

Johnny
To bash a hat and crease a hat are the same thing.
 
I have one word for you: Borsalino.

BTW re: Meyer the Hatter, I live in New Orleans part of the time, and I LOVE that place. I can't help stopping by just to look every time I'm near there.
 
I wear fedoras every day. I have a couple of Stetsons, a Biltmore, a couple of Panamas and a cheaper wool fedora for very casual wear. I have not gotten into the vintage hats yet, but you may wish to check out The Fedora Lounge. There are folks over there who trade and sell vintage hats.
 
I've been reading more about fedoras. There are many types of creases that work and I guess it really comes down to personal taste. I'm looking more for the Humphrey Bogart look. What I've seen is that it's either a diamond or a teardrop crease. What size of brim would you recommend for that crease. 3" looks almost to large. I was thinking about 2 1/2" to 2 3/4" for the front brim. There is a slight curl on the sides. The back can be either curled like sides or flat. The back of the hat is lower than the front. But the front brim has something called snap back. What is that?

I realize this is many questions. Just one more. Is there a hatter (I don't know the correct title) that you recommend? I realize that they all sells hats, but just looking for one to use for cleaning, re-blocking as well. He can be a dealer as well.
 
Wow thanks for the cool links. I never realized there were so many cool hats. I have a large melon that most baseball hats look bad on. What kind of cool retro hat would be good? Derby? Bowler? Pork Pie????



I love such general questions.
Opinion: Hats are awesome, I wear one every time I step out the door. Keeps the rain off your head (and glasses), prevents sunburns, regulates your temperature (heat loss threw head) Fantastic things. Fedora is a great choice.
Where to buy one? Well yes I do. Now what is your price range? Do you already know your hat size? Without that information I can recommend a few web pages
#1 http://www.villagehatshop.com/ This is a great we page for entry level hats. Jaxon is a good brand name. Fir felt is better than wool.
#2 http://www.hatsdirect.com/ or http://www.everythingaustralian.com.au/ have Akubra Hats. Some of the best factory produced fedoras on the market today. "Federation" is a Indiana Jones style hat, "Squatter" is a great wide brimmed hat, "Campdraft" is the same as the old Stetson "open road". If you want it with a crease in it already the "Stylemaster" is a good choice and of course they have a model called the "Fedora"
#3 Custom made hats. They are the most expensive hats for a reason. They are made to your head size and shape. You can choose the height of the crown, width of the brim, colour, bow, how its bashed, everything. Years down the road, when it is starting to show wear you can send them back for servicing. If you choose a beaver hat it can last you your lifetime. I have four, all made by Art Fawcett http://www.vintagesilhouettes.com/ But I have been reading some good thing about a new guy out there and because he is new he is charging really cheap. http://www.northwesthats.com/Home.html But I have no first hand experience with him.
For some reference material on Fedoras check out http://www.thefedoralounge.com/ you will learn more about hats then you ever thought existed.
Johnny
 
Wow thanks for the cool links. I never realized there were so many cool hats. I have a large melon that most baseball hats look bad on. What kind of cool retro hat would be good? Derby? Bowler? Pork Pie????
The only way to tell is to go to a store, try on various styles and see how you look in the mirror (or to your significant other). There really isn't a shortcut. Once you know which types look good and which don't, and once you know your size, you can pretty much skip going to b&m stores if you want.
 
SteveE1959
-As I said, he usually has a diamond crease.
-His hat brim would probably be about 2 1/2". Keep in mind Humphrey had a very small head. So if you have a larger head the brim will look smaller on you. More over if you are looking for sun protection a larger brim will be better for that as well.
-When you crease/bash your hat you can determine how high you want the front and back of the hats crown.
-Fedoras come with a snap brim. What that means is, when you get the hat brand new out of the box the brim is turned up all the way around. So you grab the front and "snap" it down, the back will stay up. Depending on the amount of snap the sides may curl up or if you want that look you may have to do a little manhandling to get them to curl up. Felt can be worked over time.
-I have never had a hat cleaned or reblocked. Unless the sweatband fell out or sweat stains were showing threw I would just clean it myself.
Hat brush for dust and dirt http://www.villagehatshop.com/product/cleaning/451139-6067/felt-hat-brush.htmlhttp://www.villagehatshop.com/product/cleaning/451139-6067/felt-hat-brush.htmlhttp://www.villagehatshop.com/product/cleaning/451139-6067/felt-hat-brush.html
Hat stretcher for shrinkage from sweat http://www.villagehatshop.com/product/storage/451139-6076/village-hat-shop-hat-jack-hat-stretcher.htmlhttp://www.villagehatshop.com/produ.../village-hat-shop-hat-jack-hat-stretcher.htmlhttp://www.villagehatshop.com/produ.../village-hat-shop-hat-jack-hat-stretcher.html
hat sponge for stains and spots http://www.villagehatshop.com/product/cleaning/451139-79634/bickmore-sponge-hat-cleaner.html or a Dry cleaning pad works as well.

Tlentz
Sorry but I have no idea what you would look good in. If there is a local store try some hats on and see how they look. If not what I would do is look at pictures online of people wearing hats. If it looked good on the person and they had a similar shaped face then most likely it would look good on you.

Hope that helps.

Johnny
 
Thanks Johnny,

I'm getting closer to what I want. My head is bigger and rounder than Bogart's, so a three inch brim might be better. I've looked at the links suggested, and some others. Also looked on Amazon. If I go for the more expensive hat, it will come open dome. If I crease it, I don't want to spend another fortune to buy a hat steamer. Can I use a teapot that shoots out a straight stream of steam?

If I go with a less expensive hat, say from Amazon, most likely it will come pre creased. Can I re-bash it? Again I would have to use the teapot and maybe a ball of some type. Is that possible, or would I need to send it to someone more professional?

Thanks again for the advice.
 
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