Akubra Banjo Patterson vs. Lawson

[woodrow]

I've been swaying back and forth betwen the Banjo Patterson and the Lawson. Liked your thread, probably will go with the Banjo since I ahve a Snowy River country hat

 

[jkingrph]

The two colors of the Banjo Patterson were my first dressier hats, other than western. I wear the Fawn more than any other hat I have.

 

[jkingrph]

So here's what came in--me and my new Akubra. Another little "splurge" while I'm deployed, to retain a sense of normalcy and civilization. Was standard 3 month wait. Air Mailed the whole way from Australia, mate. Akubra Lawson in Loden color.

As I mentioned above, I was worried that the Loden was going to come out a dark green-brown hazel, where I was hoping for a rich chocolate brown. But the color's perfect. It really is a rich chocoloate brown, just like I was hoping, and I can resolve the coloring question that plagued me for a while. I'm now confident that Aussie Bush Hats was correct, when they said the "Loden" is the same as Noggin Tops's "Chocolate". Whether it's the same as David Morgan's "Dark Fawn", I don't know. That one, I might have to see their version in person.

As for the size, I am SO glad that I went with the 62. The 63 would be just simply too big! Since it came in a standard oval shape, it's just a hair tight front and back on my head, but plenty of room on the side. If I push inwards on the sides to shape it to my head, I get plenty of room to play all around my head crown, so it is NOT too small. If anything, I might have even been able to go smaller, but I wouldn't have tried, even if I had known ahead of time, since there's the possibility of shrinkage. Now I just have to tease it into my massive Long Oval head shape, give it a deeper and tighter pinch up front, and I'm set.

This is my first Akubra. I can ABSOLUTELY see why people rave about the Akubra quality. And this is Akubra's premium line, using their Heritage rabbit felt, which is light years beyond my Stetson Temple fedora. I'm definitely a sold Akubra fan now. I don't have any more need of hats for quite some time, (I know... they all say that) but if/when I do, you can bet I'll be looking at Akubras first.

I hope this thread helps someone else that is looking at Akubras, is debating between the Lawson and the Banjo Patterson, is unsure about the Akubra sizing issue, and/or is confused as the rest of us of the Akubra color variances and discrepancies that are published. Let me know if any more info or pictures would help.

And it all came in this groovy free Akubra gift box, double boxed in the shipping box. Ended up going with AussieBushHats.com, and they not only gave the best price, but threw in the free gift box and a braided hat chin strap to be attached at the user's discretion. A bit of nice felt, too, to tuck under the hat band if needed for sizing.

Hmmn, Out of uniform. I wish we had the option of a real hat when I was in the USAF, just wheel hats, flight caps, and fatigue caps, but then my service dates back to the days of the 1505( nice tan cotton twill) uniform, and solid od fatigues. Back in 91 when I got called up and deployed for Desert Storm, some of us had OD fatigue jackets some woodland camo, none of that digital stuff.

 

[Wildblue]

Sadly, still no option for a "real hat"... Over in the desert, we weren't allowed to wear anything other than the uniform the entire year. So even something like trying on a hat, like in the pics, we had to do in uniform. Oh, well.

 

[ptjoe]

Great hat by the way,looks good on you, enjoy!
I was also debating between the Banjo Paterson and the Lawson?
I went with the Lawson for a several of reasons:
I like the thick braided leather hat band; I favor the bound brim for added strength and I like the little wider brim for protection and shade.
I ordered the Heritage fawn color, living in Florida I wanted a lighter shade hat.
Looking forward to it's arrival from Hats by the hundreds and I didn't have to wait the 3 months usually required LOL!!!

 

[Wildblue]

So glad to hear this helped someone, ptjoe!