I love the Fed IV!!

[Saint-Just]

I got my Fed IV in Moonstone from a member of this parish. It's a great colour and it's been my daily wear for the last few weeks. And it takes the steam beautifully to shape the brim.

BTW, I am a 58 (58+ if I wait a touch too long before going to the barber ) and the 59 has settled very comfortably

 

[scottyrocks]

Not only do I love the Fed IV, I love when people post to the 'I love the Fed IV!!' thread!

I have two of them - in brown and tawny fawn. The brown one is closer to the movie hats. This hat in earth tones lends itself so well to casual dress. Please post some noggin shots when you receive and shape it.

 

[davidraphael]

I've had an email from Hatsdirect explaining that shipping to Germany can take as long as 6 weeks! This is due to some kind of German customs/import process.

Has anyone else ordered an Akubra from Germany?
How long did it take to arrive?

 

[hubbit]

I just received a Fed IV in Moonstone this past weekend. Having a bit of a struggle with it; on the advice of Hats Direct I ordered it slightly larger (63 when I measure 62). I find the foam inserts uncomfortable, but they work; I have a larger one on one side, and a smaller one in the back. I wear it around the house for about an hour a day, hoping the sweatband will take the hint and start shrinking.

I have wet the back (unfinished) side of the sweatband and gently used a hair dryer from a distance to evaporate it. I used to have to use foam all the way around, so I guess it's shrinking a little. The only thing I haven't done yet is bash the hat; if it hasn't been creased, I am reassured, I can ask for an exchange if it absolutely positively will not size down for me.

 

[scottyrocks]

This may seem catch-22, but the hat conformed to my head better as soon as I creased it. Uncreased, it fit like the bowl is resembled. Of course, if you crease it, you can't send it back, but I didn't find out how well it fit until I creased it. Then again, I wear a 59, bought a 59, and it feels perfect. The hat is two years old and I wear it just about every day.

When I bought it, spring of '09, it was roomy on the sides, probably because I'm a long-oval. Fed IVs, like most hats today, are regular oval (there isn't enough market for factory hat makers to produce short or long oval hats). I had put the foam in the sides, and as the hat relaxed and conformed to my head, I removed the foam. This took about a month, wearing it for hours, both inside and outside, often in weather hot enough to sweat. Come to think of it, I didn't have air conditioning at the time. In other words, an hour day of wearing, especially inside, and especially if the a/c is on, is going to require a long period of time for your hat to relax to your head, imho. So I guess you're gonna have to make the commitment to crease it and wear it inside and outside for a while.

My own opinion is that if you needed padding in both the front/back and sides that the hat is just too big. As I said, I wear a 59, bought a 59, and needed some side padding for a while. If the hat was a long-oval, it would have been slightly too big all around. It fits perfectly now.

 

[DudeInBlack]

Just ordered my first FED IV Deluxe last night from HatsDirect. Jenny and Deb from customer service were so kind in answering all my questions.

Can't wait!

 

[frussell]

hubbit - If I worked at Hatsdirect and read in your post that you had wet and re-dried the inside of the sweat, I wouldn't take your hat back as a return, open-crowned or not. You've already done some tinkering with it, and some shrinkage has occurred, even if it's not enough yet. It's your hat now, so steam it or wet it gently with distilled water and give it the crease you want. I've had good luck with buying Akubras a size larger than normal. I have a 63 Moonstone Fed that's about a month old, and it's already fitting more snugly. Then again, your summer months probably don't get up to 118 degrees. Give it a few weeks, but as someone posted above, they do seem to conform better when creased to your liking. Frank

 

[Benzadmiral]

It so happens it's rainy and -- while not cool -- less hot here, and will probably rain all weekend. This morning I fished my carbon grey Fed from its box in the closet, snapped down the brim, and wore it to work as a rain hat. Once again, after a long summer too hot to wear it, I realized why I like the lid.

 

[EggHead]

hubbit, foam pads don't work for me well. I bought a yard of wool material and cut 1" strips out that and wrapped around the whole inside of the sweat, sometimes more than once.

 

[James71]

Mine took a fair bit longer to come down to size than the imperial felted versions, but come down it did. The heritage felt also seems to re-bash better than the imperials. I changed mine slightly and you cant see where the old crease was at all. Its a fantastic lid.

Ill be in the hattery this morning for morning tea with my little girl, so I might try on a grey one....

 

[DJH]

Ill be in the hattery this morning for morning tea with my little girl, so I might try on a grey one....

Ka chinggggg!!!!!

 

[B.J. Hedberg]

Picked up my first Federation this past week; should have gotten one sooner. I gave it a slightly off kilter, six-point diamond bash that kept the crown as high and straight as I could go but still allowed for a nice tugboat effect. Far easier to shape than my Nostalgia despite the heavier felt, and it’s actually more comfortable to wear. I now understand why it has its own thread.

 

[Yeps]

Looks good. I would give it a slightly narrower bash, as the current stovepipe shape is not really balanced with your face, but whatever floats your boat.

 

[B.J. Hedberg]

I follow your thinking Yeps. It would give me a good reason to order another, perhaps in Tawny, to try that out.

 

[scottyrocks]

Looks good. I would give it a slightly narrower bash, as the current stovepipe shape is not really balanced with your face, but whatever floats your boat.

Yeah, I'd try a center dent. That's what these hats were originally designed for. You can always change it back if you don't like it.

 

[DJH]

A gazillion Indiana Jones fans can't be wrong. The Fed IV looks great with a center dent!

 

[Yeps]

Yeah, I'd try a center dent. That's what these hats were originally designed for. You can always change it back if you don't like it.

A more elongated teardrop or kite would probably look great as well.

 

[BR Gordon]

Okay, what's the kite crease? Would that be the same as a diamond? I've used the search, but came up with nothing, other than this thread.

 

[Saint-Just]

I've kept the C crown the previous owner bashed and it seems to work for me. I'll take a picture soon to get confirmation by you, it is sometimes quite hard to see the obvious when it's about yourself

 

[hubbit]

hubbit - If I worked at Hatsdirect and read in your post that you had wet and re-dried the inside of the sweat, I wouldn't take your hat back as a return, open-crowned or not. You've already done some tinkering with it, and some shrinkage has occurred, even if it's not enough yet.

That's exactly what their representatives told me to do, and when I told them I did that and it still did not fit, they said pack it up and send it back, and when you send us the tracking number we'll send a replacement.

It was their idea, not mine. I myself would think that the situation is as you describe, but I asked three times with two different representatives (Jenny and Deb), and the basic response was "okay, you wet the sweatband, dried it, and it's still too big. We'll exchange it."