Fedora brim width???

[Rmccamey]

2.5 inches.

Second guess: the square root of pi

This is a hat that @T Jones is making for me (brim binding is coming). If the hat was in your size, whatever size that may be, what would you guess the brim width to be? Just a fun question, nothing serious and based on just the photo and not knowing any of the hat’s specifics.


View attachment 555327

 

[deadlyhandsome]

2.5 inches.

Second guess: the square root of pi

Right on both counts!

 

[belfastboy]

You are missing the point. If the hat was in YOUR size, based on the proportions shown, what would you guess the brim width to be. For instance, Joe @Blare is a size 6 ⅞ and he might guess that if the hat in the photo was his size the brim width might be 2 ½” based on the proportions. I’m not suggesting you guess the actual width of the brim (You two would have a hugely unfair advantage there).

I want to know what is wrong with an unfair advantage?
Well if you are going to change the rules on us.....my answer would be 2 7/8" That is my sweet spot for a classic fedora.

 

[steur]

This is a hat that @T Jones is making for me (brim binding is coming). If the hat was in your size, whatever size that may be, what would you guess the brim width to be? Just a fun question, nothing serious and based on just the photo and not knowing any of the hat’s specifics.


View attachment 555327

In my size 2 3/8" (or 6cm): the perfect brim width.

 

[Rmccamey]

Best intel available says Big Tex wears a 5 foot crown and a 3 1/2 foot brim. 75 or 90 gallon, depending on the source.

 

[wsmontana]

This is a hat that @T Jones is making for me (brim binding is coming). If the hat was in your size, whatever size that may be, what would you guess the brim width to be? Just a fun question, nothing serious and based on just the photo and not knowing any of the hat’s specifics.


View attachment 555327

For 7 3/8 it is just a skosh under Euler's Number. Great looking hat!

 

[Blare]

You are missing the point. If the hat was in YOUR size, based on the proportions shown, what would you guess the brim width to be. For instance, Joe @Blare is a size 6 ⅞ and he might guess that if the hat in the photo was his size the brim width might be 2 ½” based on the proportions. I’m not suggesting you guess the actual width of the brim (You two would have a hugely unfair advantage there).

I think you have nailed the estimate based on my size

 

[Blare]

Continuing Brent’s game… I’m going to say it’s just over four inch brim in my size

Best intel available says Big Tex wears a 5 foot crown and a 3 1/2 foot brim. 75 or 90 gallon, depending on the source.
View attachment 555419

 

[glider]

This is a hat that @T Jones is making for me (brim binding is coming). If the hat was in your size, whatever size that may be, what would you guess the brim width to be? Just a fun question, nothing serious and based on just the photo and not knowing any of the hat’s specifics.


View attachment 555327

I wear a 7- 1/4 and I would guess that brim to be 2 inch.

 

[Edward]

Bogies hat looks about 2.5" to me. My preferred brim width is about 2.75" to 3" on something with a tall crown, though on something like a porkpie I'll go as low as 2". Never less than 2", though.

 

[belfastboy]

Anything less than 2" is not a hat ........it is technically correct to call it a beanie.

Bogies hat looks about 2.5" to me. My preferred brim width is about 2.75" to 3" on something with a tall crown, though on something like a porkpie I'll go as low as 2". Never less than 2", though.

 

[Blare]

Anything less than 2" is not a hat ........it is technically correct to call it a beanie.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

In a 7 1/8 I would guess 2 5/8 brim.

2.5 inches.

Second guess: the square root of pi

In my size 2 3/8" (or 6cm): the perfect brim width.

For 7 3/8 it is just a skosh under Euler's Number. Great looking hat!

Continuing Brent’s game… I’m going to say it’s just over four inch brim in my size

I wear a 7- 1/4 and I would guess that brim to be 2 inch.

Bogies hat looks about 2.5" to me. My preferred brim width is about 2.75" to 3" on something with a tall crown, though on something like a porkpie I'll go as low as 2". Never less than 2", though.

The brim on this hat is exactly three (3) inches wide. The hat is a size 7 ¾ (62cm) long oval so in proportion to the crown the brim looks to be a more modest width. I can’t wait to get this hat…sometime next week!

 

[T Jones]

The brim on this hat is exactly three (3) inches wide. The hat is a size 7 ¾ (62cm) long oval so in proportion to the crown the brim looks to be a more modest width. I can’t wait to get this hat…sometime next week!


View attachment 555996

Yeah, but I have to squeeze that hat one more time before I send it out, though! That's some real soft felt! You can almost crease this hat just by blowing on it.

Going in for the big
squeeze!

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Yeah, but I have to squeeze that hat one more time before I send it out, though! That's some real soft felt! You can almost crease this hat just by blowing on it.

Going in for the big
squeeze!

No squeezing!

 

[Mighty44]

The brim on this hat is exactly three (3) inches wide. The hat is a size 7 ¾ (62cm) long oval so in proportion to the crown the brim looks to be a more modest width. I can’t wait to get this hat…sometime next week!


View attachment 555996

That’s gonna be a nice one!

It’s amazing to me that—correct me if I’m wrong—the vintage hat companies didn’t adjust the proportions of the brims to the size. A strat was a 2 3/4 brim whether you were 6 7/8 or 7 5/8, right? Seems crazy.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

That’s gonna be a nice one!

It’s amazing to me that—correct me if I’m wrong—the vintage hat companies didn’t adjust the proportions of the brims to the size. A strat was a 2 3/4 brim whether you were 6 7/8 or 7 5/8, right? Seems crazy.

You’re exactly right and it is crazy. A 2 ½” wide brim looks wide on a size 6 ¾ and it looks very small on a size 7 ¾.

 

[harrytemp]

To be fair I do think wearing a fedora hat over 2 inches at night would be stupid. It is equivalent to wearing sunglasses indoors.

I have shorter brims or trilby for the occasional hat at night scenario.

With that said I don’t think anything shorter than 2 inches isn’t a hat or an idiot for wearing one. Personally I find any brim over 2.5 inch to be floppy and unsettling. It starts to look like a woman’s sun hat.

With today’s more modern clothes, slim fit or tailored look, a floppy fedora doesn’t match unless it is in the day or raining. I have to take off my hat when driving at night. lol

I don’t want to look like I have a costume hat on. The original post is already talking about Bogart so he is planning to cosplay or play dress up. My friends know I’m a Michael Jackson fan so their initial thought was me cosplay as Jackson when they see my big brim black hat. LOL

 

[deadlyhandsome]

To be fair I do think wearing a fedora hat over 2 inches at night would be stupid. It is equivalent to wearing sunglasses indoors.

I have shorter brims or trilby for the occasional hat at night scenario.

With that said I don’t think anything shorter than 2 inches isn’t a hat or an idiot for wearing one. Personally I find any brim over 2.5 inch to be floppy and unsettling. It starts to look like a woman’s sun hat.

With today’s more modern clothes, slim fit or tailored look, a floppy fedora doesn’t match unless it is in the day or raining. I have to take off my hat when driving at night. lol

I don’t want to look like I have a costume hat on. The original post is already talking about Bogart so he is planning to cosplay or play dress up. My friends know I’m a Michael Jackson fan so their initial thought was me cosplay as Jackson when they see my big brim black hat. LOL

I think you’re going to find you are pretty much alone here. Even those with a lot of hats don’t normally change hats when the sun goes down. It’s not like a bag of golf clubs where we select a different hat for each minor change of environment or activity. Most chose a hat for the day and stick with it all day.

The wider brims are a big part of the golden age, but that’s not to say some narrower brims aren’t part of the era too; who doesn’t love a 1930s fedora with a tall straight crown and a modest brim.

Your aversion to the wider brims is common to those new to hat wearing. We’ve seen it over and over again where folks start out with modest brims and lower crowns and aren’t comfortable with the bigger hats. If they stick with it, most come around and end up preferring wider brims and taller crowns. Not everyone follows this pattern, but it’s by far the most common. The smaller hats are also most often lower quality. They came about in the late 1950s and continued into the 1970s. This corresponds to the time when most hats were in a death spiral of lowering quality. Hats became a novelty rather than a daily acutremont that most men wore. The hipsters also gave the stingy brim another 10 minutes of fame, but the quality was generally very poor, but with some noted exceptions.

If you find brims over 2 ½ inches to be floppy you are not experiencing even mid quality hats. There is a reason why the used/vintage market values wider brimmed hats. The style is more classic and less rat pack/hipster and the quality of the hats tend to be much higher. And as we have just shown, a 3” brim can look the same as a 2 ⅜” brim depending on the size of the hat.

All said, if you don’t like the wider brimmed hats that’s cool. To each his own. We have enough competition for the golden era hats as it is and we’ll just have to find a way to live with our fedoras that look like a “woman’s sun hat.”

I’m the guy who started the Show Us Your Stingy Brims thread, and I have quite a bit of exposure to those hats. However, the main reason I have stingy brims is because finding full-size hats in my size is hard going. Stick around and keep wearing hats and I’ll bet you’ll come around and start lusting for a 2 ¾” brim fedor…and even wear it at night!

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/show-us-your-stingy-brims.92725/

 

[deadlyhandsome]

!

Sometimes you just have to let your freak flag fly! 3 ¼” brim longhair Agnoulita in oyster. I don’t wear it often, but sometimes it’s the perfect hat.