Christy's of London

[hatsRme]

I have a Christys Casabanca hat in light grey. A very nice hat

Welcome aboard, Oldtimeram!
Shoot a picture when you can. That is a great lid you have!

 

[PHIL1959]

I have owned a christys fold-able,epsom,sportsman and the adventurer, they are very nice hats.

 

[Redfokker]

I have a mid century Christy's Bowler that is of nice quality.

 

[HatAddict94]

Is this worth it and does anybody have this particular hat? hard to find a hat my size and my cousins wedding is coming up. Need a hat for that. I've seen pics of the foldaway Fedora but none of this one.

 

[Monavillecowboy]

That's an excellent price. I paid more than that and I got them at the closeout dealer price.
Here's a link to what have left if it helps.
http://www.one2miniranch.com/christys-of-london-genuine-fur-felt-foldaway-fedora-hat/

 

[HatAddict94]

That's an excellent price. I paid more than that and I got them at the closeout dealer price.
Here's a link to what have left if it helps.
http://www.one2miniranch.com/christys-of-london-genuine-fur-felt-foldaway-fedora-hat/

I'm trying to figure out if the one i found is a Trilby or a fedora. Seems like the brim is really small but it could be a bad photo.

 

[Monavillecowboy]

It sure looks like the ones I have. If so the brim is about 2 1/4".

 

[HatAddict94]

It sure looks like the ones I have. If so the brim is about 2 1/4".

Yep its about right. Would you say it was a fedora or trilby? I can't rock a trilby since i have a round face. If you have any more pics that Would be awesome. All the posts I've seen are old and the photos don't exist anymore.

 

[Monavillecowboy]

It's my understanding ( and I could well be wrong) that a trilby is a hat with a brim under 2".
Click on the link I sent a couple messages back to see pics on the website.

 

[Bird Lives]

From what I've seen, there really isn't a steadfast rule...I know on the Lock & Co. web-site, some trilbies have larger brims than some fedoras...I know originally there wasn't a difference...In the U.S. it was a fedora, in the UK it was a trilby...Then the UK racing felts became so popular, everywhere. And they were called "trilbies" no matter what the brim width, but most the time their brims were 2" or so..Sooo, I think folks in the US started wanting those 2" racing felts or trilbies and the semantics hit the fan so to speak...

 

[Rick Blaine]

Your mileage may differ.

SEE ALSO 'THE ART OF FITTING FACES'

 

[Babbo Philipe]

was considering one of these how do they pan out ,

 

[jlee562]

Christy's did have a reputation for being somewhat averse to moisture (as in, would shrink if hit by rain). I own an Adventurer, which has a nice color, blockshape, and well-done finishing. The tacking stitches are fairly obvious, but on par for modern production hats. I've never dared get it wet, based on comments at the time from Club Obi Wan (the Indiana Jones forum), and it still looks good.

That having been said, Matt Deckard (friend of the lounge, and former hat designer for Stetson) is now working with Christy's, so I think they're worth consideration.

 

[Babbo Philipe]

well, i am trying to get ahold of deckard , but he never replies, questions but no replies---------- are headbands real leather

 

[Zoukatron]

Interestingly, Christy's put a picture up on their Instagram account last year (September - I just looked it up) that said they were going to offering a bespoke service soon. I haven't seen any further news about that, and I'm really curious about just what they mean by "bespoke" - if they just mean fitting different hatbands, they already say they'll do that. As for true bespoke - I'd somewhat sceptical about that.

On another note, I tried buying a couple different Christy's hats recently (haven't owned any before). Tried the foldaway trilby - crown was way too low for me to get the shape that I like. Tried the adventurer, wasn't sized right (as many people find), so got it replaced and instead received one where the crown had been blocked at a weird angle. After also noticing other issues like the fact they still have really ugly tacking on the bow and hatband, poor attachment of the sweatband etc. I sent that back too. I didn't even get to test them out in the rain to see how accurate their reputation is, so don't think I'll really be tempted to try out their bespoke service.

 

[Babbo Philipe]

can you better describe the headband not being attached decently, it does look kind of wide tied and not tight

 

[Zoukatron]

can you better describe the headband not being attached decently, it does look kind of wide tied and not tight

Well, it's been over a while since I had it in my hands, but: after seeing the off-line blocking and how sloppy the tack work holding the bow and ribbon down was, I decided to fold the sweatband out (like you would with any other hat) to have a look at the work on the reed and to see if (as I had read in some reports) the liner was glued to the sweatband. As I did so, threads just started coming out everywhere... I knew that I was going to return it because of the blocking anyway so I just folded the sweatband back down and decided not to touch another one of their hats.

I think, at this point, the only one of their fur felt hats that I would be willing to spend money on would be the foldaway. Whilst the crown of that is shorter than ideal for me, it does not have a leather sweatband, it does not have any lining and the tacking is less of an issue because of the narrowness of the ribbon and the lack of bow. The lack of leather sweatband and lining would also make it easier to change the ribbon if desired. Basically, there are fewer parts to get wrong.

I'm sure some people have received good examples of hats from Christy's, but I think they are too focused on mass producing product for people who want hats, but don't really know that much about them. I would describe them as serviceable (although I can't say anything about their rain worthiness), but with lack of care for the details. It makes me wonder how much their sister company CW Headdress (who make hats for the British police and various other organisations) influences their manufacture process (and indeed, which company bought which).

 

[Babbo Philipe]

Well, it's been over a while since I had it in my hands, but: after seeing the off-line blocking and how sloppy the tack work holding the bow and ribbon down was, I decided to fold the sweatband out (like you would with any other hat) to have a look at the work on the reed and to see if (as I had read in some reports) the liner was glued to the sweatband. As I did so, threads just started coming out everywhere... I knew that I was going to return it because of the blocking anyway so I just folded the sweatband back down and decided not to touch another one of their hats.

I think, at this point, the only one of their fur felt hats that I would be willing to spend money on would be the foldaway. Whilst the crown of that is shorter than ideal for me, it does not have a leather sweatband, it does not have any lining and the tacking is less of an issue because of the narrowness of the ribbon and the lack of bow. The lack of leather sweatband and lining would also make it easier to change the ribbon if desired. Basically, there are fewer parts to get wrong.

I'm sure some people have received good examples of hats from Christy's, but I think they are too focused on mass producing product for people who want hats, but don't really know that much about them. I would describe them as serviceable (although I can't say anything about their rain worthiness), but with lack of care for the details. It makes me wonder how much their sister company CW Headdress (who make hats for the British police and various other organisations) influences their manufacture process (and indeed, which company bought which).

well i think you hit the nail on the head, i could see this right off the bat from the pictures, the loose thread machine was not tight knit it like other hat makers, , its all fluff and show, thanks

 

[RJR]

Well, it's been over a while since I had it in my hands, but: after seeing the off-line blocking and how sloppy the tack work holding the bow and ribbon down was, I decided to fold the sweatband out (like you would with any other hat) to have a look at the work on the reed and to see if (as I had read in some reports) the liner was glued to the sweatband. As I did so, threads just started coming out everywhere... I knew that I was going to return it because of the blocking anyway so I just folded the sweatband back down and decided not to touch another one of their hats.

I think, at this point, the only one of their fur felt hats that I would be willing to spend money on would be the foldaway. Whilst the crown of that is shorter than ideal for me, it does not have a leather sweatband, it does not have any lining and the tacking is less of an issue because of the narrowness of the ribbon and the lack of bow. The lack of leather sweatband and lining would also make it easier to change the ribbon if desired. Basically, there are fewer parts to get wrong.

I'm sure some people have received good examples of hats from Christy's, but I think they are too focused on mass producing product for people who want hats, but don't really know that much about them. I would describe them as serviceable (although I can't say anything about their rain worthiness), but with lack of care for the details. It makes me wonder how much their sister company CW Headdress (who make hats for the British police and various other organisations) influences their manufacture process (and indeed, which company bought which).

I have an Adventurer/Poet and two foldaways and while the A/P isn't terrible,the foldaways appear better finished.

 

[Zoukatron]

How well do the foldaways hold up to the rain (if you've actually had the opportunity to test them)?