M.C. Gannon Hat Company

[CRH]

Ok, so what do you all think? What color should I order for a Harry Truman Open Road reproduction?

 

[CRH]

Also, Harry's hat looks like the thin felt variety.

 

[CRH]

Bone, Natural, Silverbelly? I'm asking for all the historical input I can find

 

[Mighty44]

Ok, so what do you all think? What color should I order for a Harry Truman Open Road reproduction? View attachment 601852

I have seen a color photo of one of his thin ribbon hats that was light gray.

 

[T Jones]

Steve Raines, "Jim Quince" and Sheb Wooley, "Pete Nolan".
"Rawhide"

 

[T Jones]

Steve Raines, "Jim Quince" and Sheb Wooley, "Pete Nolan".
"Rawhide"

Wow. No wonder I couldn't find this in the Movie Hats thread. I posted it in the wrong place!

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Ok, so what do you all think? What color should I order for a Harry Truman Open Road reproduction? View attachment 601852

Hats turn up but there is usually little provenance or any COA linking them to Truman. No doubt some were sold as replicas thru the Truman Presidential Library in the 1960’s. Although you don’t see many cases with the Presidential Seal.

Truman was never gifted a Stetson Shady Oak Farm by Amon Carter. Although Carter was a Democrat he disliked Truman for his anti-Texas, pro-federal policy on off-shore drilling.

 

[CRH]

I have seen a color photo of one of his thin ribbon hats that was light gray.

That sounds like Gannon's silverbelly?

 

[Mighty44]

That sounds like Gannon's silverbelly?

The one I’m thinking of was actually gray but I did a quick search and can’t find the photos I was thinking of. I did see some original color photos (not the colorized ones) of him and MacArthur together wearing one that is silverbelly so I’d go with that.

 

[Mighty44]

The one I’m thinking of was actually gray but I did a quick search and can’t find the photos I was thinking of. I did see some original color photos (not the colorized ones) of him and MacArthur together wearing one that is silverbelly so I’d go with that.

 

[CRH]

View attachment 602142

That's cool. Thanks

 

[Rmccamey]

Michael can recreate those hats with ease. Give him a shout. I have a new Gannon refurb I'll share tomorrow.

 

[jdouglasj]

Ok, so what do you all think? What color should I order for a Harry Truman Open Road reproduction? View attachment 601852

I am particularly taken by the shape of Truman's hat here.

I ordered two of my three Ganon hats unshaped, without creases. I really prefer what Michael calls the "casual crease" over a more permanent, steamed-in bash. What attracts my eye in a hat are the somewhat irregular, assymetrical dents and creases, as opposed to the smoother, semi-permanent contours which, to my eyes, look at little like the hat was shaped on a mold.

On the other hand...! I spent a great deal of time getting my last Gannon hat just the way I wanted it. It looked tremendous but it wasn't going to hold that shape until I steamed it, which I never did. It still looks great, but I wear it almost every day and the shape changes every time I pinch the crown to put it on my head (yes, I should grab it by the brim, but you get my point), every time I yank it down to withstand the Chicago winter winds. It still looks great, but I know I'm well passed that ideal shape I originally gave it. In a word, the unsteamed "casual crease" hat will not be just the way you want it. Rather, it will look like how you handle it, and how you handle it changes depending on what handling you do from day to day.

But looking at the photo above, it looks as if the pinch in the front is off-center the way I like it, one side has a deeper indentation than the other and the shape of the indents are different as well. The brim is not uniformed all the way around. So I very much like everything I'm seeing and it could all be made semi-permanent. But when you activate the stiffeners, you lose a cetain je ne sais quoi.

 

[jdouglasj]

Here is my newest Gannon. Boy, taking a picture of a hat is a crap shoot. If you move an inch or two one direction or the other the color of the hat changes completely in the photo. This picture, on my screen anyway, captures the color fairly well, although not as good as seeing it in person. This is a Fespa hat body in Fawn with a 1.5-inch ribbon in rust.

And here is the same hat in slightly different light:

By the way, one piece of advice for anyone considering the purchase of a custom-made hat through the mail. DO NOT order a hat until you have received a variety of swatches in all available colors (Michael Gannon is always willing to send swatches). I see hats on this website that look fantastic to my eyes, but I know the color would not work on me. You really have to hold the swatches next to your hair and skin and look at yourself in the mirror. If you do that, there is a very good chance that you will pick a different color than the color that initially caught your attention online. Also, again, photos of hats won't do. Here is the photo Michael sent me of the hat pictured above:

I really, really love this hat, but I couldn't tell that from the photo!

 

[Mighty44]

Here is my newest Gannon. Boy, taking a picture of a hat is a crap shoot. If you move an inch or two one direction or the other the color of the hat changes completely in the photo. This picture, on my screen anyway, captures the color fairly well, although not as good as seeing it in person. This is a Fespa hat body in Fawn with a 1.5-inch ribbon in rust.

View attachment 603028

And here is the same hat in slightly different light:

View attachment 603039

By the way, one piece of advice for anyone considering the purchase of a custom-made hat through the mail. DO NOT order a hat until you have received a variety of swatches in all available colors (Michael Gannon is always willing to send swatches). I see hats on this website that look fantastic to my eyes, but I know the color would not work on me. You really have to hold the swatches next to your hair and skin and look at yourself in the mirror. If you do that, there is a very good chance that you will pick a different color than the color that initially caught your attention online.

That’s a beaut!

 

[jdouglasj]

I have one other comment on how to order a hat...

I probably spent a couple thousand dollars on hats that I'll never wear again. I spent years wanting a hat that looked good on me, and I went to Optimo Hats here in Chicago, which has a wall of great looking hats. They ask your size, and then present you with every available option.

Okay, so I knew nothing about hats at the time except that I wanted one that looked good on me. I tried on the Optimos they presented, and me along with the two salesman agreed that the hat I picked looked better than all the others. Figuring I was at one of the most well known hat stores in the country, attended to by knowledgable salesmen, and since I picked out the hat that everyone agreed looked best, I figured this was about as good as it could get.

But I'll never wear that hat again. Suffice it to say that I have a weird head. Most hats don't look very good on me. I tried to convince myself that the hats I had purchased looked great, but they didn't. Why? I had no idea why. And I don't mean to cast aspersion on Optimo. Graham's business model is mostly off the shelf hats (their custom hats were something like $1,300 last I checked). They sold me the hat that looked best from their stock.

After wasting a lot of money, I sent pictures of myself in the hats I no longer liked to Michael Gannon. I had figured out on my own that some hats had more vertical sides than others...something I had no idea was even an option when I was in Optimo. Michael suggested a #60 block, and he said I clearly needed a much taller crown (6-inches), and a wider brim. I took his advice and ordered the hat. I can't tell you how much better looking that hat was than anything else that I had prevoiusly put on my head.

So the lesson here is that there's a lot the hat buyer doesn't know. He might love what that hat Brad Pritt was wearing in that movie looked like, but that has nothing to do with the hat buyer, whose head might be completely incompatible with that block, brim, color, and crown height.

I once walked into a fancy eye glass store here in Chicago, and immediately the salesman looked at me and knew exactly what kind of rims I should be looking at. And he was dead on. The stuff he picked out looked good, and the other stuff that caught my eye did not look good on me. when it comes to purchases like that, you need expert, outside opinion.

So if you are buying a hat you really need to know what options are out there on blocks, and you need to have some idea of what kind of block woudl look good on you. The same goes for crown height, color, brim, ribbon size, etc. If you don't know about those things, you need someone to look you over who knows what they are doing. Because if you don't have someone who knows helping you, there is a very good chance you are going to wind up with the wrong hat. Oh, you might walk out of the store thinking you look pretty darn good, but you might not be the right judge.

 

[Rmccamey]

Another great looking Gannon.

Here is my newest Gannon. Boy, taking a picture of a hat is a crap shoot. If you move an inch or two one direction or the other the color of the hat changes completely in the photo. This picture, on my screen anyway, captures the color fairly well, although not as good as seeing it in person. This is a Fespa hat body in Fawn with a 1.5-inch ribbon in rust.

View attachment 603028

And here is the same hat in slightly different light:

View attachment 603039

By the way, one piece of advice for anyone considering the purchase of a custom-made hat through the mail. DO NOT order a hat until you have received a variety of swatches in all available colors (Michael Gannon is always willing to send swatches). I see hats on this website that look fantastic to my eyes, but I know the color would not work on me. You really have to hold the swatches next to your hair and skin and look at yourself in the mirror. If you do that, there is a very good chance that you will pick a different color than the color that initially caught your attention online. Also, again, photos of hats won't do. Here is the photo Michael sent me of the hat pictured above:
View attachment 603089

I really, really love this hat, but I couldn't tell that from the photo!

 

[Zombie_61]

...So the lesson here is that there's a lot the hat buyer doesn't know. He might love what that hat Brad Pritt was wearing in that movie looked like, but that has nothing to do with the hat buyer, whose head might be completely incompatible with that block, brim, color, and crown height.

I once walked into a fancy eye glass store here in Chicago, and immediately the salesman looked at me and knew exactly what kind of rims I should be looking at. And he was dead on. The stuff he picked out looked good, and the other stuff that caught my eye did not look good on me. when it comes to purchases like that, you need expert, outside opinion...

With all due respect, I disagree. Hats, eyeglasses, any other item of clothing, car, motorcycle, the "right" girl or guy, food, art, etc., it doesn't really matter. If YOU like something, to hell with what everyone else thinks--wear it, eat it, hang it on a wall in your home, drive it, ride it, date it, marry it, whatever. The only opinion that truly matters in such things is YOURS, because if you constantly allow other people to change your opinions about everything you'll never get to know yourself.

 

[CRH]

I am particularly taken by the shape of Truman's hat here.

I ordered two of my three Ganon hats unshaped, without creases. I really prefer what Michael calls the "casual crease" over a more permanent, steamed-in bash. What attracts my eye in a hat are the somewhat irregular, assymetrical dents and creases, as opposed to the smoother, semi-permanent contours which, to my eyes, look at little like the hat was shaped on a mold.

On the other hand...! I spent a great deal of time getting my last Gannon hat just the way I wanted it. It looked tremendous but it wasn't going to hold that shape until I steamed it, which I never did. It still looks great, but I wear it almost every day and the shape changes every time I pinch the crown to put it on my head (yes, I should grab it by the brim, but you get my point), every time I yank it down to withstand the Chicago winter winds. It still looks great, but I know I'm well passed that ideal shape I originally gave it. In a word, the unsteamed "casual crease" hat will not be just the way you want it. Rather, it will look like how you handle it, and how you handle it changes depending on what handling you do from day to day.

But looking at the photo above, it looks as if the pinch in the front is off-center the way I like it, one side has a deeper indentation than the other and the shape of the indents are different as well. The brim is not uniformed all the way around. So I very much like everything I'm seeing and it could all be made semi-permanent. But when you activate the stiffeners, you lose a cetain je ne sais quoi.

I don't know how to put a hat on straight and my head is crooked anyway. Or why I appreciate a little looser fit just in case.

 

[The Lost Cowboy]

I have one other comment on how to order a hat...

I probably spent a couple thousand dollars on hats that I'll never wear again. I spent years wanting a hat that looked good on me, and I went to Optimo Hats here in Chicago, which has a wall of great looking hats. They ask your size, and then present you with every available option.

Okay, so I knew nothing about hats at the time except that I wanted one that looked good on me. I tried on the Optimos they presented, and me along with the two salesman agreed that the hat I picked looked better than all the others. Figuring I was at one of the most well known hat stores in the country, attended to by knowledgable salesmen, and since I picked out the hat that everyone agreed looked best, I figured this was about as good as it could get.

But I'll never wear that hat again. Suffice it to say that I have a weird head. Most hats don't look very good on me. I tried to convince myself that the hats I had purchased looked great, but they didn't. Why? I had no idea why. And I don't mean to cast aspersion on Optimo. Graham's business model is mostly off the shelf hats (their custom hats were something like $1,300 last I checked). They sold me the hat that looked best from their stock.

After wasting a lot of money, I sent pictures of myself in the hats I no longer liked to Michael Gannon. I had figured out on my own that some hats had more vertical sides than others...something I had no idea was even an option when I was in Optimo. Michael suggested a #60 block, and he said I clearly needed a much taller crown (6-inches), and a wider brim. I took his advice and ordered the hat. I can't tell you how much better looking that hat was than anything else that I had prevoiusly put on my head.

So the lesson here is that there's a lot the hat buyer doesn't know. He might love what that hat Brad Pritt was wearing in that movie looked like, but that has nothing to do with the hat buyer, whose head might be completely incompatible with that block, brim, color, and crown height.

I once walked into a fancy eye glass store here in Chicago, and immediately the salesman looked at me and knew exactly what kind of rims I should be looking at. And he was dead on. The stuff he picked out looked good, and the other stuff that caught my eye did not look good on me. when it comes to purchases like that, you need expert, outside opinion.

So if you are buying a hat you really need to know what options are out there on blocks, and you need to have some idea of what kind of block woudl look good on you. The same goes for crown height, color, brim, ribbon size, etc. If you don't know about those things, you need someone to look you over who knows what they are doing. Because if you don't have someone who knows helping you, there is a very good chance you are going to wind up with the wrong hat. Oh, you might walk out of the store thinking you look pretty darn good, but you might not be the right judge.

With all due respect, I disagree. Hats, eyeglasses, any other item of clothing, car, motorcycle, the "right" girl or guy, food, art, etc., it doesn't really matter. If YOU like something, to hell with what everyone else thinks--wear it, eat it, hang it on a wall in your home, drive it, ride it, date it, marry it, whatever. The only opinion that truly matters in such things is YOURS, because if you constantly allow other people to change your opinions about everything you'll never get to know yourself.

For me, neither of these opinions tells the full story, though I agree with them both to a point. I might love a hat and love the way it looks on me, but if everyone I meet shies away from me when I wear it, then I will eventually stop wearing it out (or do so more selectively).

Alternatively, a hat might look so good that I feel conspicuous under it. It sounds weird, but I don’t like to look more attractive than I feel. Or a good-looking hat might make me feel overly-aggressive, overly-masculine, overly-old-fashioned, etc. Sometimes the only thing that has to change is the bash and then suddenly I am very comfortable.

So the way others react to me or might react to me definitely impacts my hat choice. I believe that’s perfectly natural. But it’s more complicated than simply if it looks good.