Adventurebilt hats - anyone ordered from?

[jlee562]

Well, most custom hats don't take this long.

And I can guarantee you won't find anything like my next custom on eBay, because it's a hand dyed felt, one of a kind.

The popularity of the AB, and thus the long wait, is the provenance of having the same hat as seen in the movie.

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

Maybe you're right that other hatmakers have shorter wait times. I was under the impression that all of them were taking a couple of years to fill orders.

On the other hand, I have no such specialized interests that would necessitate the creation of a hat just for me, either. I guess if I wanted something so specific I'd be forced to wait, right? So there is that.

 

[jlee562]

Art's turnaround time is about 12 weeks. Penman is about 5 months currently. My next custom (the hand dyed one) is coming from Black Sheep Hat Works...actually, if I weren't so particular, I would've had it in about 4 months.

Steve is in a unique situation because he's the Indiana Jones hatter.

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

... and I was not particularly interested in an Indiana Jones hat, either. To tell the truth, I don't what is so special about any of them. They look like regular old fedoras, to me! LOL

 

[scottyrocks]

Its really pretty simple. Fans of the character and the movies want them. Different strokes . . . hahaha.

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

Yup. Guess I can see that, Scotty.

 

[Blackthorn]

Art's turnaround time is about 12 weeks. Penman is about 5 months currently. My next custom (the hand dyed one) is coming from Black Sheep Hat Works...actually, if I weren't so particular, I would've had it in about 4 months.

Steve is in a unique situation because he's the Indiana Jones hatter.

I have had several of Art's hats arrive in 3 to 4 weeks, one more reason I'm a big fan of Art Fawcett.

 

[jlee562]

... and I was not particularly interested in an Indiana Jones hat, either. To tell the truth, I don't what is so special about any of them. They look like regular old fedoras, to me! LOL

Well, in spite of your incredulity, consider the following; the demand for Indy hats is high, given Steve's volume of orders alone. But also consider how many hatters offer their own Indy hats: Peter Bros, Dave Brown, Penman, the Stetson Temple was originally the licensed Indy hat and takes its name from the marketing deal tied in with Temple of Doom. The Akubra Fed IV exists in no small part because of people wanting an Indy hat. The Indy hat is a 30's styled fedora with a tall crown and wide brim, which was not widely available for those folks who wanted "screen accurate" hat.

This is of course not to mention some of the smaller hatters who cater to Indy fans: Schubert hats, Camptown hats, Garrison hatters, adVintage, Exploradora, Lee Keppler, etc.

 

[warbird]

Actually the Akubra Federation came about as the result of folks on this and another board who wanted a high, straight crowned hat such as Indy wore. Hats Direct agreed to work with Akubra and have the had made. Steve's first hat making was in reworking Feds he bought and recreased in different ways. Then he set upon making his own. Steve was one of those involved in the initial Fed process. The Fed has had changes, hence the Fed II, II and now IV. Personally I like the Fed III the best. The crown was a bit higher and I just liked it more. But, that is just me. Other than vintage or a custom, which there were even fewer custom makers then than now, there were no choices for such a hat unless you found one vintage. In the days prior to the popularity of ebay, hats were not so easily found unless you happened to be around a lot of antique shops.

 

[jlee562]

Yes, I am aware. I was merely posting a truncated version, as Mobile Vulgus didn't seem to be aware of how much demand there is for an Indy fedora.

 

[djd]

If you pay Steve's current prices the wait is not nearly as long. I got one of his Rabbit Raiders in nine weeks (he quoted 8 so near enough). The older, low price orders were put to the back of the queue which Steve explained at the time

 

[SteveAS]

The older, low price orders were put to the back of the queue which Steve explained at the time

At the time he took their orders?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

At the time he took their orders?

Steve has two seperate timelines on making hats. If you pay the new price of $650, the wait time is ~six weeks. If you paid the lower price of ~$400 or so you have a significantly longer wiat time. Any one who paid the lower price can give Steve the price difference & get bumped up the list.

Also, Steve tries to keep his blocks constantly in use. If you have a really weird hat size & there is no one waiting before you might get it sooner rather than later.

 

[jlee562]

At the time he took their orders?

Well, what happened was Steve announced he had landed the deal for the film, and that got him a slew of orders. He'll be the first to tell you that he should have raised his prices to cut demand, but he kept that hats priced at $250. So those orders, the end of 2008 and beginning of 09, are the hats that Steve is working on now. The price eventually made it up to $400. About a year and a half ago, Steve announced the price was going to go to $650 (as he's eying retirement down the road and wanted to price himself out of the game, so to speak). That's when I ordered my hat, and my order is on the end of the line, so to speak.

But, if you order at the $650 price, Steve works on his "day off" to make those hats (as those orders are fewer and far between) so that he can deliver in 8 (or so) weeks. Thus those who are ordering are not displacing anyone who is in the queue.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

A quick search of COW & I uncovered that a hat that was ordered on 7th July 2008 arrived December 20th.

The following is a direct quote from Steve that he posted on COW on the 4th of March last year.

I seldom visit this thread. Mostly because it makes me even more stressed.

As most know, my involvement in Indy 4 drew alot of attention, from all over the world. And alot of folks bought hats. This occured from Aug 07 and ended when I went up in price in the early summer of 08. Oh, I still sold hats but it dropped down to a couple scores a month, where up until then I was selling hundreds a month.

Many here bought hats after they heard of me in Indy 4. But many, many more who were not members here also bought hats. And they bought many more than the members here. I am always glad when I run into a name that I know is from here.

I have been wading through this surge of orders since late 07. Hindsight is always 20/20 and if I could do it over, I would have went up to 650.00 at that time. Instead, I sold many hats here for the 225 price and others at the 250 price. Every hat I have made has been one at that low price.

Anyways, I appreciate the patience most have given. And all will recieve the hat they ordered, so not to worry about that. I made a big mistake in pricing and me along with you are suffering because of this error in judgement. At the time, I still had the hobby mindset, and wanted to give everyone a bargain. That is how I ran my hobby.


All I can say is I ship out 15 hats per week. And have done so for a long time. And if Indy 5 happens, I won't find myself in this position again. It really isn't fun being a popular hatter. Especially one who priced his wares too low for too long. But I learned from this experience if that is worth anything.

I guess the long wait will be worth it. But probably only for the ones that are keen on owning a hat just like Indy wore in the last film. Being a fan myself, I would wait for one, although I would also be somewhat impatient as well. That is just so natural. So, again thanks for the extreme patience and I guarantee you will have this hat. I feel pretty strongly that I will have almost all of the orders filled this year. It looks that way from the count. Good lord willing, and the health stays good. Fedora

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

I find that to be pretty crappy customer service. I mean, he's punishing the people that paid the price HE SET and then trying to force them to pay more later (even YEARS later, yet) to make up for HIS OWN mistake? And on top of that rewarding people that jsut bought one recently by getting their hat to them ASAP? Far as I am concerned that makes him a bit of a jerk. Were I an early customer I'd cancel and expect my money back immediately.

 

[fluteplayer07]

I can see your opinion, but I also sympathize with Steve. He's dug himself into a very deep hole, with a lot of people, balancing a large toppling stack of money. I'm sure it's the easiest way to solve the problem for him, and I'm sure that he's very tired of doing this by now. Almost four years of his life consumed not only with working long hours (which I'd imagine is the least of his worries), but also trying to deal with his customers, all the while kicking himself for ending up in such a jam in the first place. And there's no way out for him until he's finished plugging away at a mountain of this work. If he doesn't, it'll be lawsuits galore. He has his work cut out for him.

I'm not belittling the customers, though, either. If I were one, I wouldn't be thrilled, either. It's all just a big mess that I'm happy not to be involved in.

I know this is a rather cold assessment of the situation, and certainly no offense to anyone involved is intended, but that's just my $0.02.


Cheers,

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

Oh, I sympathize with him, too. He overloaded himself and charged too little for his high quality product. He has learned a lesson about it, for sure. But to punish his customers that came to him in good faith? And then put later customers in front of the earlier ones?? Bad customer service. Period. He should have satisfied his first customers first and THEN started fresh with a better business plan with his lessons learned.

 

[scottyrocks]

a bit of a jerk.

Hmm . . .

 

[jlee562]

I find that to be pretty crappy customer service. I mean, he's punishing the people that paid the price HE SET and then trying to force them to pay more later (even YEARS later, yet) to make up for HIS OWN mistake? And on top of that rewarding people that jsut bought one recently by getting their hat to them ASAP? Far as I am concerned that makes him a bit of a jerk. Were I an early customer I'd cancel and expect my money back immediately.

He's not trying to force anybody to pay more later. That's just a blatant falsehood.