Can anyone ID this hat style?

[Christian Ristow]

I just picked this hat up at Meyer the Hatter in NOLA. On sale for $60.00, and I liked the look of it, the proportions, enough to buy it even though it is too big for me. I wear a 7 1/2. They only had a 7 and a 7 3/4, so I bought the 7 3/4.

I am considering trying to shrink it somehow (not a fan of hat foam) or start shopping for something similar that actually fits. But I don't really know what this style is called, which makes shopping for a similar hat pretty difficult.

It's 10X beaver, and custom made for Meyer the Hatter. It has no style name inside. It's got a 3.25" bring and a 5" crown. Any help appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Historyteach24]

Just a tall crowned fedora

 

[Dinerman]

Cowboy hat in a long-nap felt.

 

[jhe888]

That was a style of cowboy hat crown in the '80s, although they often had a little more brim.

 

[TPD166]

I've been told that's called an RCA crown (can't recall what it stands for other than Rodeo) - I've had a couple of '70s-80s western in that style.

 

[gtdean48]

I've been told that's called an RCA crown (can't recall what it stands for other than Rodeo) - I've had a couple of '70s-80s western in that style.

Rodeo Cowboys Association = Cowboy Turtles Association - This group was renamed the Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA) in 1945 and the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) in 1975.

 

[Cattus Petasatus]

7 3/4, you say? Hmmm, can you post more pics of it? Some from the inside too?

 

[Christian Ristow]

There you go.
It says on the inside: 10X beaver - 100% Imported Fur, no other fibers - custom made for Meyer The Hatter

I can only assume that you are interested in the hat... and to be honest I'm not certain I want to get rid of it yet. I really like it. As I mentioned I am considering trying to shrink it... but I'm not sure how successful I could be with that and I might just ruin it. If I knew I could somehow get my hands on a similar hat with similar lines and proportions in a 7.5, then I'd be more ready to let it go. But I've looked on eBay and haven't found anything like it yet. (Not having a name sure does make a hat hard to search for... it's not like looking for an Open Road!)

 

[gtdean48]

Send it to a hatter to resize. You won't shrink it that far, IMHO. Welcome to the Lounge...

 

[Cattus Petasatus]

Thanks for the extra pics. I have a black, long hair from Peters Bros in Ft Worth. I cut the brim down and reshaped the crown to a fedora. It's a fun hat. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Christian Ristow]

Send it to a hatter to resize. You won't shrink it that far, IMHO. Welcome to the Lounge...

Thanks for the welcome. I've actually been lurking her for a year or more... I was really into Open Roads for a while and read a lot about them (and even posted a want ad for one in the classifieds over a year ago.) For whatever reason I'm not so into them anymore... the brim is slightly to skimpy for me I guess. Yet a full cowboy brim sometimes feels like too much; I guess that's why I like this hat so much. It falls somewhere in between.

Regarding shrinking the hat, it actually feels more like a 7 5/8. It's definitely too big, but I am not swimming in it. I think I will try a few tricks here at home before I sent it off the a hatter.

I guess my best bet at "finding" a hat like this in 7½ would be to buy something with a sufficiently tall crown, shape the crown as I like it, and trim the brim to suit. Luckily for me the "long nap" of the felt on this hat is NOT the selling point of the hat for me. I like it fine, but the proportions and the crown bash are what I like.

Thanks!

 

[fedoracentric]

For whatever reason I'm not so into them anymore... the brim is slightly to skimpy for me I guess. Yet a full cowboy brim sometimes feels like too much; I guess that's why I like this hat so much. It falls somewhere in between.

I'm not sure I can make sense of that comment. Open Road hats and their many clones come in brim sizes from 2 inches all the way to 2-7/8. So, I'm not sure what you mean when you say an Open Road has a brim that is "too skimpy."

Further cowboy hats are in brim size 2-1/2 inch all the way to 4 inches (some really wild ones even bigger).

I guess I am confused by your point, there.

 

[Christian Ristow]

All I'm saying is that the 3.25" brim on this hat falls nicely between (what I have observed to be the "normal") 2.75" brim on Open Roads and (what I have observed to be the "normal") 3.75" - 4" brims on cowboy hats. I'm sure there's a huge range of brim widths within any given category, but this brim occupies a nice little in- between niche, if not within absolute definitions of hat styles, then certainly within my personal collection.

Cheers

 

[Christian Ristow]

OK... here is where I convert the thread from one about "I.D.'ing" a hat to one about shrinking a hat!

I decided to just go for it and try to shrink the hat from 7 3/4 down to 7 1/2. After removing the feather and brown ribbon hatband, the first thing I did was to totally soak the hat in hot water. Then, I shook off the extra dripping water (mind you, the hat was very wet; soaked through) and I put the hat in the oven. I had just gotten the oven up to 150º and then turned it off. I left the hat in there with the oven gradually cooling down for about 3 hours.

Result: Not too successful. The sweatband, which was apparently not made of leather, crackled and crinkled and shrunk and generally fell apart. The hat itself shrunk, but not by that much.

So, next approach:
I disassembled the hat (removed the sweatband and liner). The felt was still moist. I adjusted my hat stretcher (which I have modified many times in the last few years to be a long oval replica of my own head shape, and also to have tall aluminum forms that go up into the crown; please see picture below) to be exactly my head size by inserting it into another hat that fits well and expanding it appropriately. Then I put the stretcher into the project hat.

Next I cut some cardboard pieces to go around the outside of the crown, and put three large hose clamps around the cardboard-protected crown. I tightened the hose clamps down onto the modified stretcher inside. I left it this way overnight to dry.

The next day, I removed everything from the hat and tried it on. Great fit! A tiny bit loose, but I was pretty sure it would be perfect after re-installing the liner and sweatband. In the next picture the original liner has been sewn back in. It was originally glued in, but I decided to sew it in.

Here is how the hat looked at this stage:

You can see the stitching for the liner. You can also see how the top of the crown "flares" out just a bit at the corners. The felt that is getting squeezed by the hose clamps has to go somewhere! It went up and out, although just a little.

Next I needed to put a sweatband in, but the original one was garbage. I looked at my collection to see if I could find a good sweatband in a hat I no longer wear, and way up on a shelf I found a destroyed old Borsalino fedora with a good sweatband. So the new hat now has a black Borsalino sweatband!! If you look closely you can see the cream-colored stitches I used to hold it in. (I know that sewing the band at that place is not how its usually done, but I've had the best luck in the past with this method)

Here is the finished hat:

You can see that there is a bit of a "wrinkle" in the front left quadrant of the brim. That was present before this operation, but did get worse with the forced shrinking. Oh well.

And lastly, the hat being worn. The fit is awesome! I could wear it in the wind without worry!

Cheers!