Side By Side/ Hat Comparisons

[alanfgag]

The Heathers. No relation to the 1988 film of the same name, this is a briefly worded photo essay inspired by the variegated colors of fall. Heather felts to my mind refer less to finish (they can be longhair, finely pounced or spiral stitched) and more to color and composition of the felt. Different fur pelts and colors make for a rich soup of tones in the finished hat. A quiet Saturday at home gave me a nice opportunity to do some rearranging in the hat room and collect some photographic thoughts on my hat collection. The age of these examples range from c.1920 (Wormser) to c.1960 (Barbisio). Hope you enjoy!

 

[KarlCrow]

The Heathers. No relation to the 1988 film of the same name, this is a briefly worded photo essay inspired by the variegated colors of fall. Heather felts to my mind refer less to finish (they can be longhair, finely pounced or spiral stitched) and more to color and composition of the felt. Different fur pelts and colors make for a rich soup of tones in the finished hat. A quiet Saturday at home gave me a nice opportunity to do some rearranging in the hat room and collect some photographic thoughts on my hat collection. The age of these examples range from c.1920 (Wormser) to c.1960 (Barbisio). Hope you enjoy!

Utterly astounding

 

[alanfgag]

Utterly astounding

Thanks Karl... sometimes cleaning house can be a nice journey.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Thanks for sharing

 

[Frunobulax]

The Heathers. No relation to the 1988 film of the same name, this is a briefly worded photo essay inspired by the variegated colors of fall. Heather felts to my mind refer less to finish (they can be longhair, finely pounced or spiral stitched) and more to color and composition of the felt. Different fur pelts and colors make for a rich soup of tones in the finished hat. A quiet Saturday at home gave me a nice opportunity to do some rearranging in the hat room and collect some photographic thoughts on my hat collection. The age of these examples range from c.1920 (Wormser) to c.1960 (Barbisio). Hope you enjoy!

Great array of colors and styles, Alan.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[Redfokker]

The Heathers. No relation to the 1988 film of the same name, this is a briefly worded photo essay inspired by the variegated colors of fall. Heather felts to my mind refer less to finish (they can be longhair, finely pounced or spiral stitched) and more to color and composition of the felt. Different fur pelts and colors make for a rich soup of tones in the finished hat. A quiet Saturday at home gave me a nice opportunity to do some rearranging in the hat room and collect some photographic thoughts on my hat collection. The age of these examples range from c.1920 (Wormser) to c.1960 (Barbisio). Hope you enjoy!

What a wonderful treat these images impart Alan. Hard to pick a favorite!

 

[alanfgag]

Thanks guys... glad you enjoy this thread. I do too.

 

[RJR]

Thanks for sharing

+1

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Thanks for sharing the Heathers!

 

[steur]

The Heathers. No relation to the 1988 film of the same name, this is a briefly worded photo essay inspired by the variegated colors of fall. Heather felts to my mind refer less to finish (they can be longhair, finely pounced or spiral stitched) and more to color and composition of the felt. Different fur pelts and colors make for a rich soup of tones in the finished hat. A quiet Saturday at home gave me a nice opportunity to do some rearranging in the hat room and collect some photographic thoughts on my hat collection. The age of these examples range from c.1920 (Wormser) to c.1960 (Barbisio). Hope you enjoy!

That is just magnificent. You're just feeding my obsession, Alan! If they go missing overnight; I'm the suspect to look for.

 

[1mach1]

The Heathers. No relation to the 1988 film of the same name, this is a briefly worded photo essay inspired by the variegated colors of fall. Heather felts to my mind refer less to finish (they can be longhair, finely pounced or spiral stitched) and more to color and composition of the felt. Different fur pelts and colors make for a rich soup of tones in the finished hat. A quiet Saturday at home gave me a nice opportunity to do some rearranging in the hat room and collect some photographic thoughts on my hat collection. The age of these examples range from c.1920 (Wormser) to c.1960 (Barbisio). Hope you enjoy!

Beautiful hats Alan!
I always enjoy when you post those on your head.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[alanfgag]

That is just magnificent. You're just feeding my obsession, Alan! If they go missing overnight; I'm the suspect to look for.

Your obsession is my obsession... thanks for keeping our focus on vintage hats front and center.

Beautiful hats Alan!
I always enjoy when you post those on your head.

Thanks Harv... I definitely suffer from a shortage of heads.

 

[moontheloon]

The Heathers. No relation to the 1988 film of the same name, this is a briefly worded photo essay inspired by the variegated colors of fall. Heather felts to my mind refer less to finish (they can be longhair, finely pounced or spiral stitched) and more to color and composition of the felt. Different fur pelts and colors make for a rich soup of tones in the finished hat. A quiet Saturday at home gave me a nice opportunity to do some rearranging in the hat room and collect some photographic thoughts on my hat collection. The age of these examples range from c.1920 (Wormser) to c.1960 (Barbisio). Hope you enjoy!

so beautiful ... I'd love to just smell those hats ... I mean .. what ?... did I say that out loud ?

honestly .. absolutely gorgeous photos

thank you Alan

 

[Bob Roberts]

so beautiful ... I'd love to just smell those hats ... I mean .. what ?... did I say that out loud ?

honestly .. absolutely gorgeous photos

thank you Alan

Yes you did. Yer allowed just a sniff.

 

[FedOregon]

I'd like to compare a late 50's vintage Royal Stetson to a modern custom from Michael Gannon. In truth, the Stetson was the inspiration for the Gannon custom.

Stetson has light, thin velvety taupe felt with what looks to be faded brownish - burgundy mid-ribbon and a likewise faded gold/champagne colored brim binding.

Gannon has Natural beaver felt, pounced thin and velvety (different than my black cherry Gannon "Rodolfo"), with a silvery gray-toned red raspberry, old, vintage "Slate" ribbon and a beige/cream colored vintage "Belgian" brim binding.

Where the Stetson ribbons seem to be faded, the Gannon has brighter colors with new old stock (NOS) very old vintage ribbon per Michael Gannon.

The Stetson felt has that aged vintage character and hand and, obviously, the Gannon felt is new Winchester beaver. But I can reasonably see this modern felt being very similar in hand and character when it is ~60 years old. Time will tell...

.

 

[splintercellsz]

wonderful comparison!

 

[FedOregon]

wonderful comparison!

Thank you. I sure have enjoyed your excellent comparisons!

 

[Redfokker]

I'd like to compare a late 50's vintage Royal Stetson to a modern custom from Michael Gannon. In truth, the Stetson was the inspiration for the Gannon custom.

Stetson has light, thin velvety taupe felt with what looks to be faded brownish - burgundy mid-ribbon and a likewise faded gold/champagne colored brim binding.

Gannon has Natural beaver felt, pounced thin and velvety (different than my black cherry Gannon "Rodolfo"), with a silvery gray-toned red raspberry, old, vintage "Slate" ribbon and a beige/cream colored vintage "Belgian" brim binding.

Where the Stetson ribbons seem to be faded, the Gannon has brighter colors with new old stock (NOS) very old vintage ribbon per Michael Gannon.

The Stetson felt has that aged vintage character and hand and, obviously, the Gannon felt is new Winchester beaver. But I can reasonably see this modern felt being very similar in hand and character when it is ~60 years old. Time will tell...

.

Interesting comparison, old vs. new. Great idea and great hats.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I recently took delivery of three rabbit/hare felt open crown hats and I thought I'd do a side-by-side compare and contrast.

The hats are all new manufactured:
1. D'aquino custom
2. Stetson Premier Stratoliner
3. Akubra Imperial Camp Draft.

The most expense was the Stetson at $180 (including shipping), the next was the Akubra for $147 (including shipping) and the cheapest was the D'aquino for $118 (including shipping).

First, this is a subjective review and are my opinions and my experiences. All three of these hats are keepers and have their own strengths and weaknesses.

The softest hat with the best hand was the Akubra. This was a surprise to me as this was the lower grade Camp Draft with supposedly inferior felt. This has been commented on before and now I can add my surprised evaluation that the felt is indeed nicer on this hat than it is on my other (higher grade) Akubras. Weird. The runner up was the D'aquino. The felt was semi-soft and reasonable pliable; however there was also some coarseness. The Stetson was a mixed bag. The felt was nicely pounced with better consistency than the other two; however, it was also the most cardboard in feel; perhaps more stiffener? I contemplated returning the Stetson just on the feel of the felt. Fellow Lounger @M Hatman convinced me to keep the hat and the felt has become noticeably better as I've worked the crown and creased and re-creased it. Still, the brim and the rest of the Stetson is stiffer than the other hats. I also need to say that if my three Premier Stratoliners it has the least impressive felt. So???

Shape: All three hats are reasonably straight-sided with mildly rounded open crowns. Surprisingly, the Stetson had the straightest sides according to my steel framing square. In reality, they are close enough as to make no difference. The Akubra has a 6" crown and the D'aquino's crown is just over 6 inches. The Stetson's crown is 5.5 inches. A half inch in the crown makes a lot of difference. Tall crowns give lots of options for creases and I just like their profiles better. All three took a crease with minimal effort, but the Akubra required a bit of distilled water. I'll call it a draw.

Sweats: The Stetson sweat appears to be full grain leather and is moderately soft. The Akubra is also leather, but I'm not sure that it's full grain. It is, however, very soft and comfortable. The D'aquino's sweat is some type of leather, but it's thin and unimpressive. I'd give this category to Akubra if the sweat is full grain; otherwise, Stetson would be the winner and D'aquino a distant third.

Sizing: they all fit pretty much true to size. I wear a 7 5/8 in most hats, and that's always my size if I can get it in long oval. The Stetson is a bit snug, but I'm keeping it on a hat stretcher just to keep it from shrinking as the size is acceptable as it is. The other two hats are size 62 (7 3/4) and they fit lightly on my head and are very comfortable. I thought I'd have to use a shims or reducing tape, but they fit fine as-is. Three-way tie for sizing.

Finish work: Here the Stetson and Akubra were close and the D'aquino was again a distant second. The issues with the D'aquino were not deal breakers, but the hat lacked the finish and attention to detail of the others; although, you had to be looking for them to find them. Between the Stetson and the Akubra I'd say it was almost too close to call with the Akubra having some undefinable edge.

As to which hat I just like the overall aesthetics of the most, I'd go with the D'aquino first and the Akubra tied with the Stetson. The larger brim and crown on the Akubra is great, but the color of the Stetson is nicer to my eye. As to why I chose the D'aquino as my favorite... I don't think I can articulate my reasoning. I just like the looks of that hat.

Overall: I really wanted to say that the D'aquino was my favorite. It was the cheapest and it was the hat that I had some say in during the design and construction. I love how the D'aquino turned out, but the lack of attention to detail and the inferior sweat knock it into second place. I'm also still a bit upset that D'aquino made the hat with a 2.5 inch brim and not the 2.75 inch I requested. As boring as it is, I'm ranking them in this order:
#1: Akubra
#2: D'aquino
#3: Stetson

I'll say it again, I like all three hats and they are all worth what I paid for them. There wasn't a looser in the group, but based on my personal preferences on my three hats, that's my ranking.

One last fly in the ointment. If I had used either my cornhill or mink Stratoliner then the Stetson would have taken the top spot. Make of that what you will.

And I'm ordering another D'aquino and I'm requesting an upgraded sweat (money well spent).

Akubra (below):

D'aquino (below):

Stetson (below):

(The angle makes it appear taller than it is)

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[deadlyhandsome]

The Heathers. No relation to the 1988 film of the same name, this is a briefly worded photo essay inspired by the variegated colors of fall. Heather felts to my mind refer less to finish (they can be longhair, finely pounced or spiral stitched) and more to color and composition of the felt. Different fur pelts and colors make for a rich soup of tones in the finished hat. A quiet Saturday at home gave me a nice opportunity to do some rearranging in the hat room and collect some photographic thoughts on my hat collection. The age of these examples range from c.1920 (Wormser) to c.1960 (Barbisio). Hope you enjoy!

Wow. What a great collection. I'm in awe. Thank you for sharing these photos, they are inspiring.