Christy's of London

[Blackthorn]

You're welcome, Methusalah, glad I could help.

 

[cybergentleman]

confirmed

"Burma" is not the color it appears on the Hornets website, but is really a pretty dark brown, with a hint of greenish hue.

well, this confirms blackthorns swatch post.
dark colors are nice and rich though. i just wish they had a light color like old school stetson silverbelly.


on another note, my sable adventurer is on its way- will post pics soon

 

[GClark]

Got the Christy's Adventurer in Burma color today in the mail. Initial observations: Cons - Stitching is not precise like many hats. Liner does indeed seem to be firmly glued in place. "Burma" is not the color it appears on the Hornets website, but is really a pretty dark brown, with a hint of greenish hue. Yes, the stitching holding the ribbon down is a bit funky and obvious. Christy's version of size 63 seems to be more like a 62 from another company, like Akubra or Stetson. This is a snug little puppy. Sweatband does not line up with the front and back of the hat, at least at the "bow" end. Pros - Nice feel to the felt, finer than my Akubras so far. Very easy to shape dry. Lightweight, and looks good on. All in all, I guess it's a keeper, although I would have preferred a bit more grey in color, and a bit larger in size. Thankfully, Hornets refunded my shipping costs due to lack of communication on their part, which was nice. I'm still waiting on the carbon grey Fed IV to come in a few days, so I'll post pix then. Frank

My Christy's Trilby in Burma below.

This is the truest natural light color pic I could find (plus I get to show off those two as well). Be interested to see if your Burma is the same ...

 

[Blackthorn]

Nice looking hat, GClark!

And your daughters are cuties!

 

[Blackthorn]

One thing I really like about Christy's...

...is that they offer every one of their hats in any of the 16 colors. I remember a while back when the Akubra rep offered to answer questions here. One of the subjects that kept coming up (partly because of me) was, why aren't all of your hats available in Moonstone? And in Tawny Fawn? And his reply was a consistent, "We have no plans to do that." I asked him how hard could it be to just take some Moonstone colored felt over where they were making the Bogart model and run off a bunch of them in that color. He agreed that it wouldn't be hard, but "we have no plans to offer them in any other colors." There's no logicial reason to throw away all the business they'd get if they offered each hat in any color, like Christy's does.

I have 3 Abubras and I like them, but I'll never buy another one simply because they don't seem to care what their customers want.

 

[cybergentleman]

roger that....but

Every hat manufacturer should follow christy's model. stetson, akubra etc should really pick a few select colors and offer every model in that given color-makes no sense, considering that the hat bodies are probably the same regardless.

considering how dead the hat-scene is these days, you'd think it would be cheaper and easier for manufacturers to run their operations like christy's.

i guess if you wanted to, you could find a retailer for akubra and maybe somehow manage to have akubra manufacture a hat for you in a different colored felt-it is just a block shape issue.

 

[GClark]

And your daughters are cuties!

Thanks Blackthorn -

That pic was taken on a vaction to Ireland. The locals kept thinking the little one must be Irish - she sure has the hair (and the personality) for it...
GC

 

[Blackthorn]

Ireland!!

Thanks Blackthorn -

That pic was taken on a vaction to Ireland. The locals kept thinking the little one must be Irish - she sure has the hair (and the personality) for it...
GC

Excellent, GClark! I love Ireland. In fact, that's how I picked my screen name. Every time I go to Ireland I come back with a new blackthorn stick. I had a great two weeks there last year, my sixth time there.

Yes, that little red head fit right in there, I'm sure! She looks like a daughter of Erin.

 

[besdor]

Blackthorn, the problem here in the USA with the Akubra "rep" is that they are not hatters. For them the hats are just another one of their lines. When there were two reps in the USA, thing were different . Outback Trading cared more about the hat part of the business even though they sold clothing as well. The problem today as some loungers are seeing is that it is expensive to buy the hats from Austrailia and import them into the USA.
I would love to carry Akubras full line of hats but they are too expensive to stock now because the US dollar is in the crapper now.


Steven
www.bencrafthats.com

 

[mayserwegener]

I would love to carry Akubras full line of hats but they are too expensive to stock now because the US dollar is in the crapper now.


Steven
www.bencrafthats.com

Currently 1 Euro = 1.498 Dollars and sinking.

 

[Tone]

Blackthorn, the problem here in the USA with the Akubra "rep" is that they are not hatters. For them the hats are just another one of their lines. When there were two reps in the USA, thing were different . Outback Trading cared more about the hat part of the business even though they sold clothing as well. The problem today as some loungers are seeing is that it is expensive to buy the hats from Austrailia and import them into the USA.
I would love to carry Akubras full line of hats but they are too expensive to stock now because the US dollar is in the crapper now.


Steven
www.bencrafthats.com

This is muddy here. Which Rep is the USA rep? I believe Blackthorn is referring to the rep who posts here on this forum as expert advisor and opinionator on all things Akubra. This the same USA rep in which YOU are referring, Besdor?

GClark, nice looking Trilby, btw. I've stuck to only one Christys' model, in particular, based on how well they take to my preference of bashing; never considered a Trilby, but that Christys' Trilby looks very natural on you out there among your travels.

 

[Blackthorn]

Blackthorn, the problem here in the USA with the Akubra "rep" is that they are not hatters. For them the hats are just another one of their lines. When there were two reps in the USA, thing were different . Outback Trading cared more about the hat part of the business even though they sold clothing as well. The problem today as some loungers are seeing is that it is expensive to buy the hats from Austrailia and import them into the USA.
I would love to carry Akubras full line of hats but they are too expensive to stock now because the US dollar is in the crapper now.


Steven
www.bencrafthats.com

Interesting, Steven, thank you for the insight.

Tone is correct, I was referring to the guy who posted here as a representative of Akubra, "here to answer your questions." About the only answer he really seemed to give was "No, we aren't going to change a thing. We could but we won't."

 

[Duper]

GClark, can I ask about your Trilby? I noticed it has a nice narrow ribbon. Was that a modification done before it was shipped to you? Also what name does your Trilby go by on the Hornets Hat website if that is where you acquired it?

Thanks!

 

[GClark]

GClark, can I ask about your Trilby? I noticed it has a nice narrow ribbon. Was that a modification done before it was shipped to you? Also what name does your Trilby go by on the Hornets Hat website if that is where you acquired it?

Thanks!

Duper,

I bought this at a shop maybe 14 or 15 years ago -
My first Fedora by a long ways. I looked at Hornet Hats and did not see it (although I sure thought it used to be there).

Also, I apologize for misinformation - I thought this was "Burma", but when I looked under the sweat for a model name (none), I see it is marked "Sable"...

 

[Blackthorn]

Duper, if you look at the Hornet's web page, they refer to the Ambassador, the Berkley, the Wincanton, the Pork Pie, the Marlborough, the Witney, the Foldaway, the Epsom, and the Sportsman all as "trilbys." I don't know their defintion of trilby or fedora, but I have a Foldaway and it's my definition of fedora.

Also, after you have ordered, you can email them and request a wide variety of different colored ribbons, since they make each hat after it's ordered.

 

[Duper]

Merci Blackthorn and GClark for the info.

I also have a Foldaway I picked up from another FL member Aureliano. I like it very much. Really nice feel to the felt. One of the reasons I am very curious about acquiring another Christy's. Perhaps in the grey mix.

GClark, I have one more question for you. What is the brim size on your trilby?

 

[GClark]

Merci Blackthorn and GClark for the info.

I also have a Foldaway I picked up from another FL member Aureliano. I like it very much. Really nice feel to the felt. One of the reasons I am very curious about acquiring another Christy's. Perhaps in the grey mix.

GClark, I have one more question for you. What is the brim size on your trilby?

It's about 2 5/8

 

[carcassi]

Some of the dimension on Hornets site are incorrect. My knightsbridge was labeled as having the same crown height as the open crown adventurer. There's no way it is 5 3/4". My head hits the top when I try wearing it in a normal fashion.
The color that I ordered (burma) does not match the small sample that is given either. I thought as well that it would have more grey in it, but it ends up being more olive in color. It would be nice if they would post good photos with every color and also give some ribbon colors as well.
Overall, for the price I'm happy with it. I'm going to try the adventurer next.

 

[cybergentleman]

agreed

I emailed hornets about this problem..they didn't really have much to say other than an apology. perhaps if enough ppl make them aware of the dissatisfaction with the site they will upload more photos- the photos are from christy's main site...they need to take some control it seems.

furthermore, the swatches posted earlier in this thread lead to even greater confusion.


this site made me even more confused..

http://www.thehatcompany.com/department/trilbies/christys/

can anyone testify to the accuracy of those photos/colors?

 

[Tone]

Some of the dimension on Hornets site are incorrect. My knightsbridge was labeled as having the same crown height as the open crown adventurer. There's no way it is 5 3/4". My head hits the top when I try wearing it in a normal fashion.
The color that I ordered (burma) does not match the small sample that is given either. I thought as well that it would have more grey in it, but it ends up being more olive in color. It would be nice if they would post good photos with every color and also give some ribbon colors as well.
Overall, for the price I'm happy with it. I'm going to try the adventurer next.

How 'bout a picture of your wearing the Knightsbridge while you have it? Which way you've got it styled, etc.

In Rick Blaine's initial post regarding the Christys from over a year ago there are examples of the hat and it's various heights to be chosen.

http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=32404&highlight=Christys