Can anybody make me a Whippet?

[JC225]

Ok, so I purchased a "Stetson Whippet" that came in a couple of days ago and so far I'm happy with the quality and the look of the hat. However as I continue to wear it, the pain in my forehead and the back of my head begins to set in only after a short amount of time. I measure right at 23" and if I'm correct, I believe that to be a 7 1/4-7 3/8 depending on who you ask so I went with the 7 3/8 just to safe.
After some great guidance here in the lounge, I have come to realize that size may not be the issue, it's the shape and it's looking like I'm a "long oval". I contacted Stetson this morning and "long oval" is unfortunately something they do not offer. I also thought about just going up a size to 7 1/2 but Stetson does "refunds only". So after a not so pleasant conversation with Stetson, I will be getting a refund and going some place else.
I love the look of the hat and really would like to keep it but at this point, I will gladly spend the extra to have one built for me which is probably what I should have done in the first place.

So who do we have in the family that can make one for me?

Thanks.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Ok, so I purchased a "Stetson Whippet" that came in a couple of days ago and so far I'm happy with the quality and the look of the hat. However as I continue to wear it, the pain in my forehead and the back of my head begins to set in only after a short amount of time. I measure right at 23" and if I'm correct, I believe that to be a 7 1/4-7 3/8 depending on who you ask so I went with the 7 3/8 just to safe.
After some great guidance here in the lounge, I have come to realize that size may not be the issue, it's the shape and it's looking like I'm a "long oval". I contacted Stetson this morning and "long oval" is unfortunately something they do not offer. I also thought about just going up a size to 7 1/2 but Stetson does "refunds only". So after a not so pleasant conversation with Stetson, I will be getting a refund and going some place else.
I love the look of the hat and really would like to keep it but at this point, I will gladly spend the extra to have one built for me which is probably what I should have done in the first place.

So who do we have in the family that can make one for me?

Thanks.

Now you’re talking! Custom hats can be the best bargain out there. Most any hatter who makes Stetsons and make you a Whippet clone. Off the top of my head, and in no particular order, some of the bargains in custom hats:
Vintage Silhouettes
Gannon
Northwest
Phoenix
Tumwater

And the list goes on. For about $350 you can have a custom built 100% beaver fur felt hat. Depending on what you want you may need to spend a bit more. I recommend going with a hatter who uses a conformateur/conformer if your head isn’t a standard oval. Also understand that most hatters are limited to the colors that Winchester is currently offering.

let us know how it turns out!

 

[JC225]

Hey Brent,
I really appreciate it and I will gladly spend the extra to get one custom made. Now that I have had a "Whippet" I don't want to be without one!

Is Vintage Silhouettes Art Fawcetts place?

 

[belfastboy]

Ok, so I purchased a "Stetson Whippet" that came in a couple of days ago and so far I'm happy with the quality and the look of the hat. However as I continue to wear it, the pain in my forehead and the back of my head begins to set in only after a short amount of time. I measure right at 23" and if I'm correct, I believe that to be a 7 1/4-7 3/8 depending on who you ask so I went with the 7 3/8 just to safe.
After some great guidance here in the lounge, I have come to realize that size may not be the issue, it's the shape and it's looking like I'm a "long oval". I contacted Stetson this morning and "long oval" is unfortunately something they do not offer. I also thought about just going up a size to 7 1/2 but Stetson does "refunds only". So after a not so pleasant conversation with Stetson, I will be getting a refund and going some place else.
I love the look of the hat and really would like to keep it but at this point, I will gladly spend the extra to have one built for me which is probably what I should have done in the first place.

So who do we have in the family that can make one for me?

Thanks.

The good news is that you have choice. The Stetson you purchased is a rabbit felt and for not too much more you can have a custom rabbit felt hat made. If you want to jump up in price you can get a beaver felt.

Check with the hatters for their current wait list.
Northwest Hats in Eugene OR.
Phoenix Hats in Knoxville
Michael Gannon in CA
The 3 named above I can speak to the superb quality of their work as I have multiples of their creations. And the first two listed have been great at replicating a hat from the pictures I have provided.

The 3 below are also great custom hatters but the wait list is a killer.
Black Sheep WA, last checked his wait list is 12 months
VS Hats, Medford OR wait list 8 months
Leon Drexler, Toronto Canada 12 months

 

[T Jones]

Ok, so I purchased a "Stetson Whippet" that came in a couple of days ago and so far I'm happy with the quality and the look of the hat. However as I continue to wear it, the pain in my forehead and the back of my head begins to set in only after a short amount of time. I measure right at 23" and if I'm correct, I believe that to be a 7 1/4-7 3/8 depending on who you ask so I went with the 7 3/8 just to safe.
After some great guidance here in the lounge, I have come to realize that size may not be the issue, it's the shape and it's looking like I'm a "long oval". I contacted Stetson this morning and "long oval" is unfortunately something they do not offer. I also thought about just going up a size to 7 1/2 but Stetson does "refunds only". So after a not so pleasant conversation with Stetson, I will be getting a refund and going some place else.
I love the look of the hat and really would like to keep it but at this point, I will gladly spend the extra to have one built for me which is probably what I should have done in the first place.

So who do we have in the family that can make one for me?

Thanks.

I'd give Rick Walker at Phoenix Hat Co. a call. He gets a lot of praise from people who buy his hats and they're repeat customers. He's also a fellow Lounger here, (humanshoes)...and from what everyone says, he's really good to work with.

 

[belfastboy]

Hey Brent,
I really appreciate it and I will gladly spend the extra to get one custom made. Now that I have had a "Whippet" I don't want to be without one!

Is Vintage Silhouettes Art Fawcetts place?

Vintage Silhouettes is the name of Art's shop. He has retired and sold it to David. David's wait list is upwards of 8 months last time I checked. VS used to mail out a plastic conformateur, you would size and pattern your head and mail it back. Mike at NW uses them but I visited him in his shop and did it there. Not sure he does the mail out thing but certainly ask. It is very easy to do. I am fortunate to be an oval shape...nothing extreme so all my custom hats fit well. The conformateur comes into play if you are on the outer extremes of head shape then the custom aspect comes into play. Many hatters have Long Oval blocks and the difference between the LO and the standard Oval does make a difference. That is where custom hatting is difficult. It is very capital intensive to set up a shop. You need a block for each size, and then you need a flange for each size, each LO or reg Oval block AND each brim width and style. The Whippet is a standard shape and size so any of the hatters listed will be able to replicate your desired hat. Now the fun part, picking a felt and a colour.

 

[JC225]

I just got off of the phone with Mike at Northwest and he sounds like a great guy. He took the time to answer all my questions and address my concerns. He said he can mail out the conformateur to me so we get this right the first time. He's currently on about a 3 month wait but since we decided to go with beaver in a steel gray color, it might be a bit sooner depending on what he has on hand.

Does anybody have any experience with Optimo? With Graham only being a couple of hours away from me, would it be better to drive down there and do all this in person?

However if I pay that for a hat I hope it keeps me warm because I will be sleeping in the garage!

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Hey Brent,
I really appreciate it and I will gladly spend the extra to get one custom made. Now that I have had a "Whippet" I don't want to be without one!

Is Vintage Silhouettes Art Fawcetts place?

Yep, Art is retired, but his long-time coworker is still running it. The new owner, David Gibson, is easy to work with, but he had an existing shop and now he’s taking over VS so he’s really backed up. He takes several days to answer emails and his wait time has gone way up! He does great work, and many of the custom hatters measure delivery times in months. Add in all the COVID-19 craziness and there are even fewer certainties.

there’s a thread here on hat colors that you should check out. If nothing else, it will show you just how differently the supposedly same colors look.

 

[moehawk]

Just a suggestion...
There is a device called a hat jack that is made to stretch a hat up a half size or so for those in-between size folks. It's biggest design flaw that it tends to stretch the hat along the front to back axis while makinging the side to side narrower. Kinda like a long oval. A very gentle application of one of these could fix your problem with the Whippet.
I'm not trying to talk you out of buying a custom, or any other new hat for that matter, just an option to try on the Whippet to make it more comfortable while you are on a wait list.
Hope it helps!

 

[jlee562]

Optimo is much more expensive than NW hats. While an in-person fitting, especially with folks like Optimo is always best, as the dimensions can be tweaked to suit you. Though you have a specific idea in mind, it's probably not a bad idea to save the cash and stick with Mike.

That having been said, Optimo makes a beautiful hat, certainly in the conversation of best hat being made today. They source their felt from a company in Portugal called FEPSA which many folks find they like more than the all-beaver offerings from Winchester, whom supplies almost all other custom hatters.

 

[belfastboy]

I just got off of the phone with Mike at Northwest and he sounds like a great guy. He took the time to answer all my questions and address my concerns. He said he can mail out the conformateur to me so we get this right the first time. He's currently on about a 3 month wait but since we decided to go with beaver in a steel gray color, it might be a bit sooner depending on what he has on hand.

Does anybody have any experience with Optimo? With Graham only being a couple of hours away from me, would it be better to drive down there and do all this in person?

However if I pay that for a hat I hope it keeps me warm because I will be sleeping in the garage!

I have two Steel beaver felts. It is a great colour. I also have 7 or 8 of Mike's creations....they are all stellar works.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I just got off of the phone with Mike at Northwest and he sounds like a great guy. He took the time to answer all my questions and address my concerns. He said he can mail out the conformateur to me so we get this right the first time. He's currently on about a 3 month wait but since we decided to go with beaver in a steel gray color, it might be a bit sooner depending on what he has on hand.

Does anybody have any experience with Optimo? With Graham only being a couple of hours away from me, would it be better to drive down there and do all this in person?

However if I pay that for a hat I hope it keeps me warm because I will be sleeping in the garage!

Optimo makes a grand hat, and that’s about what he charges too. If it’s in your budget I’d say go for it.

Mike at Northwest makes very good hats for very reasonable prices. I don’t think you would regret working with Mike...maybe order a Panama summer hat while you’re at it!

 

[T Jones]

I just got off of the phone with Mike at Northwest and he sounds like a great guy. He took the time to answer all my questions and address my concerns. He said he can mail out the conformateur to me so we get this right the first time. He's currently on about a 3 month wait but since we decided to go with beaver in a steel gray color, it might be a bit sooner depending on what he has on hand.

Does anybody have any experience with Optimo? With Graham only being a couple of hours away from me, would it be better to drive down there and do all this in person?

However if I pay that for a hat I hope it keeps me warm because I will be sleeping in the garage!

My one and only custom hat was made by Mike at Norrhwest. He's a very good Craftsman. But, since then, and since I don't have deep pockets to compete on eBay, I've learned to make my own personal customs from discarded Western hats. Whippets are one of those hats that's been on my bucket list for some time now. Unfortunately though, I think I'd probably kick that bucket before I could ever afford one,...so, I made my own version of one from this pretty roughed up and moth bitten Resistol Stagecoach...

 

[belfastboy]

My one and only custom hat was made by Mike at Norrhwest. He's a very good Craftsman. But, since then, and since I don't have deep pockets to compete on eBay, I've learned to make my own personal customs from discarded Western hats. Whippets are one of those hats that's been on my bucket list for some time now. Unfortunately though, I think I'd probably kick that bucket before I could ever afford one,...so, I made my own version of one from this pretty roughed up and moth bitten Resistol Stagecoach...

You do great work.

 

[T Jones]

You do great work.

Thank you buddy.

 

[Feraud]

Just a suggestion...
There is a device called a hat jack that is made to stretch a hat up a half size or so for those in-between size folks. It's biggest design flaw that it tends to stretch the hat along the front to back axis while narrowing the side to side narrower. Kinda like a long oval. A very gentle application of one of these could fix your problem with the Whippet.

Hope it helps!

^^ This.

 

[JC225]

Hey T,

I had a great conversation with Rick this afternoon and he was more than confident that he could set me up with what I was looking for. The big thing I'm running into right now is the turn around times. The majority of makers I spoke with today are six to eight months out. However Mike up at NW hats said it could be a little as three.

 

[Tukwila]

Mike Miller...

 

[Tukwila]

Michael Gannon...

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Michael Gannon...

I think Gannon has the shortest queue right now too. Unfortunately, he doesn’t currently have a block in my size, but he has one on order.