How do folks react to your hat wearing?

[Redfokker]

There are people here with size 7-1/2 hats, Red.... just sayin'

I'll measure him up tonight. He may be an 8 for all I know.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Blanket "like" maybe even "love" for all the above kind words/actions/deeds. ❤

 

[frussell]

You guys are breaking me up. I too have been cultivating a young hat wearer. We have a young man in our cast at the theater who already has a sense of style. He is in junior high, but is a big guy. He wears bow ties and slacks in his world of, shall we say, lesser dressers. I know he gets a lot of grief, outside of his small circle of friend (mostly theater kids), he has some real issues in school. I have been leading him toward topping off his dapper (for a 14 year old) look with a proper hat. He is interested in each one I wear to the theater each night. We have not sat down to measure his size, but I fear it will be 7 1/2, maybe bigger.

You all have put forth an example for me to follow. Fed, Michael, Eric, I wish to emulate your good karma. Helping this young man find himself in the midst of teen age angst and crazyness is my new quest.

I have never been so grateful to be a part of this community. You people are examples to us all.

Best,

Mike

If the kid you're talking about ends up wearing a huge size, like 7 7/8, p.m. me. Frank

 

[Redfokker]

If the kid you're talking about ends up wearing a huge size, like 7 7/8, p.m. me. Frank

Will keep you in mind. More of an idea this weekend.

 

[Celia]

Reading the last couple of pages of this thread has just restored my faith in humanity a bit. This place truly is a great community!

@FedOregon - I believe that kid is going to cherish that hat and remember you for the rest of his life

 

[FedOregon]

Reading the last couple of pages of this thread has just restored my faith in humanity a bit. This place truly is a great community!

@FedOregon - I believe that kid is going to cherish that hat and remember you for the rest of his life

Thank you, Celia. I believe you, and the others here, all combine to make this a great community. It's so nice, and relaxing... sometimes uplifting, to come here and get away from the stresses of work, bad traffic, rude people, and - ugh - politics.

 

[RJR]

Reading the last couple of pages of this thread has just restored my faith in humanity a bit. This place truly is a great community!

@FedOregon - I believe that kid is going to cherish that hat and remember you for the rest of his life

+1

 

[Benzadmiral]

In the WHAYWT thread, I mentioned that Open Roads seem to be completely unknown in these parts. Even if I do see somebody wearing a hat other than a Target hipster special, it is never anything that could be classified as an Open Road, whether creased as fedora or in cattleman/brim up style. I've never had anybody comment specifically on the style of whatever lid I've got on, so I don't know if the OR look is so completely alien that observers are gobsmacked -- or if they're just burned out from all the individuality (i.e., costumes) people wear around here at Mardi Gras time.

(Mardi Gras: The Annual Insanity. Today there are 5 days to go -- thankfully, only 5 -- until it's over.)

 

[Barefoot Friar]

I've gotten a mixed bag, mostly good. The good has all been things like, "I love your hat!" and "Where is your hat today?" I haven't gotten anything on my new navy pork pie yet, but give it time. I've only recently (as in since Easter 2015) been wearing hats regularly, but as I'm already the eccentric oddball of my tiny little hamlet, no one bats an eye much. Hence the pork pie: Getting oddball status is easy; keeping it is the real difficulty.

The not so great comments are meant well, but rub me a little wrong. Like the guy who keeps calling me "rabbi" because he thinks the grey fedora over my charcoal overcoat makes me look Jewish. He means well, but it sounds wrong to my ears. The other is the constant "Amish" references I get from another guy (in the same friend circle, too) when I wear my straw fedora. Ergo, I've stopped wearing either one to breakfast on Fridays. I'll try the pork pie next time, just to see what I can dredge up. ;-)

 

[Bob Roberts]

Keep it on! When I started wearing, my biggest busters were my "friends..."

 

[belfastboy]

Thank you, Celia. I believe you, and the others here, all combine to make this a great community. It's so nice, and relaxing... sometimes uplifting, to come here and get away from the stresses of work, bad traffic, rude people, and - ugh - politics.

Okay this post, trust me Fed, is not comparing the great deed of giving the youngster the hat. But it is my story of the great karma of giving a hat. I met a young woman at a workshop and she was telling me about her clown workshop and the prep for her final class/graduation. She needed a real hat for her character and complained she could not find anything affordable. She wanted a real fur hat not a cheapie hipster version. The next day I brought her a black Beaver brand fedora I never wear and thought it would go to a good clown home and at least be put to good use. When I presented it to her she immediately got all verklempt, gave me a big hug, a kiss on the cheek and said it was the nicest gift she had ever received. My first jaundiced thought was if I had known giving hats away would get such a great response I would have given a lot more of them away when I was young and single. Never mind the dinner and a movie date thing.....just give hats to young women in clown school. I last saw her skipping down the sidewalk with a black fedora perched jauntily upon her head.

 

[RJR]

Okay this post, trust me Fed, is not comparing the great deed of giving the youngster the hat. But it is my story of the great karma of giving a hat. I met a young woman at a workshop and she was telling me about her clown workshop and the prep for her final class/graduation. She needed a real hat for her character and complained she could not find anything affordable. She wanted a real fur hat not a cheapie hipster version. The next day I brought her a black Beaver brand fedora I never wear and thought it would go to a good clown home and at least be put to good use. When I presented it to her she immediately got all verklempt, gave me a big hug, a kiss on the cheek and said it was the nicest gift she had ever received. My first jaundiced thought was if I had known giving hats away would get such a great response I would have given a lot more of them away when I was young and single. Never mind the dinner and a movie date thing.....just give hats to young women in clown school. I last saw her skipping down the sidewalk with a black fedora perched jauntily upon her head.

 

[FedOregon]

Okay this post, trust me Fed, is not comparing the great deed of giving the youngster the hat. But it is my story of the great karma of giving a hat. I met a young woman at a workshop and she was telling me about her clown workshop and the prep for her final class/graduation. She needed a real hat for her character and complained she could not find anything affordable. She wanted a real fur hat not a cheapie hipster version. The next day I brought her a black Beaver brand fedora I never wear and thought it would go to a good clown home and at least be put to good use. When I presented it to her she immediately got all verklempt, gave me a big hug, a kiss on the cheek and said it was the nicest gift she had ever received. My first jaundiced thought was if I had known giving hats away would get such a great response I would have given a lot more of them away when I was young and single. Never mind the dinner and a movie date thing.....just give hats to young women in clown school. I last saw her skipping down the sidewalk with a black fedora perched jauntily upon her head.

Awesome! What a fantastic example of people doing good for others. Thanks for sharing the story with us! Remind me, when are we meeting at VS this summer? Maybe we can meet for lunch in Eugene with Red on your way down south???

I wanted to add, my daughter is a very introverted person. Only in theater plays does she open up, project a strong voice and "bloom." When we give, like you did, you never know how much you're helping. That was somebody's daughter, it could have been my daughter. Good on you, mate!

 

[FedOregon]

I've gotten a mixed bag, mostly good. The good has all been things like, "I love your hat!" and "Where is your hat today?" I haven't gotten anything on my new navy pork pie yet, but give it time. I've only recently (as in since Easter 2015) been wearing hats regularly, but as I'm already the eccentric oddball of my tiny little hamlet, no one bats an eye much. Hence the pork pie: Getting oddball status is easy; keeping it is the real difficulty.

The not so great comments are meant well, but rub me a little wrong. Like the guy who keeps calling me "rabbi" because he thinks the grey fedora over my charcoal overcoat makes me look Jewish. He means well, but it sounds wrong to my ears. The other is the constant "Amish" references I get from another guy (in the same friend circle, too) when I wear my straw fedora. Ergo, I've stopped wearing either one to breakfast on Fridays. I'll try the pork pie next time, just to see what I can dredge up. ;-)

I just correct people when they say something like that. One guy called me Juan Valdez when I wore a Penman Indy hat. I just said, "it's more of an Indiana Jones thing, really."

 

[FedOregon]

Yesterday, we drove down to get my semi annual MRI. Then we waited around for MrsFed's optometry appointment at a restaurant around the corner. A guy with a British accent sat down at a table next to us and I said, "Nice hat!" He looked over with a big smile and said, "thanks.... your's too!"

Fun stuff. He had on a stylish, black porkpie with some nice feathers stuck in the bow. I was wearing my Whippet-esque Pennys Marathon.

 

[belfastboy]

Awesome! What a fantastic example of people doing good for others. Thanks for sharing the story with us! Remind me, when are we meeting at VS this summer? Maybe we can meet for lunch in Eugene with Red on your way down south???

I wanted to add, my daughter is a very introverted person. Only in theater plays does she open up, project a strong voice and "bloom." When we give, like you did, you never know how much you're helping. That was somebody's daughter, it could have been my daughter. Good on you, mate!

We are heading out end of May. Plan to spend a week in Sisters mountain biking then head across to Eugene. Will spend a few days there to see Mike at NW Hats and then to Swartz Reservoir to camp (near Cottage Grove). From there down to Medford and catch some Shakespeare in Ashland. We plan to stay at the new RV park in Medford in their fairgrounds. We have 2 months on the road so in no rush with very little time line/agenda. The trip is to celebrate my wife's retirement. I need to get back by mid July to go back to work. I signed another contract for 2017 with the provision for lots of time off. As the days get closer I will PM and we will look to lock in a date to meet somewhere along that corridor ....Maybe in Eugene at Mike's shop or all the way to Medford to see Art's new digs???

 

[FedOregon]

Sounds good to me. Maybe both. If our trip to Ecuador is successful, we may have some Cuenca hat bodies to deliver...

 

[belfastboy]

Sounds good to me. Maybe both. If our trip to Ecuador is successful, we may have some Cuenca hat bodies to deliver...

That would be cool to buy a Panama from Mike that you had picked out in Ecuador!

 

[RJR]

That would be cool to buy a Panama from Mike that you had picked out in Ecuador!

+1

 

[Silverstreak]

Now that I've been wearing hats more regularly, I don't get feedback as often. With regards to the looking Jewish comments, that is a concern of mine. Which is why I have shied away from wearing dark colored wide brimmed hats, especially with a long coat of similar color. I'm tending more towards brown and camel colored hats, with a narrower brim. I even shaved the beard I had going for a while. I don't want to become the victim of an unwarranted hate crime. The world can be an awful place, no need to tempt fate.