Northwest Hats, Eugene, Ore.

[suitedcboy]

I second what the distinguished barrister from Memphis said!

 

[lauro13]

I just had some work done by Mike and I'm pretty happy with it. Super nice guy, called me up to chat about colors ribbons and what he thought might work and the prices are great.
He applied a brown brim trim and matching ribbon to this old Open Road.
Did new ribbon and sweatband on this grey/blue Dobb's which I sanded to an edge of it's life cause of moth damage. Mike convinced me it would make a great light felt and that it'd be a shame to not try and salvage it. Also added a brim binding to this Akurbra Snowy River which I re-blocked and cut the brim on myself. He also replaced the sweatband on this old Strat as well. Sorry for the low quality pics.

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

Lots of brim, fedoralover! Nice hat. Both versions are great. My two hats are scheduled to arrive this Friday. I'm very anxious!

Great mods, lauro! :thumb:

 

[fedoralover]

Mike is the next generation of hatters that will carry on the torch of excellence that some of the other older hatters have now but one day will have to pass on . He is only in his early 30s and has real pride in his work and has that "knack" for making hats.
I saw a compliment here by Tonyb earlier and didn't get a chance to respond, I see it's gone now for some reason but thank you Tonyb for your kind words and will tell Mike what you said.

fedora

 

[tonyb]

...

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fedoralover

Yeah, I screwed up the edit, Rich. (Sometimes I don't know when to leave well enough alone.)

It's a beautiful hat. I like to think we're witnessing a slow rebirth of the "proper" men's hat, with modern practitioners turning out updated variations on traditional themes, mostly through bolder colors and ribbon work. This fellow at Northwest Hat adds more credence to that notion.

 

[fedoralover]

Thanks again Tony. Here's a vintage hat a friend of mine took to Mike. It had a plain black ribbon on it that needed replaced. My friend wanted something a little different. So he had Mike make this ribbon treatment for him by sewing 3 different ribbons together. It turned out really well, a little wild but that's what my friend wanted and that's what he got.

fedoralover

 

[scooter]

Some great work by Mike. Rich, that Stetson Nutria is simply off the charts! I love that hat!

 

[fedoralover]

Some great work by Mike. Rich, that Stetson Nutria is simply off the charts! I love that hat!

Thanks scooter, I do believe yours was the inspiration for the edge binding. I had never seen it before until Mike showed me the one he did for you. I was just going to have him do a wider ribbon and a little wider edge binding but this one inspired me to do something different.

fedoralover

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

Hat Mods: Part 1

My story is about 2 hats that I sent to Mike Miller of Northwest Hats in Eugene, OR. I had heard about him through another lounger here, fedoralover. His hats were re-sized beautifully, and I wanted a similar service. This particular post is about the first hat, a modern silverbelly Beaver Brand OR style hat that I had purchased from eBay, for what I thought to be a good deal at the time, $65. Even though the tag said 7 1/4 it was absolutely huge on me, as if it were 7 3/8 - 7 1/2. The ribbon was cheap and glued to the felt, sweatband was like cardboard, and the hat just didn't feel finished. Here is a pic of the original hat...

I sent it off to get modified, because I wanted a silverbelly hat that could have a nice contrasting brim binding. Mike suggested a really nice ribbon that was nearly identical to the stock color, but in a full 7/8". He also suggested a really beautiful blue-grey ribbon to go on the crown. It was perfect, because most of my other hats have black ribbon, so the blue-grey can go with just about anything. As he was selecting the colors and blocking the hat he sent me some pics so that I could give the O.K. I thought that was really nice.

The finished hat arrived today, and I was so happy to see such a classy looking hat. Here are the specs...

Brand: Beaver Brand
Felt Color: Silverbelly (rabbit)
Crown Height: 5 1/2" OC
Ribbon: Blue-grey, 1.75"
Brim: 2 1/4"+
Binding: Bean Silverbelly

 

[scooter]

As far as my inspirational hat goes for Fedoralover, I had to relax the crown/crease somewhat. It has a somewhat shallow crown, and after Mike set in a beautiful C crease, I just couldn't get it to sit right on my head. Always felt as if I was jamming my head against the top of the hat, to get it set right. I soaked it good and massaged the felt to relax the depth of the crease and it feels much better now.

I do want to emphasize, this was no fault of Mike's. He did a superb job on the hat. I am happy as a clam, just had to adjust it a bit to sit right on my grape.

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

Well, they finally arrived! I had sent two more hats to Mike for some re-sizing and modifications. One of the hats, a grey Borsalino Savoy had been sent in before for a re-size, but when it got sent back to me it was too small. Major drag, because he then had to put a new sweatband in, so he wasn't able to save the original sweatband. He included it in the box, so I do have it in case I sell it to someone down the road. Anyway, he originally put a new ribbon edge binding. The contrast came out perfect; it was exactly what I was looking for!!

The next hat is a Champ Milan. The hat looked good in the original photos on Etsy, and it was offered at a great price. When I received it, the sweatband was dry-rotted and the pug was cheap and stained. So, I asked for a new sweatband, re-block, and vintage burgundy ribbon. It's a TALL hat for a straw fedora. It is approx. 6" open crown. This allows for a nice deep crease.

 

[Lefty]

Beautiful work.

 

[hatsRme]

Both beautiful. Milan weave from that period is simply magnificent, irreplacable. Sweet lids, AnA!

 

[mikespens]

Really like how the milan turned out David, very nice and I'm sure you'll get a lot of use out of it down south.

 

[TomS]

looks great...

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

Beautiful work.

Mike does a great job; he has fantastic pricing, and his custom hats are equally affordable.

Both beautiful. Milan weave from that period is simply magnificent, irreplacable. Sweet lids, AnA!

Vintage milans are some of my favorite hats. The weave really shows how much care they put in to the hats.

Really like how the milan turned out David, very nice and I'm sure you'll get a lot of use out of it down south.

Thanks, Mike. It was very exciting to see the Milan come out of the box! The burgundy ribbon really sets it apart. The weather was already in the '70s today, so yes, I've been wearing it since I got it! I wore it to church today.

 

[fedoralover]

Pandora Deluxe

Here's another Pandora I had made up recently by Mike Miller from Northwest Hats in Eugene Oregon. It has a vintage cuenca crown with Pecan brown rabbit felt brim with triple stitching that matches the ribbon color. The ribbon is a little hard to photograph, its a copper tone color. The pictures make it seem more orange than it actually is. It turned out really well, I like it better than the other one I had him make last year. Mike pounced the brim felt pretty thin so it is a nice floppy summer weight. Mike does outstanding work and his prices are hard to beat.

fedoralover

 

[seabass]

Beautiful Pandora !
Love the contrasting details between the ribbon/brim stitching & felt/straw !
Looks like a reverse taper in the blocking, More side pics please when you get the chance !

 

[fedoralover]

Here's a side shot. I wish I could capture the ribbon color better but it's the best I could get.

fedora

 

[seabass]

Nice Blocking & Profile !

I had one Mike Make me one similar to your 1st one he made...
You used vintage Cuenca bodys for both, Which is nice due to the taller crowns of the older cuencas verses lower crowned new cuencas.
Damm Nice Hat !!!