Open crown, stingy brim + available

[PalmerPirate]

I've been looking around for a fedora that is open crowned (I want to bash my own shape), with a very very stingy brim, and most importantly of all: available. I've found hundreds of great hats that fit my needs- super-stingy brim, high crown, wide band, and some with even an open crown- but I have NOT found them to be available to one such as me. The nearest store that sells -real- hats is my local cowboy store, which only sells Resistol cowboy hats (and not a very good selection of those, either.)
What I want is something that I can order online in my size, shape, and color. Maybe I haven't been looking hard enough, but even if I find a good hat, I can't find a place to BUY it. (such as the Akubra Hampton- Where do I buy?) I like the idea of a Stetson Nostalgia- it being an open crowned hat that I can, you know, buy. but I want something even stingier. No, not a trilby. Any help would be appreciated, folks!

 

[carouselvic]

Why not buy what you like and then trim the brim?

 

[ValEag]

PalmerPirate - Welcome to the Lounge. I suspect there are many places that will meet your needs as far as purchasing online. Googling 'fedora' or 'stingy brim' would point you in the right direction.

For the Akubra Hampton that you mentioned, Hats Direct is mentioned here often, I've purchased a few from them with excellent results. You can find them here:
http://www.hatsdirect.com/

Another source for the Hampton:
http://www.everythingaustralian.com.au/default.asp

Some other sites you might enjoy:
http://www.bencrafthats.com/list.php?cattype=1&subcatid=1&subcname=Felt+Hats

http://www.millerhats.com/Bestsellers.html

http://www.delmonicohatter.com/

I'm sure others will chime in - this should get you started.

 

[kaosharper1]

I'd also recommend David Morgan's Akubra Sydney. It comes open crowned with a raw edge brim. It's not stingy, but you could take it, or any hat, to a western store where they usually can trim brims for you if you don't want to try it yourself.

The problem facing most of us is that there are no "good" hat stores around, though there are lots of crappy ones. Here in Pasadena there's "Hat World" which at best sells Stetsons. I went in there to determine my hat size but that's it. If they carried hats I liked I'd buy them there. But usually its internet ordering for most of us.

And if you want to splurge, there's always custom. Since you're in Oregon, one of the great custom hatters, Art Fawcett is somewhere around Portland.

 

[PalmerPirate]

I've heard of Art Fawcett, but I do so hate Portland (especially traveling there from my town.) The best bet seems to be the Hampton from Everything Australian, though I'll probably want to fool with the crown a little. Still open to suggestions!

 

[memphislawyer]

Trimming a brim. Any link to a thread?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Since you are in Oregon, you can also try Penman Hats.
www.penmanhats.com

 

[kaosharper1]

I've heard of Art Fawcett, but I do so hate Portland (especially traveling there from my town.) The best bet seems to be the Hampton from Everything Australian, though I'll probably want to fool with the crown a little. Still open to suggestions!

He's actually in Butte Falls. I don't know where that is relative to you, but it wouldn't involve going into the city.

I've also found that you can rebash hats by just spraying them with enough water. I have an old Wormser "Texan" which was in a cattleman's crease and was a pretty rigid cowboy hat. By spraying the top of the crown with water I did get it to go back to an open crown. It has to be fur felt to do that. Also, don't wet the sides, or the hat might collapse.

 

[Brad Bowers]

Welcome to the Lounge, PalmerPirate.

It would help us if you could define your terms for us. In general, any brim width under 2 inches is considered stingy, so a super stingy would probably be 1.5 inches or less.

Also, when you mean high crown, how tall are you thinking? A tall crown is usually 5 3/4 or 6 inches tall, open crown. I don't remember for certain, but I think the Stetson Nostalgia is 5 1/2 inches.

And ribbon width, are you wanting something between 1 1/2 inches and 2 inches?

With this information, we can narrow down your best options for companies that make what you're looking for and where you can order them, (or tell you if nobody makes them).

Brad

 

[redhawks2]

You might think about hornet hats in the UK. You can order just about anything you want and get it shipped here for just a little over $100 I'm about to order something from them and Sarah or Jason can fill the bill as it were.

 

[munchausen]

PalmerPirate - Welcome to the Lounge. I suspect there are many places that will meet your needs as far as purchasing online. Googling 'fedora' or 'stingy brim' would point you in the right direction.

For the Akubra Hampton that you mentioned, Hats Direct is mentioned here often, I've purchased a few from them with excellent results. You can find them here:
http://www.hatsdirect.com/

Another source for the Hampton:
http://www.everythingaustralian.com.au/default.asp

I was going to suggest Everything Australian (they're my first and only online store experience for a new hat). Just expect a 3 month wait on the Hampton, if I remember rightly. Also, the Hampton comes pre-bashed though a bit of steam and some coaxing might round it out for you to re-crease.

And as the others said, welcome.

 

[PalmerPirate]

I really like the bound edge and brim of that Hampton. I'd like to class it up a bit more, so where can I find a grosgrain hat band? I know how to apply one, I just don't know where to get one.
I am shameless to admit that my sudden fascination with the super-stingy brim came from watching Rorschach's hat in the semi-recent "Watchmen" film. The stingy brim, paired with the high crown, complimented by his double breasted trenchcoat give off that classic 'detective' stereotype. (or maybe that's just me and my childhood of watching Inspector Gadget cartoons.)

 

[munchausen]

Photos please.

I really like the bound edge and brim of that Hampton. I'd like to class it up a bit more, so where can I find a grosgrain hat band? I know how to apply one, I just don't know where to get one.
I am shameless to admit that my sudden fascination with the super-stingy brim came from watching Rorschach's hat in the semi-recent "Watchmen" film. The stingy brim, paired with the high crown, complimented by his double breasted trenchcoat give off that classic 'detective' stereotype. (or maybe that's just me and my childhood of watching Inspector Gadget cartoons.)

As a Hampton owner/wearer. When you get your hands on one and apply your new ribbon treatment, I would love to see photos.

memphislawyer - Trimming hat brims and another. Just as a tip that I learnt, I go around the search feature on here by googling what I'm interested in and including "thefedoralounge" in the search. Gets me where I want to go.

Also, to the horror of some, HPG trimmed the brim of this hat.

Happy reading

 

[memphislawyer]

Munch, thank you for that tip.

 

[PalmerPirate]

As a Hampton owner/wearer. When you get your hands on one and apply your new ribbon treatment, I would love to see photos.

memphislawyer - Trimming hat brims and another. Just as a tip that I learnt, I go around the search feature on here by googling what I'm interested in and including "thefedoralounge" in the search. Gets me where I want to go.

Also, to the horror of some, HPG trimmed the brim of this hat.

Happy reading

So that's how you do it, eh? I'm not too fond of the search here myself. Thanks for the advice! if I trim the brim of the Hampton, I'll be taking the bound edge off. I KNOW I saw a thread about putting a bound edge on a hat that doesn't have one... I'll go off and search for that again. 'Twill be much easier now that I've got a new search method!

 

[munchausen]

No problems

So that's how you do it, eh? I'm not too fond of the search here myself. Thanks for the advice! if I trim the brim of the Hampton, I'll be taking the bound edge off. I KNOW I saw a thread about putting a bound edge on a hat that doesn't have one... I'll go off and search for that again. 'Twill be much easier now that I've got a new search method!

As someone who couldn't find things using the search function either, I tried it this way. I've read it on here and it seems to be a trick others use.

You're looking to trim the Hampton? You must like reaaaally stingy brims.

 

[PalmerPirate]

As someone who couldn't find things using the search function either, I tried it this way. I've read it on here and it seems to be a trick others use.

You're looking to trim the Hampton? You must like reaaaally stingy brims.

I'm also too lazy to do most of the things I say, so who knows wher that's going. I'll probably keep the brim it already has to keep it more versatile, but that sucker's definitely going to get a crown fix by me. it shall be putty in my hands- and I'm good with putty!

 

[BlindeMan]

The Watchman

I don't know if you have checked out the Penman Hat Company website yet (Penman is based out of Hillsboro, by the way, not Portland) but he actually makes a replica of the Rorschach hat using some of the same materials as the people who created the original. Penman's replica can be seen here: The Watchman hat