I am thinking of getting a Bailey Orson fedora for casual wear. Anyone have experience with this particular model? Any advice/comments appreciated. Thanks, Jim
Some Baileys are very nice and some Baileys are of lower quality in regards to material, sizing, liner, etc. This model, from reading online, is a wool felt hat as opposed to a fur felt hat, and it's sized with the broad S / M / L / XL categories rather than the more specific fitted numeric sizing.
It's entirely up to you, of course, but at the general price range of $40 - $60, you can likely get a better quality hat for yourself. As you probably know from reading these forums, wool felt doesn't hold up to wet weather very well and will eventually lose its shape.
My suggestion: You can find plenty of wool felt ($12 - $20) and fur felt hats ($25 - $40) at Burlington Coat Factory, assuming you have one near you. You'll either save significantly on the wool felt or you'll get much more bang for your buck with the fur felt.
eBay is another option, assuming you know your numeric size and know the type of hat you'd like to have as far as dimensions go.
Now, on the other hand, if you're already aware of the difference between wool felt vs. fur felt and you know that you like the Bailey Orson, then by all means, get it!
I took your advice and went to the closest BCF and found a nice Huckel fur felt hat in my size for about a third of the cost of the Bailey! I'm very happy with it and I wanted to thank you for your kind advice and encouraging words. Now if I can just decide to keep the feather or not! Thanks again,
Of course, everything I said was recycled from the gauntlet of information I've learned from reading this board and making my own forays into hat purchases.
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