New to customs - 2 quick ?s

[jhl1963]

Friends, great site - going to cost me money!! - recently visited a maker and was introduced to the world of customs and found my way here. Curious what qualifies a custom and if all custom makers start out with a full blank or do some start out with a raw piece of beaver/wool? At least one maker's site appears to insinuate that they start out with a raw piece of beaver.

Also curious how important a conformateur (sp?) fitting is - I see at least one maker sends you one to use? Curious do any shops offer to do a conformateur fitting (assume not) that one can use for another maker?

I see some high end makers offering to make hats and they send detailed instructions for fitting (but I assume no conformeter).

Thanks a bunch

 

[jlee562]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that no custom hatter is making their own felt. The fur fibers have to be removed from the pelt and felted. The primary source for felt is Winchester, who supplies virtually every company not named Stetson/Hatco (they produce their own felt). The other primary source for felt bodies is Fepsa in Portugal. They supply Optimo, among others. I'm sure other sources are a trade secret.

Art Fawcett has a neat conformatuer that he sends out but most do not. Some make to submitted measurements. Bob at Black Sheep hatworks sends out a few different sized sweats to you to choose from. You can purchase a band block from Art which is sized the width of the sweatband and cut to your headshape. Usefule for keeping all your hats sized.

 

[gtdean48]

Though it is not impossible, I don't think a hand-felted custom hat is going to be that attractive of a offering.
After seeing the complexity of making felt bodies at Winchester & seeing a video of an Austrian hatter doing the felting manually, the product for a hatter to work with is extremely different.

Even Winchester gets raw beaver fur that has traveled to Europe & back since there are no plants in the US that remove the fur from the pelts.

 

[jhl1963]

Double post

 

[jhl1963]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. Btw it was shorty's - and perhaps I misunderstood what I was reading:
http://shortyshattery.com/Hats/CustomHatMaking

 

[jlee562]

The cone is a felt blank the same that any hatter starts with.

 

[jhl1963]

Aha, thank you - I saw pics of some blanks that appeared to look like a hat (brim etc) and thought that maybe they did it differently.

 

[swd]

I have four hats that had the conformateur treatment, 2 customs and two older Stetson western hats that were renovated using my head shape from the custom shop head shape file. All four of those hats fit better than any of my off the rack hats. I think it is very important if you have a strange shaped head (you'd be surprised), or if you plan on wearing the hat in windy conditions. The hat will just stay in place better when it has been fitted to your head shape. Is it necessary? Not really, especially if you have a pretty symmetrical head and aren't planning on taking it out in rough weather. But if it is going with you in any conditions, I'd go with the conformateur for sure. Good luck with your new hat!