Joshbru3
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 4,409
- Location
- Chicago, IL
Last week I visited Hats-Plus in Chicago. They are a huge retailer of mens hats of all kinds and claim to have over 30,000 hats in stock at any time. They have a nice website to order from if you do not live in Chicago.
http://www.hats-plus.com/
Anyways, the reason that I went there last week was to find my father a straw hat for the summer. He has never been into fedoras and always wears ballcaps when head protection is needed. To my absolute shock, 2 weeks ago he said to me, "I'm sick of wearing ballcaps all the time, I want a straw hat for the summer." Well I smiled from ear to ear and set on a mission to buy him a decent quality straw hat. He specifically told me that he didn't want or care about a super fine weave or to spend a ton of money on the hat. He just wanted something that looked decent and gave him some shade during the summer months.
I was going to find him a vintage straw hat and redo it, but then decided to buy him a modern hat first to see if he even liked wearing it. Also, vintage straws can be temperamental with loosing shape and vintage sweatbands drying out quickly. I know he wouldn't want to mess around with the hat if there were problems and is also not into hats like I am, so I wanted something that would last him the summer without a problem.
The search was ON for a modern straw hat. I wanted to buy him a REAL straw hat and not "Shantung" (A.K.A. Paper), or modern day Milan which is usually polypropylene plastic. Well folks, this was a harder task than I ever thought. I looked at numerous online retailer websites, compared specs, looked at proportions, etc. I wanted to get him a hat with a brim that was between 2 1/4 and 2 1/2 inches wide. He specifically told me that he did NOT want a high crown and didn't want to look like "Eliot Ness." LOL. I also wanted to get him a straw hat with a decent leather sweatband. But most importantly it had to be made in the U.S.A!! (I know, I know, the straw isn't woven in the USA, but I wanted a hat that was blocked and trimmed in the USA.)
After comparing websites, I found that Hats-Plus has many of the same straws that I was looking for as other sites. Before going to the store, I picked 3 hats from the website that I wanted to see and that I felt would look good on my dad. So I went to the store to see some of these newer hats in person. First off I want to say that as far as straws go, I was very DISAPPOINTED. Most of the "straws" that I saw by Stetson, Dobbs, Bailey, Biltmore, Borsalino, Capas, Ozark, Stefeno, etc, were actually Polypropylene plastic or Shantung. The 3 hats that I had picked out, I knew were REAL straw, because I had done some research on them, so I asked to see those first.
I first looked at the Stetson Center Dent which retails for $130. It claims to be a grade 8 Panama (Cuenca) and from the photograph looked to be a decent modern day straw hat. Well when I actually held the hat in my hands, I was totally disappointed. The weave was very rough, the trimming was poor, the flanging was poor, there was too much shellac, and it had a fabric sweatband. As far as modern day (major corporation factory produced) straw hats go, this one was middle of the road and when compared to vintage "lower to middle end" straws, it doesn't even hold a candle. A $5 or $10 straw in the late 40's/early 50's would be the modern day equivalent to this Stetson center dent, and the vintage ones were about 100 times better than this modern day hat.
I thought to myself, If the Stetson was bad, I decided just to take a look at the lower end real straw hats.
I took a look at the Taylor Teardrop which retails for $130 and the Truman (Ozark) Panama which retails for $69.
Taylor
Truman
Both hats were disappointing as well. The weaves were not good, even for cheap hats. At least the Truman had a leather sweatband, but still I wasn't about the buy my father a lesser quality hat.
I asked the salesman if he had any real natural (non-shantung) straw hats with leather sweatbands. He said that he had very few, but Borsalino made a couple. Well, the Borsalinos listed between $185 and $285. Several of the Borso's were shantung straw and still listed for $ 185. The actual straw Cuenca's that were offered by Borso cost between $225 and $285 and I was not impressed at all with the quality of straw. They were better than the Stetson, but for double the price, I would imagine they would be. Still not great.
I then asked if Stetson made any better quality Straws with leather sweatbands and the salesman brought a hat out that was not listed on the website. I forgot what the name was, but it was similar to this Stetson Breaker listed on thefedorastore.
It cost $190 and was Shantung....but as the salesman told me....a high quality shantung. What exactly is a "high quality" shantung??? I'm pretty sure that a marketing phrase. Shantung is coated paper and just because the weave is finer, doesn't make the hat high quality. Its paper, not straw!!
I was pretty sure all hope was lost in finding my dad a decent quality modern production straw hat. I looked at a couple more straws and was still disappointed with what I saw. THEN.....FINALLY......the salesman brought out one more Stetson that was not listed on the website.....the Stetson Brewster! I had heard of this model and had seen pictures of the felt version, but had never seen the straw version.
These photos are from The Village Hat Shop, not Hats-Plus
Right off the bat, I could tell it was a better quality hat. The weave was finer, the color was more natural, the weave on the crown actually looked like vintage Cuenca's that I've owned. Obviously I am not saying that the weave was super fine, I am just saying that for modern Cuenca offerings from Major labels, this one was the best. The pictures up above really do the hat no justice. The weave in real life is finer than the picture and the crown has a pleasant shape to it. It listed for $130, has a 2 1/4 inch bound brim, nice crown shape, heat branded inside the crown with "Hand Woven In Ecuador", decent trimmings.......but has a fabric sweatband. I wasn't thrilled about the fabric sweatband, but then realized it might be a little more comfortable for my dad in the summer. The fabric sweatband is suppose to wick away sweat because of the material its made out of. I do not believe it will seep thorough to the straw very easily. The brim snaps with ease, and even though there is taper on the crown, its far less than other straws that I saw.
After holding the hat for 5 minutes, I said, "I WILL TAKE IT!" I gave it to my father and he absolutely loved it! That made me happier than anything.
I wanted to write this review and my opinion of some modern day straws because often times on the lounge, people will ask, "whats the big deal with vintage, I would rather have something new." From experience I can honestly say that vintage hats are not only superior quality, but you used to be able to by a lower to mid grade hat for not a whole lot of money. Today, whats offered by major hat companies even on the "high end" isn't worth the high price. The lower end Stetson, Dobbs, Knox, etc hats 60 years ago, are far better than the higher end Stetson, Dobbs, Borsalino, etc hats today.
If anyone wants a good looking, authentic straw Cuenca from a major hat manufacture today, I would highly recommend the Stetson Brewster. Obviously all straw hat bodies are different as they are woven by hand, but if your Brewster is anything like the one that I bought my father, I think you will be very happy with it. As a side note however, I did have to take a scissors and just trim off excess threads that were not trimmed at the factory. The trimmers left excess threads on the ribbon, bow, and brim trimming. It took a second to do, but I still wasn't very happy to see Stetson's quality slipping like that.
I will post some pics of the actual hat soon.
http://www.hats-plus.com/
Anyways, the reason that I went there last week was to find my father a straw hat for the summer. He has never been into fedoras and always wears ballcaps when head protection is needed. To my absolute shock, 2 weeks ago he said to me, "I'm sick of wearing ballcaps all the time, I want a straw hat for the summer." Well I smiled from ear to ear and set on a mission to buy him a decent quality straw hat. He specifically told me that he didn't want or care about a super fine weave or to spend a ton of money on the hat. He just wanted something that looked decent and gave him some shade during the summer months.
I was going to find him a vintage straw hat and redo it, but then decided to buy him a modern hat first to see if he even liked wearing it. Also, vintage straws can be temperamental with loosing shape and vintage sweatbands drying out quickly. I know he wouldn't want to mess around with the hat if there were problems and is also not into hats like I am, so I wanted something that would last him the summer without a problem.
The search was ON for a modern straw hat. I wanted to buy him a REAL straw hat and not "Shantung" (A.K.A. Paper), or modern day Milan which is usually polypropylene plastic. Well folks, this was a harder task than I ever thought. I looked at numerous online retailer websites, compared specs, looked at proportions, etc. I wanted to get him a hat with a brim that was between 2 1/4 and 2 1/2 inches wide. He specifically told me that he did NOT want a high crown and didn't want to look like "Eliot Ness." LOL. I also wanted to get him a straw hat with a decent leather sweatband. But most importantly it had to be made in the U.S.A!! (I know, I know, the straw isn't woven in the USA, but I wanted a hat that was blocked and trimmed in the USA.)
After comparing websites, I found that Hats-Plus has many of the same straws that I was looking for as other sites. Before going to the store, I picked 3 hats from the website that I wanted to see and that I felt would look good on my dad. So I went to the store to see some of these newer hats in person. First off I want to say that as far as straws go, I was very DISAPPOINTED. Most of the "straws" that I saw by Stetson, Dobbs, Bailey, Biltmore, Borsalino, Capas, Ozark, Stefeno, etc, were actually Polypropylene plastic or Shantung. The 3 hats that I had picked out, I knew were REAL straw, because I had done some research on them, so I asked to see those first.
I first looked at the Stetson Center Dent which retails for $130. It claims to be a grade 8 Panama (Cuenca) and from the photograph looked to be a decent modern day straw hat. Well when I actually held the hat in my hands, I was totally disappointed. The weave was very rough, the trimming was poor, the flanging was poor, there was too much shellac, and it had a fabric sweatband. As far as modern day (major corporation factory produced) straw hats go, this one was middle of the road and when compared to vintage "lower to middle end" straws, it doesn't even hold a candle. A $5 or $10 straw in the late 40's/early 50's would be the modern day equivalent to this Stetson center dent, and the vintage ones were about 100 times better than this modern day hat.
I thought to myself, If the Stetson was bad, I decided just to take a look at the lower end real straw hats.
I took a look at the Taylor Teardrop which retails for $130 and the Truman (Ozark) Panama which retails for $69.
Taylor
Truman
Both hats were disappointing as well. The weaves were not good, even for cheap hats. At least the Truman had a leather sweatband, but still I wasn't about the buy my father a lesser quality hat.
I asked the salesman if he had any real natural (non-shantung) straw hats with leather sweatbands. He said that he had very few, but Borsalino made a couple. Well, the Borsalinos listed between $185 and $285. Several of the Borso's were shantung straw and still listed for $ 185. The actual straw Cuenca's that were offered by Borso cost between $225 and $285 and I was not impressed at all with the quality of straw. They were better than the Stetson, but for double the price, I would imagine they would be. Still not great.
I then asked if Stetson made any better quality Straws with leather sweatbands and the salesman brought a hat out that was not listed on the website. I forgot what the name was, but it was similar to this Stetson Breaker listed on thefedorastore.
It cost $190 and was Shantung....but as the salesman told me....a high quality shantung. What exactly is a "high quality" shantung??? I'm pretty sure that a marketing phrase. Shantung is coated paper and just because the weave is finer, doesn't make the hat high quality. Its paper, not straw!!
I was pretty sure all hope was lost in finding my dad a decent quality modern production straw hat. I looked at a couple more straws and was still disappointed with what I saw. THEN.....FINALLY......the salesman brought out one more Stetson that was not listed on the website.....the Stetson Brewster! I had heard of this model and had seen pictures of the felt version, but had never seen the straw version.
These photos are from The Village Hat Shop, not Hats-Plus
Right off the bat, I could tell it was a better quality hat. The weave was finer, the color was more natural, the weave on the crown actually looked like vintage Cuenca's that I've owned. Obviously I am not saying that the weave was super fine, I am just saying that for modern Cuenca offerings from Major labels, this one was the best. The pictures up above really do the hat no justice. The weave in real life is finer than the picture and the crown has a pleasant shape to it. It listed for $130, has a 2 1/4 inch bound brim, nice crown shape, heat branded inside the crown with "Hand Woven In Ecuador", decent trimmings.......but has a fabric sweatband. I wasn't thrilled about the fabric sweatband, but then realized it might be a little more comfortable for my dad in the summer. The fabric sweatband is suppose to wick away sweat because of the material its made out of. I do not believe it will seep thorough to the straw very easily. The brim snaps with ease, and even though there is taper on the crown, its far less than other straws that I saw.
After holding the hat for 5 minutes, I said, "I WILL TAKE IT!" I gave it to my father and he absolutely loved it! That made me happier than anything.
I wanted to write this review and my opinion of some modern day straws because often times on the lounge, people will ask, "whats the big deal with vintage, I would rather have something new." From experience I can honestly say that vintage hats are not only superior quality, but you used to be able to by a lower to mid grade hat for not a whole lot of money. Today, whats offered by major hat companies even on the "high end" isn't worth the high price. The lower end Stetson, Dobbs, Knox, etc hats 60 years ago, are far better than the higher end Stetson, Dobbs, Borsalino, etc hats today.
If anyone wants a good looking, authentic straw Cuenca from a major hat manufacture today, I would highly recommend the Stetson Brewster. Obviously all straw hat bodies are different as they are woven by hand, but if your Brewster is anything like the one that I bought my father, I think you will be very happy with it. As a side note however, I did have to take a scissors and just trim off excess threads that were not trimmed at the factory. The trimmers left excess threads on the ribbon, bow, and brim trimming. It took a second to do, but I still wasn't very happy to see Stetson's quality slipping like that.
I will post some pics of the actual hat soon.
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