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[J.T.Marcus]

Does anyone have a brown and or tan hat with grey ribbon? I'm curious to see how that would look. Thanks

I have one. This Stratton came with a dark grey band.

A couple of years ago, I put this black and grey ribbon on a Resistol 100.

 

[Midwest Boater]

is there some sort of rule against wearing straw hats in the fall and winter? (sorta like don't wear white after labor day)
Or is it just warmer to wear felt?

 

[jwalls]

Thanks! I'll try the cold water first. I suspect the stiffener's water soluble, rather than solvent-soluble. Can't hurt, in any case.

Sue

Sue; The stiffener is indeed solvent soluble. The stiffener crystalizes with time, but the acohol reactivates it.

 

[billysmom]

Thanks, jwalls. That was my experience. The alcohol took most of the stiffener out of the felt. But since the sweat was completely crumbly, I delivered the hat to the Peters Bros hat ICU this am for resuscitation and sweat transplant. The patient was reported to be stabilized and doing nicely. They'll call me when it's ready for discharge.

Sue

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Thanks, jwalls. That was my experience. The alcohol took most of the stiffener out of the felt. But since the sweat was completely crumbly, I delivered the hat to the Peters Bros hat ICU this am for resuscitation and sweat transplant. The patient was reported to be stabilized and doing nicely. They'll call me when it's ready for discharge.

Sue

Good move, Sue.

 

[cptjeff]

is there some sort of rule against wearing straw hats in the fall and winter? (sorta like don't wear white after labor day)
Or is it just warmer to wear felt?

A combination of both. Wearing straws outside of summer looks kind of silly since they're made to keep you cool, and it has developed into one of those white after labor day rules. There is a reason for it though, as you mentioned felt is much better suited for the colder days in fall and winter.

 

[gtdean48]

is there some sort of rule against wearing straw hats in the fall and winter? (sorta like don't wear white after labor day)
Or is it just warmer to wear felt?

I live north of Atlanta & have days even in January where a straw hat is fitting. I use the weather to determine to wear straw or not instead of the calendar. I also wear thin felts w/o liners in the summer months. Some thread on hear about Sept 15 being the day you retire your Summer straws, I think.

 

[High Pockets]

is there some sort of rule against wearing straw hats in the fall and winter? (sorta like don't wear white after labor day)
Or is it just warmer to wear felt?

Hi,...I was told as a youngster, (here in cowboy-land), that felt hats can be worn year 'round, and straws only between Easter and Labor Day and most people I run around with still adhere to that.


However; there are no "rules" and certainly no "penalties",.....an odd look or two perhaps,.....but hopefully not.

Switching to or from one or the other is a strictly a judgment call made by both the wearer and the admirer, and I for one don't mark my calendar as to when I can wear my Panama's and when I have to stop.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Throughout Texas, there are men who wear white straw cowboy hats, never any felt hat, year round. It's not the way I do it, but what you put on your head (or not) is your business. After all, It's your head.

It would, however, seem logical that, those of us who collect "vintage" hats would want to follow the accepted guidelines for that vintage. The guy who wears a 1940's Panama in Ohio during December, and the one who wears a cap with fold down ear muffs in Florida in August, will both be considered "strange" by just about anybody! At the very least, they would obviously be demonstrating ignorance of the items they claim to collect.

 

[Midwest Boater]

straw in winter

Thanks everyone for helping me out on this one, i just got a really sweet boater and i will have a long winter looking forward to wearing it . Im now more than ever determined
to get a vintage felt , that should keep me warm and seasonably fashionable at the same time.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Thanks everyone for helping me out on this one, i just got a really sweet boater and i will have a long winter looking forward to wearing it . Im now more than ever determined
to get a vintage felt , that should keep me warm and seasonably fashionable at the same time.

Midwest Boater,
If you really want to follow the rule, On September 15 (Felt Hat Day), you were supposed to poke your fist through the top of your boater, and throw it away; thus insuring that you would have to buy a new boater for next May 15 (Straw Hat Day). This rule is why there are so few boaters surviving, today.

 

[High Pockets]

Borsalino dating challenge.

Although I'm learning from several of you, (thank you), I've yet to learn enough to determine the age of a Borsalino yet,....this one has:

1. Taped not sewn, sweatband joint.
2. 1 3/4" sweatband.
3. Red Punti size tag.
4. White ribbon bow
5. Stamped "Esportazione Vietata" ("Export prohibited") on the sweat.
6. No corragated strip on front of sweat.
7. 2" over welted brim
8. 5 3/8" open crown, slightly tapered.

I figure it might be from the early 1950's,.....?

 

[Felt and Straw]

Naphtha

How long do those of you that clean your hats in Naphtha leave them in the bath and do you rinse them with anything (distilled watter or something else) after they come out and dry?

Thanks and Cheers!

(p.s. nice hat HP)

 

[Felt and Straw]

Naphtha pt 2

I'm still interested in hearing how long and what, if any, rinse afterward, but I soaked my silverbelly 100 for about 6 hours last night. I soaked the whole hat - ribbon, liner, leather, little paper size tag, etc.

The good news is the naphtha doesn't appear to have harmed anything. The leather was my biggest concern and it seems fine. It did seem dehydrated so I've put a thin coat of Lexol on it and it looks fine. The liner, which has the plastic sheet at the top, is not only cleaner, but neither the printing nor the plastic appear negatively affected. Even the tag on the inside of the sweat with the price and other data codes looks no worse from the bath.

The bottom of the bucket I soaked it in has a significant amount of dirt and grime. Amazing really.

The bad news is that in many ways the hat now seems dirtier than before. You know how when you wash a mark off a wall the rest of the wall starts to look dirty compared to the place you just cleaned...

While the hat is overall much cleaner than before the bath, the dirty/marked/stained places that didn't come out in the bath are now more noticeable.

Not sure where to go at this point but maybe I'll try spot cleaning the body with Scout and woolite for the ribbon and bound edge.

I've never tried using a hat sponge.....

Cheers

 

[Silke]

Greetings.

I'm new around here, been lurking for a while. Can't quite remember how I found this place, most likely while googling a specific type/style of fedora.

Either way I have a question I'm hoping you fine gentlemen could help me answer.

I've been addicted to hats for a while, recently I decided to try a new kind of head wear for the fun of it however. A so called "Flatcap" which eventually lead me to Newsboy caps and I noticed you have a thread about them here as well.

Newsboy caps confuse me greatly though, I know exactly how I want it to look in my mind. But there seems to be so many different cuts on them and no specific name for the fullness/cut of what I want.

I understand there are Big Apple Caps, "6 Quarter ones and so on, the Big apple cap seems to be too over dimensioned for what I have in mind, the "6 quarter one the opposite.

Then I stumbled upon an image that looks exactly like the cap I had in mind:

What exactly is it that I'm looking at here? My limited knowledge tells me it's a Big Apple Cap. But the Big Apple Caps I seem to come across don't have those dimensions.

Then there's this Stetson Hatteras cap:
http://www.carnelle.com/stetson/pics/caps/hatteras264044.jpg

But it doesn't quite have those dimensions does it?

Examples of what I'm NOT looking for:
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/dadshats_2076_19518365

Pardon the lengthiness and chaotic nature of my question, I tend to type exactly as I think, or something.

Very best regards.

 

[colps]

twelve of the best vintage fedoras

Since i am still new to collecting vintage hats, i thought i would ask those with the experience what the thought would be the top dozen the would have in there collections. Sure would appreciate your input.

 

[zetwal]

I've seen threads for Top Ten and Top Six and Top Three and so on. But I can't find any of them at the moment. Anyone remember the exact thread titles? That would help Colps out -

 

[buler]

Since i am still new to collecting vintage hats, i thought i would ask those with the experience what the thought would be the top dozen the would have in there collections. Sure would appreciate your input.

Here is a good place to start. TopTen

B

 

[zetwal]

I guess my search would not find it because TopTen is in quotes. [huh]

Thanks Buler -

 

[Midwest Boater]

royal stetson

this has to be in here somewhere i swear i looked,
if a hat is a royal stetson is it safe to assume its vintage?