Looking for first fedora

[kindofblue]

I bought a driving cap about a year ago, and love it. Now, I am in the market for a fedora. I first was interested in a fedora whan I saw a fedora online at Banana Republic:

http://www.luxist.com/2006/10/17/fedora-for-fall/

I have since done research and may want to buy a vintage fedora. I am looking at some on e-bay.

Does anyone have any suggestions about what to look for in a fedora?

Thanks.

 

[Feraud]

I think size, style, and material is a good starting point.
Measure your head and know your correct size. Decide what color, brim style and length you desire. Invest in rabbit or beaver fur hats.
They handle the elements better than wool.

Here are a few pictures to whet your appetite and get the creative juices flowing.

 

[kindofblue]

Those are nice!!!!

As far as color, I'm thinking a dark grey or black will be a good first hat....I think they would go with more of my suits.

I have a navy pinstripe suit, a dark grey suit, and a brownish tan patterned suit.

 

[RBH]

Welcome to the Lounge...

from a fellow Arkansasan!
My suggestion to you is, you have an idea of what you want..i.e. ribbon width-crown shape- brim width. As you are searching look for that type of fedora.
But as Feraud stated be sure to get the correct size.
I am not pushing any one hat seller but here is a good site to use to find your hat size.
http://www.millerhats.com/hatsize.html

Good luck and be sure to come back often and also be sure to let us in on what you choose!!

 

[Feraud]

Brown would probably go with those suit colors too.

 

[SinatraStyle]

Recommendation on color

First, welcome to the Lounge.

Second, a word of warning. You are entering a world of possible addiction. Very few Lounge members own only one hat .

You had mentioned getting a black or grey fedora. In my experience I find my grey fedora to get MUCH more use than black. It goes with most colors and can be worn casually, dressed up, or anywhere in between. Black seems a bit more limited to me, but it all depends on what you will be wearing it with.

Just my two cents worth. The best advice I can give you is to is find something you like and will be comfortable wearing.

 

[kindofblue]

Here is an auction I have my eye on. (Please don't outbid me!!!!) As it gets closer to closing, I will probalby bid on it. What do you think? I hope the price does not get too high!

 

[Feraud]

Here is an auction I have my eye on. (Please don't outbid me!!!!)

No live auctions allowed!!

 

[kindofblue]

No live auctions allowed!!

Oops....I thought that meant advertising. I was posting to show what I was bidding on.....I sure don't want people outbidding me!

So, I removed it. If I win it, I will repost pictures!

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Even if you don't win, you can post it after the auction is closed to give us an idea of what you were thinking about.

 

[John in Covina]

Tips for EBAY Sellers and a Review for Buyers of Vintaged / Previously Owned Hats

Here is a selling guide that is a good review for the buyer too!

Men’s Dress Hats, Questions for the Seller & Buyer!

There are a variety of styles of hats that fall under the category of Men’s Dress hats. The most famous is the FEDORA, which has wide latitudes and parameters for dimensions yet still falls under the description fedora. Your best bet is to do some research visiting online stores to get a good description and look at pictures to match up with the hat you’re selling. Still, “Fedora” is a much misused term with sellers calling all sorts of men’s hats, a ‘fedora’ that are not. HOMBURGS are also in the mix and are similar to a fedora but the especially the brim and sometimes the crown are shaped differently. BOWLERS, DERBIES, TOP HATS, PORK PIES, ALPINE and STINGY BRIMS are the usual suspects that round out those normally found in men’s dress hats.

First off, the best of these hats are made of fur felt, and can be: beaver, rabbit, nutria or a blend. Occasionally, you may find an exotic fur used in the felt. If you are positive of the content, please list it, exotic fur felt can be quite desirable. Also, there are some well made hats that contain synthetic materials that were blended with real fur to make the felt. The dress hat has a relative in Western hats, both using fur felt bodies to make the hat. Western hats often have different beaver contents are noted as X’s, with the idea that more X’s are better felts. Although wool felt hats can be well made and serviceable, fur felt is generally noted as a better quality.

The quality of the felt may allow for cleaning and re-blocking plus re-sizing in some cases but these are moderate to expensive restorations when done by professionals. The cleaning and restoration of hats were once available in most towns and cities. Now there are only a small number of hatters and shops prepared to do this work. Amateurs should consider many repairs in the realm of pros only, unless they have many hats to practice on to get the experience. Some defects are not repairable or extremely difficult to do such as holes or divots in the felt. Holes can come from too much improper handling and the dreaded “moth bites.” Moth larva may munch on the felt creating small holes and divot like tracks along the surface of the felt. Moth balls or flakes or even cedar blocks should be utilized in the storage area to keep these destructive pests away from your quality hats. Any holes or divots need to be described and shown in photos if possible. Dirt, dust, stains, smudges, or damages to the surface again must be described and shown in photos. Dust and dirt may be cleaned by a knowledgeable person, but should not be done by the untrained as the felt can be quickly and irreversibly damaged. Spots and stains are not always removable and again should be noted and photographed.

Smells or odors should be noted, most can be removed by cleaning, although just a good an airing out may work. Failing that the hat may be placed in a big plastic bag with a box of baking soda like the refrigerator odor removal type for about a week. Don’t get that baking soda on the hat though!

Always try to show pictures of the details of the imprints on the sweatband and the liner. Careful checking under the sweatband may reveal tags with codes that are of interest to the collector. The style of crests and such can often be used to find the era of manufacture. Occasionally an actual date may be revealed and that is good detective work to the delight of the collector. Be sure to include all of the liner, sweatband imprints and tag information in your written description! Be as accurate and complete in your description as you can. If you can do “macro” or close up pictures of these details that clearly show them all the better, it will help sell the hat.

Take clear and focused pictures from every conceivable angle: outside: top, bottom, front back and both sides. Inside: close-ups of any imprints and details. The box, if you have a box, can be a generic hat box or a box that is specific to your hat or can be totally unrelated. Still, describe fully and accurately with photographs! List the box information and photos at the end of the ad. Try to describe the colors of the hat, ribbon and the bow, as color pictures doesn’t always render correctly on the computer monitor. Fuzzy pictures are a detriment and a headache. Buyers often feel fuzzy pictures are a ploy to try to hide defects. Also do not clutter the picture with other items or try to be artsy. Try using a plain background such as a solid light colored blanket, table cloth or sheet. Sometimes you can prop up a hat to effectively show the curl of the brim. Try to refrain from cutesy posing like using the dog or your toddler with the hat, it distracts and detracts from the hat. By concentrating on the hat in your description and photos, you do the buyer a big favor.

Measurements and dimensions are critical to the style and size of a man’s hat so be prepared to measure! Inches with fractions works best but metric can be worked out for most buyers. Describe the Crown & give height front and rear. Describe the brim, as to the WIDTH. Does it curve up or down or both? Please measure width from the base of the crown, at or near where the bottom of the ribbon or band is, and out to the edge. Also note, some hats are wider at the front and the rear than the sides, you may wish to measure all of these sections to be sure.

Good pictures of the ribbon and the bow are essential too! Also the edge of the brim maybe worked in a variety of ways such as raw, bound, stitched, folded and pressed all of which are of interest to the collector or user. Sometimes you may find a button with a string or cord attached to the hat. This is referred to as a Wind Trolley, and by other names. It attached the hat to the man to keep it from being blown away and lost.

Even if you find a size tag, note that old and unworn hats tend to shrink, so you should double check and list the ACTUAL SIZE of a hat! Please, measure the CIRCUMFRENCE of the hat, INSIDE, all the way AROUND the SWEAT BAND in inches to nearest fraction of an inch. If you do not have a cloth tape measure, then use a piece of string. Or make a paper tape and read the measured string or paper tape against tape measure or yard stick. Here is a conversion chart for converting Inches to US sizes:

INCHES US Size Metric
21” = size 6-5/8 = 53 cm
21-1/2” = size 6-3/4 = 54 cm
21-3/4” = size 6-7/8 = 55 cm
22” = size 7 = 56 cm
22-1/2” = size 7-1/8 = 57 cm
22-3/4” = size 7-1/4 = 58 cm
23” = size 7-3/8 = 59 cm
23-1/2” = size 7-1/2 = 60 cm
24” = size 7-5/8 = 61 cm
24-3/8” = size 7-3/4 = 62 cm
24-7/8” = size 7-7/8 = 63 cm
25-1/8” = size 8 = 63 cm

Also the size tag may mention a shape type like LONG OVAL which is a specific shape to match a head shape. This is key information to be listed!

A good, complete, and accurate description, noting all the details, along with clear pictures will bring you a better chance for a good sale.

In the ITEM TITLE you should consider first listing the following:
STYLE, MAKER, MODEL, COLOR, SIZE and then some sales pitch.
These first five items will help more to sell the hat by allowing the collector find your treasure quickly and easily.

Example: Fedora Stetson Playboy Grey 7-7/8 Film Noir very clean!

Again, the more details in your write up you can accurately list the better the chance to sell. The more honestly and accurately you describe the hat including faults, the more likely you will NOT have an angry customer looking to return the hat as misrepresented in the listings. Collectors may ask about certain specific details which are always good to publish in the Question and Answer area to help all the buyers. It is not privileged information, you as the seller, should use all information at your disposal to help collectors find and select your hat.

If you don’t know the actual age of the hat, don’t guess, unless you care to expound on why you think it is of a certain age. Many hats made in the 60’s and later are listed erroneously as much earlier manufacture, styles have been repeated so style does not always indicate age.

Damaged hats may be restorable, our hatters can do some remarkable and rather astonishing restorations but they are labors of love, time consuming and of great expense. That said, rare and desirable models may suggest a complete rebuild to revive a notable hat. Even a damaged or dirty hat can be worth listing.

Happy selling and good luck with your hat auction.

 

[GoneSolo]

Wow. Just Wow. Is that a Pilgrim fedora Feraud?

 

[Feraud]

Wow. Just Wow. Is that a Pilgrim fedora Feraud?

It is a Knox Fifteen.
Here are a few more pics..
I love this ribbon style.

 

[thetankw/ahat]

feraud you tease. i wish i could own hats of that quality.

my two cents (quite literally) is for your first few hats stay away from the expensive ones unless you have money to throw away. bailey is a pretty good hat company. nearly all of my hats are bailey wool felts and they seem to fit the bill for what i wanted it for. also you should probably try to find a hat shop near you just to make sure of the sizes. after all you dont want to find out that your hat wont fit after its come in the mail.

 

[Orgetorix]

feraud you tease. i wish i could own hats of that quality.

my two cents (quite literally) is for your first few hats stay away from the expensive ones unless you have money to throw away. bailey is a pretty good hat company. nearly all of my hats are bailey wool felts and they seem to fit the bill for what i wanted it for. also you should probably try to find a hat shop near you just to make sure of the sizes. after all you dont want to find out that your hat wont fit after its come in the mail.

If you want to go the less expensive route, check out Burlington Coat Factory (if there's one in your area). BCF normally has a selection of fur felt hats that, while not super high quality, are inexpensive and not bad for first hats. I've gotten a couple of H?ºckel hats that are quite nice for $30-40. I put pictures of one of them on pages 3 and 4 of this thread.

 

[Feraud]

When shopping for a first hat you should keep within a sane budget. I see people become interested in vintage and go crazy buying junk by the boatload.
It is very tempting to go all out and get a custom made hat. You may find out after dropping 3-400 dollars that fedora wearing is not for you!
It happens.

 

[kindofblue]

I'm looking to spend $60-80 for my first fedora. I don't expect to spend hundreds of dollars (my wife would KILL me!).

 

[MinnieRose]

Do you know many women who wear fedoras? I rather like them, but it seems tough to google.