Bailey hats.

[ScottF]

Bailey Hats are known for their innovative look, not their quality. We sell alot of their hats to customers looking for a nice styled hat at a good price point. For an everyday hat , they work well. If you are looking for a hat that compares to an Optimo hat for 50.00, then forget it.



Steven
www.bencrafthats.com

Agreed - 3 of my first 4 new hats were $40-50 Baileys, and I have no complaints. One is a black wool fedora that is a fine Winter hat. The other two have the innovative designs Steven describes: black wool 'sort-of' porkpie, and a straw porkpie with an Optimo ridge. The straw has been my 'go to' Summer hat.

 

[ScottF]

...Their wool hats are far better than the Chinese junk . The problem is that they cant compete on price with the Chinese . I doubt they will still be manufacturing hats in five years.


Steven
www.bencrafthats.com

You are closer to this market, so I don't doubt this; however, the fedora market is small, and the current buyers can be quirky - I bet a lot of Americans refuse to by Chinese hats. I won't get political, but I don't buy Chinese anything except by accident - we have enough empty Chinese cargo containers here in Seattle.

 

[Seacow]

Bailey Hats

I have looked at quite a few of these hats, and I think they are very good value for money. They don't tend to be silk lined, but are good hats for the price as far as I can tell.

For me, the only problem is that their largest size is 61cm (XL), and my hat size is 63cm. This means I have to get a Christys or similar, who do larger, traditional (7 7/8 for example) sizes.

However, depending on the style of the hat, some of the XLs can be generous enough, but the fit would be quite snug.

If I didn't have such a freakishly large head, I would definitely have bought two or three of their hats as they do a good raneg of styles and colours at good prices.

 

[gtdean48]

Around the horse show circuit, Bailey's are good throw-aways = look okay to wear into the show ring but not so much in it you'd be upset if it came off & got trampled. They come in lots of colors for matching lots of saddle pads & shirts. I have 1 Bailey straw hat that I use now as a summer bushhogging hat. Never been impressed with their quality even at low prices. JMHO

 

[rpersson]

What about Bailey's rabbit-beaver blends (like the "Noble", the "Ralat", or the "Bowery", all of which are 40% beaver hair by weight)? After all the rage I read on these boards about the qualities of beaver felt, surely they can't be that bad?

 

[BobHufford]

I’ve got a 100% beaver western that I’m very happy with.

Bailey 100X.

 

[RJR]

I’ve got a 100% beaver western that I’m very happy with.

Bailey 100X.

Good looking that band makes it yours.

 

[glider]

I just purchased a Bailey newsboy [Kroger] cap. I looked at other newsboy caps and the Bailey was the best quality, 100% virgin wool and thicker than anything else in the shop. It was also one of the more expensive caps, $85, I'm pretty happy with it. This was a well known hat store, Levine in St Louis.

 

[glider]

I did a little research and found out that Bailey is one of several brands owned by the Bollmann hat company. They claim to be the oldest hat company in the U.S. They are in Pa. and produce a wide range of hats and caps. There fedoras range in price from 30 bucks to 325 dollars. My Kroger was made in Italy so they obviously import also.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

For as many hats as Bailey sells we don’t hear much about them here at The Lounge. While normally associated with cheap wool hats, they do/did make some fur felt hats of decent quality. This “Frontier Collection 3X Beaver” just arrived and I’m quite taken. It reminds me a lot of a Thoroughbred western I own. The felt is stiff, but it’s well finished. The pouncing and dye is even, the brim binding is well done, and the ribbon/bow is at least as good as modern Stetson (damned with faint praise?).

It arrived with a poorly executed Gus crease, but it responded excellently to steam and I reshaped it with ease. The hat is also very comfortable. The biggest issue I have is with the sweat. It feels fine, but it’s obviously some sort of synthetic material made to look like leather. A 20 dollar bill and a trip to a not to distant hatter will fix that when it get around to it. All in all, I’m quite happy with the hat.

 

[dkstott]

I seem to gravitate towards Bailey's because they're really affordable and they can take a beating. I've got a Stetson Chatham for dressier occasions. But my Bailey's are my everyday hats and caps. I can own Bailey's in different colors and styles for what I'd pay for 1 other brand.

 

[Pellie]

My Bailey summerhat. Present from my son this week.

 

[dkstott]

My Bailey litefelt Curtis hat. I've got the same model in Grey. They've been my daily hats for a while now.

Sent from my LM-V350 using Tapatalk

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I usually don’t even glance at Bailey hats, but this caught my eye. I’d be tempted to have a leather sweatband sewn in, but I’d totally wear this as a summer homburg!

 

[glider]

Bailey makes some high quality hats in addition to there less expensive hats. Dorfman Pacific is another company that actually has some very nice hats but are known for there more affordable hats. I have a fur felt raider by them that is one of my favorite hats. Interesting that they make the raider hat in wool and fur felt, same hat except for the felt. Stratton is another company that isn't known for there dress hats but has very nice hats, they also own Winchester felt. Actually Stratton hats could be called custom hats, I intend to order a hat from them this year. Sorry if I got to far off subject .

 

[belfastboy]

Bailey makes some high quality hats in addition to there less expensive hats. Dorfman Pacific is another company that actually has some very nice hats but are known for there more affordable hats. I have a fur felt raider by them that is one of my favorite hats. Interesting that they make the raider hat in wool and fur felt, same hat except for the felt. Stratton is another company that isn't known for there dress hats but has very nice hats, they also own Winchester felt. Actually Stratton hats could be called custom hats, I intend to order a hat from them this year. Sorry if I got to far off subject .

I picked up a brand new Bailey Western blank in 8X beaver on Ebay a few years back for $25. It was a very white white hat. Dyed it, cut the brim down and turned it into a crossover/country gentlemens styled hat. Great felt. They sell them in different colours online for about $500, would not pay that for one but still nice felt.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Bailey makes some high quality hats in addition to there less expensive hats. Dorfman Pacific is another company that actually has some very nice hats but are known for there more affordable hats. I have a fur felt raider by them that is one of my favorite hats. Interesting that they make the raider hat in wool and fur felt, same hat except for the felt. Stratton is another company that isn't known for there dress hats but has very nice hats, they also own Winchester felt. Actually Stratton hats could be called custom hats, I intend to order a hat from them this year. Sorry if I got to far off subject .

Stratton owns Winchester who makes the hat bodies most custom hatters use. They offer full custom hats of their own, but they are rarely seen here on The Lounge or on the secondary market. I suspect they don’t make all that many hats.

The Bollman hat company makes some truly awful hats as well as some decent ones. The Felechet and Biltmore hats they made, as well as their short-lived US made Borsalinos, have been some of the worst modern fur felt hats I’ve owned. Some here have good things to say about some of them, but that hasn’t been my experience.

Most of Bollman’s hats are made for lower price points and it shows. Even some of their fur felt hats use artificial leather sweatbands. They also sometimes just have that hard to put your finger on sense of cheapness. It’s not fair to paint the whole lineup with the same brush, and I’d buy the right hat(s) if I found them for the right price: some of their vintage hats are quite nice.

 

[belfastboy]

Stratton owns Winchester who makes the hat bodies most custom hatters use. They offer full custom hats of their own, but they are rarely seen here on The Lounge or on the secondary market. I suspect they don’t make all that many hats.

The Bollman hat company makes some truly awful hats as well as some decent ones. The Felechet and Biltmore hats they made, as well as their short-lived US made Borsalinos, have been some of the worst modern fur felt hats I’ve owned. Some here have good things to say about some of them, but that hasn’t been my experience.

Most of Bollman’s hats are made for lower price points and it shows. Even some of their fur felt hats use artificial leather sweatbands. They also sometimes just have that hard to put your finger on sense of cheapness. It’s not fair to paint the whole lineup with the same brush, and I’d buy the right hat(s) if I found them for the right price: some of their vintage hats are quite nice.

I have the US made Flechet hat you gave me. I deconstructed it and it was the worst made hat I have ever seen. Terrible workmanship, the ribbon/bow was stapled to the felt....just awful. The leather sweat (awful quality) stitching so close together the felt was torn away. However the felt itself is not bad. After I naptha bathed it the felt had nice soft vintage feel to it. Perhaps a bit too floppy but still a nice felt. I am wearing it as i type....it is my "working man's hat"...aka Ed Norton.

 

[T Jones]

I have a 100X Beaver Bailey that I started working on some weeks back, and need to finish. As far as the quality, I've handled worse, and I've definitely handled much better. My sampling is 'okay'. As soon as I start feeling a little better I'll get it finished.

Before:

 

[Edward]

Never encountered any of their furfelts. I've seen a handful of wool porkpies from them which appeared nice in the shop (can't speak as to durability, not having owned one). Caps looked nice. Most of what I see over here are their straws and polystraws. Got my eye on one or two of their straw porkpies for next Summer. For whatever reason, I'm less inclined to spend big money on straws, perhaps because for my tastes I can find cheaper straws that look just as good, and for an inherently fragile material, I feel more comfortably buying something that is much more easily replaced.