Considering a Stetson Open Road, what pairs well with it?

[Bamaboots]

In 1935 Stetson bought the Wolthausen Hat Co. in Brockville, Ontario and produced hats there until 1970 or so.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

In 1935 Stetson bought the Wolthausen Hat Co. in Brockville, Ontario and produced hats there until 1970 or so.

And made some fine hats as you can attest to Greg.
B

 

[Wade H]

You can change the crease in a current Open Road with its factory machine pressed shape, but it’s not easy and often some indications of the factory crease will be seen. The Akubra Campdraft is an open crown hat and allows you to chose the shape. You can also have a custom hat made for around the same price as a new Stetson Open Road. If you decide to go with the new production Stetson, I’d recommend the Royal De Luxe or the Pure.

You can still wear an Open Road with a cattleman’s crease with all the same clothing as an Open Road with a “fedora” crease/shape, but the Cattleman’s will definitely give it a more western/cowboy/outdoorsy vibe.

I just got an Open Road and it fits surprisingly well on my slightly long oval head but it doesn't fit as well as my custom Foklore hat which fits like a glove. The custom hat was quite a bit more than the Royal Deluxe OR. You mentioned that you can find custom hats that are roughly the same price as a new OR. Can you point me in the direction of some custom hatters in the sub $300 range. I would like to add another custom to my collection if my wallet can take it.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I just got an Open Road and it fits surprisingly well on my slightly long oval head but it doesn't fit as well as my custom Foklore hat which fits like a glove. The custom hat was quite a bit more than the Royal Deluxe OR. You mentioned that you can find custom hats that are roughly the same price as a new OR. Can you point me in the direction of some custom hatters in the sub $300 range. I would like to add another custom to my collection if my wallet can take it.

Send @belfastboy a PM. He’s the man behind Wolfbrae Custom Hatters.

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/wolfbrae-custom-hatters.103637/page-15

 

[M Brown]

One of the best things about an Open Road is that it goes well with any attire.

 

[M Hatman]

AND....here are a couple of Stetson ads showing how they see their hat, note they generally show them with the "rancher" or "cattleman" crease.....though there are many newspaper ads showing them with a fedora pinch. Truman typically always wore his brim up with a fedora pinch as shown in this photo from 1947 (and in a suit, though wears an overcoat here covering his suit).

I suppose the propensity to show it with the what is now a western style crease (you will rarely see this crease in a western hat prior to 1935 or so when side creases started showing up, though they were different from what we know today) gave them the idea to do the factory crease of the same (and save a few dollars with a lower crown).

From 1949

1950

Open Road is in the back with the "Rancher" crease...though they were sold open crown. 1948

And in 1955 it is shown here with other than the rancher crease......

By 1960 it was the best selling western hat....

and by 1964 a short brim version "for the city" was made!

AND then there is this ad that from 1949 (originally printed in 1948) that shows INDEED...the Stetson Open Road is good for EVERYONE no matter where you live in the AMERICA!!!

As an aside Stetson did indeed export hats and had dealers in England & France (and Canada before the purchase of the Brockville plant when they were made there) as early as the 1920's. This French ad is from 1929...but I have earlier ones too......

 

[Hurricane Jack]

By 1960 it was the best selling western hat.

and by 1964 a short brim version "for the city" was made!

The influence of LBJ starting with the campaign for the 1960 election?

Truman being the oldest probably preferred the creases of the 1920’s & 1930’s. The other OR ”influencer” was Eisenhower & except when he was photographed fly fishing, was most often seen with his creased in a Cattleman. Truman, Eisenhower & LBJ all came from rural cattle raising states. Not exactly fedora country.

 

[M Hatman]

The influence of LBJ starting with the campaign for the 1960 election?

Truman being the oldest probably preferred the creases of the 1920’s & 1930’s. The other OR ”influencer” was Eisenhower & except when he was photographed fly fishing, was most often seen with his creased in a Cattleman. Truman, Eisenhower & LBJ all came from rural cattle raising states. Not exactly fedora country.

Both Truman and Eisenhower did wear other hats too.....ESPECIALLY Eisenhower who seems to have been photographed in every hat imaginable.......

I have photographs of them both in other hats, Truman in a regular wide ribbon fedora and an optimo straw, but mostly the pinched OR. Eisenhower liked to wear his OR at home and often for leisure, but seems to be photographed in a Homburg more often in DC and when on "business" for his regular head-wear.

I think Eisenhower would have strongly been influenced himself by his boss...President Truman. Remember he may have been from a western state, but he was Career Army, so most all of his experience would be there.

LBJ seems to have worn the OR (with a cattleman crease) as a hat, almost exclusively since he was elected to the senate and onward.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Eisenhower liked to wear his OR at home and often for leisure, but seems to be photographed in a Homburg more often in DC and when on "business" for his regular head-wear.

I particularly like pics taken at the Gettysburg Farm.

 

[M Hatman]

I particularly like pics taken at the Gettysburg Farm.

View attachment 439620

View attachment 439622
View attachment 439621

In that first picture he looks old and worn by time.......LOVE his coat!

Yep...in the second picture with Churchill he has his dark Homburg/Fedora. Churchill looks like he has his wide brim slouch from the war......Here is the same pic from another angle and in color.

Who is the person in the bottom photo? Looks like it says Bob Herley????

PS here is is again at the farm, this time with De Gaulle....1960. Again in the fedora/homburg.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Who is the person in the bottom photo?

Don’t know. Old pic off the visitors sign now that the farm belongs to the National Park Service.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

In that first picture he looks old and worn by time.......LOVE his coat!

Yep...in the second picture with Churchill he has his dark Homburg/Fedora. Churchill looks like he has his wide brim slouch from the war......Here is the same pic from another angle and in color.
View attachment 439627

Who is the person in the bottom photo? Looks like it says Bob Herley????

PS here is is again at the farm, this time with De Gaulle....1960. Again in the fedora/homburg.
View attachment 439634

I know Churchill was gifted Stetsons and he’s been photographed wearing them. Are you sure this is a slouch? It might well be, and I don’t mean to doubt you, but it looks a lot like an American western hat to me.

Great photos!

 

[M Hatman]

I know Churchill was gifted Stetsons and he’s been photographed wearing them. Are you sure this is a slouch? It might well be, and I don’t mean to doubt you, but it looks a lot like an American western hat to me.

Great photos!

I think you may be right. It looks differant from the one I know he had...which itself could be an american western. Brits called it a slouch.....like a wide brim artists hat..

I was mainly looking at Eisenhowers.
This one looks interesting too.....

PS: These are all Churchill.......YES.....he liked to paint as a way of relaxing.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I'm 40M. I've seen some hat reviews on Youtube of the Open Road.

I tend to wear hats every day, since I live in a hot climate. I only know this hats name from recent Youtube vids, but I couldn't remember where I saw the OR as a kid in the 90s. Then it hit me. Ernest Scared Stupid. Ernest's friend is wears one throughout the movie. He's a portly man in his 50s. And that's how I've seen those kinda hats to this day.

But you know how you see something being done here and there, and finally you want to do it too. I really want one now. I've seen a few reviews youtube saying what I remember. In the 80s and 90s only old men wore them.

I'm just wondering are they fashionable these days for younger guys? I don't have a clue since I moved overseas about 12 years ago, and get all my cultural references from youtube and forums like this.

The Open Road, and the many similarly styled hats, have been popular for many decades. It has never gone out of fashion and it’s one of the most popular and enduring styles. It looks equally good as a western dress hat or a casual city-come-country fedora. It’s a hat that most men look good wearing and I certainly don’t think of it as an older man’s style.

There are several existing threads here on the Open Road and I expect that a bartender will merge your thread into one of those. Take some time and go through those existing threads and see the photos of real people wearing them. I don’t think you’ll regret getting one if you decide to go that way. I will say that the current Stetson Open Roads are not my favorites as the crowns are too low for me. I also don’t like the machine pressed crown shape, but many others like them. Personally, I’d commission a custom hat for about the same money as a factory made Stetson.

Good luck.

 

[Yamahana]

I'm 40M. I've seen some hat reviews on Youtube of the Open Road.

I tend to wear hats every day, since I live in a hot climate. I only know this hats name from recent Youtube vids, but I couldn't remember where I saw the OR as a kid in the 90s. Then it hit me. Ernest Scared Stupid. Ernest's friend is wears one throughout the movie. He's a portly man in his 50s. And that's how I've seen those kinda hats to this day.

But you know how you see something being done here and there, and finally you want to do it too. I really want one now. I've seen a few reviews youtube saying what I remember. In the 80s and 90s only old men wore them.

I'm just wondering are they fashionable these days for younger guys? I don't have a clue since I moved overseas about 12 years ago, and get all my cultural references from youtube and forums like this.

In my humble opinion the Open Road is THE classy western fedora that’s always been in style and always will be.

 

[M Hatman]

Truman owned a men's furnishings store after WW1.........

He worked as a banker in 1905, when his father (a farmer) asked him to leave his $100 a month job to help him on the farm. He left the farm when called to active duty in 1917 for WW1 never to return (Father had died in 1914).

GREAT article here: https://www.morningagclips.com/courting-cussing-mules-and-common-sense-harry-s-trumans-farm-years-2/

 

[StoryPNW]

I want to order the open road over seas. Meaning I can't try it on before. I've ordered 60 cm akubras 3 times, and they fit every time though the style master is maybe just a little tight. Any advice on how to fit the OR without trying it on first? Should I try to get used? Should I get the Royal deluxe or the 6x cowboy felt?

I have a few 60 cm Akubras as well and wear a 7 1/2 in Stetsons. I haven't had a modern OR but most people around here seem to prefer the Royal Deluxe over the 6X. Vintage ORs are great if you can find them but they are harder to find in a larger size like a 7 1/2.

 

[jlee562]

I want to order the open road over seas. Meaning I can't try it on before. I've ordered 60 cm akubras 3 times, and they fit every time though the style master is maybe just a little tight. Any advice on how to fit the OR without trying it on first? Should I try to get used? Should I get the Royal deluxe or the 6x cowboy felt?

Personally I would take the Royal Deluxe. Full disclosure, while I have a RD premier Strat, I don't have a modern felt OR; but, I have handled a few of them in store. I really like the natural felt myself. The 6x will be a bit heavier and much stiffer. The ones I saw at the outlet were just ok....granted it was at the outlet.

In my experience comparing a modern Stetson size 7 relative to a 56cm Fed IV, the Stetsons are routinely more generously sized than the Akubra. Not so much that they're mis-sized or anything, just not as tightly fitting as broken in Akubra.

The knock on the modern OR is that the crown is blocked a bit low for some folks' personal preference. I don't find it to be an issue with my straw ORs, but YMMV.

 

[Frunobulax]

Why are vintage ORs hard to find in 7.5?


Tbh fawn is the only color i think I'd wear, and it's only in 6x. Idk why that is. I wear them mostly walking around outside, so not sure it's an issue.

The cognac color looks okay I guess. Idk why they don't offer some color standard as tan in the Royal Deluxe

Larger sizes are harder to find because fewer were produced, so fewer survived.

 

[StoryPNW]

Why are vintage ORs hard to find in 7.5?


Tbh fawn is the only color i think I'd wear, and it's only in 6x. Idk why that is. I wear them mostly walking around outside, so not sure it's an issue.

The cognac color looks okay I guess. Idk why they don't offer some color standard as tan in the Royal Deluxe

I have heard theories that people used to have smaller heads, but it just seems like there are fewer large size hats available in vintage hats.