Help me with hat suggestions ...

[Toothless]

This is my first post but I've been lurking on the forum for a while. I picked up a great straw hat from Panama Bob for the summer based on everyone's suggestions here, so I'm looking for winter hat advice.

I don't have any hat shops nearby to try on hats, so I'm shopping online and using the references here on the forum. I was hoping that some of you could suggest hats that are similar in dimensions to my Panama hat. Low crown (around 4 inches), pinch front, wide brim (2 1/2 - 3 inches). Some taper on the crown. Not too expensive, but fur felt if possible.

Any ideas to help narrow my search?

 

[Yeps]

I would say that, depending on your size, ebay is probably the best bet for a good hat cheap.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

A price range would help. One man's "expensive" is another man's "bargain." The good news - there should be a good selection of hats that look they way you want.

 

[Yeps]

An Akubra Squatter seems to fit the bill pretty well.

 

[danofarlington]

This is my first post but I've been lurking on the forum for a while. I picked up a great straw hat from Panama Bob for the summer based on everyone's suggestions here, so I'm looking for winter hat advice.

I don't have any hat shops nearby to try on hats, so I'm shopping online and using the references here on the forum. I was hoping that some of you could suggest hats that are similar in dimensions to my Panama hat. Low crown (around 4 inches), pinch front, wide brim (2 1/2 - 3 inches). Some taper on the crown. Not too expensive, but fur felt if possible.

Any ideas to help narrow my search?

The low crown you name makes the search hard. A four inch crown will be time-consuming to find. I recently got a low-crown vintage Borsalino fur felt hat on EBay, but it was by accident. When it arrived I noticed its super low crown. A reference point would be the Akubra Stylemaster (google it), but the crown won't be as low as you say. On the other hand, as a newbie, maybe you don't really need a crown that low. My suggestion is to go to a hat store with a lot of "men's dress hats" and try a bunch of them on to get ideas. It will sharpen up your targets.

 

[DRB]

I agree, the Akubra Stylemaster has a lower crown and comes in colors. Ebay is a great place to study styles. I had a Squatter. It does not have hardly any taper. Most Borsalinos have taper.

 

[theinterchange]

The Stylemaster is an excellent starting point. I'm hesitant to suggest a Squatter due to the brim width, which is rather wide for someone fairly new to hats. Heck, I had issues with the width of mine to the point I had it trimmed down!

One thing I've learnt since getting into hats, you can [for the most part] take a taller crown than you think, it all depends upon how the hat is styled.

Randy

 

[Toothless]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. The Akubra Stylemaster is in the ball park for crown height - not all websites give crown height, but I found it. It's just over 4 inches, which is fine. Maybe I can wear a higher crown, but I have a thin face and small frame so I feel like a smaller hat is a good way to start. A lot of the outback style hats have lower crowns, more so than the fedoras I've seen online. Is the Akubra Leisure Time too country, or can it be "dressed up" some? I'm looking for a style that is casual fedora, so maybe an outback hat could work with the right band?

The only store around with a hat selection is Orvis, so I may check out what they have and then compare online with Akubra, etc. As for price, the $100 range would be the top for me right now, maybe more if the hat was perfect. Are there any Stetsons (non-Western) that fit these dimensions? I'll be going to Steamboat Springs for Thanksgiving and they have a store with a nice Stetson collection. However, I don't want to wait until Thanksgiving to buy a hat.

 

[WineGuy]

If you can afford $300, I would go straight to Art Fawcett and have him make you a hat exactly to your specs. Sure, you can pick up any number of top brand vintage hats from ebay but odds are that none of them will satisfy you completely. I'm sitting on five vintage hats that i purchased on ebay before taking the plunge and commissioning Art. In the end i hardly wear the ebay hats and always wear Arts hat.

With Art, you will pick the felt, the color, the brim width and edge, the crown height, the hat band material and style, the sweat band material and style, the liner color and the pinch and bash. And Art will send you a conformer which allows him to make a template of your head shape which enables him t custom fit the hat to your head as if you were in his studio.

And best of all...no one else will be wearing the same hat.

 

[monbla256]

Personally, I would start with an Akubra as my first felt....

... and the Akubra that would probably fit your requirements all around would be either the Stylemaster or Sydney and personally I would order from David Morgan here in the States. Faster shipping and FANTASTIC service !!
They are a bit more $wise than you have stated you want to spend, but for your FIRST fur felt you need to have a GOOD experience and an Akubra will give you that for sure. They are probably some of the BEST modern felts made Hell, i'm still wearing a 30+ yo Bushman and have 3 others including a Stylemaster Give 'em a look !

 

[laotou]

Try to pay a visit to Greeley Hat Works. Nice folks.Great workmanship.