Borsalino hat help!

[Jack Sparrow]

Hey everyone!
I've been looking all over for a specific Borsalino hat that Johnny Depp wears.
Can anyone help to identify the model?
It looks to me like an alessandria, but it has a wider grosgrain band than the ones I've seen...

Anyway, if anyone can be of any help, I'd really appreciate it!

 

[Dinerman]

It's vintage. Most do not have model names in them, so I can't really help you. Closest non borsalino would be a stetson whippet.

 

[DOUGLAS]

Let me ask a stupid question, Does anyone know that this is a borsalino for certain? I have my doubts.

 

[Dinerman]

I haven't heard either way.

 

[Jack Sparrow]

I don't know for certain that it's a Borsalino-
I'd assumed it was because of the button catch and the overall soft look of the hat.
He's also worn a number of other Borsalinos.
But it could very well not be, and I'm definitely open to any other info!

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, the "button catch" otherwise known as a wind trolley, is not exclusive to Borsalino. The list of companies that installed these on vintage is much to long for here. I have to agree with dinnerman, it bears a strong resemblance to a Whippet. Someone who owns a few could speak better to the bow than I can. As for being soft, I have a Vogue, Stratoliner, or a Kitten Finish Resistol that are every bit as soft as my vintage Borso. JMHO

 

[Jack Sparrow]

Dually noted.
All I have to go by is what I've gathered myself and what I've been able to learn from the hat shop where I got my other fedoras.
So you'll have to excuse me if I'm not entirely familiar with the lingo.

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

We are all here to learn, please excuse me if I offended you.

 

[reetpleat]

We are all here to learn, please excuse me if I offended you.

Borsalinos tend to have a sharp brim snap down. We always speculated it was becaue they looked great wit ha roman nose. Of course that does not mean all Boraslinos do, and certainly one could lose the curl over time or with an iron. But I usully noticed the sharp curl of the brom on Borsies

 

[tonyb]

That wind string button looks like it might be one of those wholly decorative ones -- you know, the kind that's permanently attached to the bow and is in no way functional. I speculate this because if that button isn't attached, it appears to be capable of gravity defiance. But then, it is positioned farther to the rear of the bow than the other faux wind string buttons I've encountered.
This does very little to identify the hat's maker (provided it is one of those fake ones), seeing how several manufacturers apparently used them. (I happen to have a Lee, a Mallory and a Dobbs with that particular feature.) But it could help narrow down its era.

 

[Fletch]

That wind string button looks like it might be one of those wholly decorative ones -- you know, the kind that's permanently attached to the bow and is in no way functional.

I'd argue to the contrary, because the cord has some slack and twist-up visible.

One indicator that this is a vintage lid is that the crown is beginning eversoslightly to hole.

 

[tonyb]

I'd argue to the contrary, because the cord has some slack and twist-up visible.

So it appears. Any theories as to why the button is so much higher up the bow than the cord itself? What's holding it up there?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I believe that the button is in fact sewn onto the bow. Weird.

 

[Fletch]

That's possible, perhaps to keep it from flopping around as the trolley unwinds.

 

[tonyb]

I believe that the button is in fact sewn onto the bow. Weird.

That's how it looks to me, too. Hence my initial speculation.

 

[DOUGLAS]

It looks sewn in place to me too. There aren't so many manufacturers that have that detail. Unless he sewed it in place himself.

 

[tonyb]

Yeah, Douglas, that occurred to me, too. Could be that it was once a functional wind string that later had its button sewn to the ribbon.

 

[Dinerman]

There are a few manufacturers that have the button sewn to the ribbon, and the loop free, so you loop the loop over your button instead of putting the button throught your button hole.

 

[tonyb]

There are a few manufacturers that have the button sewn to the ribbon, and the loop free, so you loop the loop over your button instead of putting the button throught your button hole.

You got me scratching my head, dinerman. Are you saying that those wind strings with the button permanently attached to the bow might indeed be functional? Sometimes I'm a little slow to catch on, but I'm having a hard time envisioning that. What button would I loop the loop over?

 

[Dinerman]

I think the loop loops over a shirt button on ones like that. I'd have to look through previous posts to find a picture of this.