Opinions of Baily hats?

[Madcap72]

So, due to mistakes in picking who I work for, I no longer have my "big baller" income, but still would like to get a hat to match my cheap suit I got for work. Suit's black, off the rack, kind of slim fitting on me (6'2 220 lbs).

http://www.villagehatshop.com/golden-gate_chicago.html

http://www.villagehatshop.com/bailey_gangster_fedora.html

http://www.villagehatshop.com/golden-gate_zoot.html

My question, what of those three hats is more "vintage" (I guess technically they would be retro?) Or, since my questions are so vague, which would make a good starter hat? OR in popular opinion, which hat is "better" subjective I know...
Oh well, some one start writing opinions of them or something! Thanks!


(Definitely want to get something before public enemies comes out =)

 

[billyspew]

I would consider all of them a little bit low crowned for "vintage". They also probably slant a little too much. What you'd want is something with a little more height and straighter sides. That is only my opinion though.

I'd also spend a little bit more and get a fur felt one (maybe ofas?), maybe check out the classifieds, there's many a bargain there.

Bill

 

[Doctor Strange]

Standard suggestion: Akubra!

Don't get a wool felt hat - it may seem like a great buy, but you will eventually be very disappointed when it totally loses its shape after being rained on a few times.

If you spend just a little more, you can get an Akubra fur felt hat: a much tougher hat, and one that's a lot closer (in style and construction quality) to the hats of old that you want to emulate.

The best bang for the buck is proably a Stylemaster from Everything Austalian:

http://www.everythingaustralian.com.au/displayproduct.asp?page=4

But a much wider range of fedoras is available from HatsDirect - yes, they're a little more expensive, and the shipping is much more expensive (but also very fast):

http://www.hatsdirect.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi?group=Fedora+Hats

Of particular interest is the Federation, whose high crown, wide brim, and wide band is specifically designed to emulate a 1930s hat. It will do the gangster hat thing beautifully, and will last through many years of hard use.

 

[carter]

What's your hat size? All the links posted show hats in the small size. If you have a smaller hat size, there are usually good buys in vintage hats on ebay.
If you wear a larger size, Doc Strange has given you some good suggestions.
Of course, your budget will have a lot to do with what you decide to buy.

 

[ValEag]

I’ll throw in my 2 cents worth, even though I’m certainly not an expert when it comes to what is vintage and what is not. Even though I appreciate the vintage look of hats and men’s attire in general I don’t really have a desire to have a vintage wardrobe, I’m more interested in finding hats that work into the way I dress now.

My dress hats are basically worn to church, or any other occasion I have to wear a suit. Casual hats I wear whenever I feel like it. When I decided to start buying hats, the only local store with any selection at all carries only a few dress Stetsons. Nothing wrong with that but when I called to ask about hats it was obvious from our conversation that they had no interest in talking about hats, and this was a local small town store that sells only menswear! I began to look on the web for information which led me here to the FL.

I wanted to get an idea of the differences in the various crown types and how each of them looked on me without spending a small fortune. I bought a Golden Gate Philadelphia Traditional (c crown), a Golden Gate Casablanca (Center dent) and a Bailey Briar (teardrop). These are all low end hats I know, but they answered the questions I had about fit and looks that I wanted to know before moving on to higher quality hats, and I only had about $150 invested in all of them. Most of the folks I see that comment on the hats I wear have had positive comments and wouldn’t know the difference if I was wearing a $500 Borsalino. I have not been hesitant to wear them at all.

I doubt if most of the folks you run into will know or care if your hat is vintage or not. If that is the look you want then by all means pursue it, but there is nothing wrong with wearing a hat simply because you like the way it looks, vintage or not. In my search for purchasing my first higher quality hat, I’ve read here on the FL of Batsakes in Cincinnati which is within reasonable driving distance for me, so I plan to go there soon and hopefully come home with my first quality hat. I’d just feel more comfortable about spending the money if I could try it on first. I’ll be more inclined to wear hats that fit and that I like the looks of, and I’ll feel more confident of how I look as well.

This is how I found some of my answers to the 'starter hat' questions, may not work for everyone but it did for me.

 

[kpreed]

My everyday hat (fedora style) is a Bailey and I have a Biltmore fur-felt too that I wear on very special outings, yes the wool- felt is not as nice, but at under 1/4 the price I can hurt four cheap hats to one fur hat. (In years I have never had any hats hurt at all) Just my two cents, but what-ever hat you choose... Just wear it! I see on many days that I am wearing the only hat.

 

[HatSoup]

I wear a Bailey, you should know that the sizes run small, I don't think my head is very large but I fit in an 'Extra Large' Bailey.

 

[jpbales]

i've got a baily

I got a Baily off of eBay whenever I was new to hats. It's definitely modern (says "A Bollman Company," and they didn't merge with Bollman until the 80's), and it's a little gray stingybrim hat. I'm not sure what the exact name of the hat is. It's made of fur felt, and made in the U.S.A. The felt is really, really, really, stiff and difficult to reshape and it doesn't hold shape very well. The felt on the brim has these odd little creases and bumps within the felt, that I've only had a little luck smoothing out with some steam. The leather sweatband is pretty thick and fairly stiff, but it's not awful though. The hat has a generally hard time conforming to the shape of my head, even after taking out the plastic reeding within the sweatband (if you don't know, the reeding is there to help the hat keep it's shape, but makes it more difficult to conform to your head and stretch if the hat is a little snug). After this hat, and looking at the price of their other hats, I would probably not buy another Baily hat. Just my 2 cents about it.
Oh yes, it is worth springing a few xtra bucks for a fur felt hat. I've only had 1 wool hat and I sent it back immediately- the quality just seems disappointing compared to a fur felt, and it's difficult to reshape if you want. Whenever I see wool-felt hats, I pretty much just pretend that they don't exist lol.
Good luck, and welcome,
Jimmy B.

 

[jpbales]

one last thing,

I wouldn't bet on the hat being too nice if it comes in "small, medium, large, xlarge" sizes either. Most decent hats come in sizes like "7, 7 3/8, 7 1/2" or in cm like "56, 57, 58, 59, 60." I'd guess that the ones that come in the "sm, md, lg, xlg" sizes are being marketed to people who don't know much about hats and I've never seen a decent quality hat listed in those kinds of sizes. Good luck again!

 

[HatfeathersVint]

One thing to consider if you're buying a new vintage-style hat is that they are only the look, most certainly not the feel of vintage, unless you fork over some more money for a higher quality hat, as suggested above.
I have two newer vintage-style modern hats in stock now, and the feel of the felt is WAY different than even a cheaper for the time JCPenney/Towncraft hat from the 50s. They just don't have the same hand to them that the real vintage ones. They, like so many other clothing items, are made to be disposable. You won't be wearing it for 10 years, like granddad would have.

You might want to check around for some good vintage sellers with older models.

 

[Gilgamark]

I have four Baileys - a Tino, a New Yorker Sinatra, an Ephod, and a Fairbanks. The Sinatra is the only one that looks "vintage." None of them feel that way. They are good everyday hats, though.

 

[avedwards]

A good word for Bailey...

I have a fairly cheap Bailey wool felt hat. It has a nice hight crown but it doesn't look very vintage, a snap brim is as far as it goes. Unlined with a cotton sweatband. Sounds pretty bad.

On the other hand, when it comes to rain, this hats beats any hat I have ever had. It is completely waterproof and has neither absorbed water nor lost its shape. It stands up better in the rain than the fur felt hats I have.

I think this could be the middle hat, just from looking at the picture.

 

[Dewhurst]

A wool felt fedora would make a great starter hat. Some people end up finding them pleasant enough, and at the right price, that they just stick with them. And who could blame them, if they do? That is their prerogative.

I really like the look of that Golden Gate Chicago you linked to above. Golden Gate has a pretty decent reputation.

Now, on the subject of Bailey hats. Their hats are not remarkable, neither are they dreadful. They make perfectly serviceable hats that come in many styles and suit many tastes that some other companies simply don't. In addition, I have found their fur felt hats to be fairly durable, and comfortable. A few people I know swear by Bailey hats (I'm more eclectic).

Finally, remember: felt dress hats are not rain hats. Not the fur felts, not the wool felts, none. If you are just walking from your car to the store or your home during some rain , even a wool felt will hold up just fine. If you get stuck in the middle of a field during a serious storm, well... you should have watched the weather or need to be prepared. In order to be prepared, I buy hat covers to put on my fedoras if I get caught in a downpour. They are shaped correctly for a hat with a crown and a brim, have an elastic band that holds the cover on, are definitely rain proof (soft clear plastic stuff), and only cost 3 or 4 dollars (USD) at almost any western store or hat store. I keep one in the car, one in my wife's purse, and one in the house. This may sound like a bit much, but where I live it is either raining sheets of water, or bone dry. And the two seem to happen in intervals, and with a vengeance.

 

[Rider]

A Bailey was my first purchase after I decided to try a fedora again. Mine is fur felt, black, a 2" brim, and moderate taper. It was quite serviceable and quite good enough for me until this forum went and wrecked it all by introducting me to Akubras.

Since buying my Federation, I haven't worn the Bailey's in two years. I'm thinking of selling it to create more room for another Akubra.

 

[AdmiralTofu]

"No" on Gangster

I have no experience with the other two hats, Madcap, but I would definitely advise you to avoid the Bailey Gangster like the plague. I bought one once -- fortunately, thanks to VHS's excellent return policy, I was able to basically able to send it back, no questions asked.

The Gangster looks great in photos, but when I got it, it was a huge disappointment. The stitching holding the sweatband in irritates the forehead after only a few seconds of wearing it, and the hat itself is *really* stiff... I wouldn't have been able to tell it was made of felt if I hadn't already known. It felt and wore like one of those plastic costume hats you can find in grocery stores around Halloween time. If I'd thrown it at somebody, it could have lopped a hand off.

-Tofu

EDIT: This isn't a knock on all Baileys. I have a stingy brim Bailey "Executive". It's wool felt, but it's still pretty sweet, for a cheap-o hat. Soft felt, nice lining, good solid welt on the brim. I wear it every so often and have even gotten compliments on it. I guess the Gangster is just a bad hat.

 

[jpbales]

A Bailey was my first purchase after I decided to try a fedora again. Mine is fur felt, black, a 2" brim, and moderate taper. It was quite serviceable and quite good enough for me until this forum went and wrecked it all by introducting me to Akubras.

Since buying my Federation, I haven't worn the Bailey's in two years. I'm thinking of selling it to create more room for another Akubra.

that's basically the deal with me too, I started with an official Indy hat, then I got my Baily on eBay (sold as a vintage hat, although it's not), and now I have an Akubra Fed IV, and I don't think I could bring myself to buy anything less. I wear my stingy Baily occasionally, but only because my girlfriend likes it : ) She says that all of my hats look almost the same, except for the colors! Haha to most people, a fedora is a fedora!

 

[jpbales]

A wool felt fedora would make a great starter hat. Some people end up finding them pleasant enough, and at the right price, that they just stick with them. And who could blame them, if they do? That is their prerogative.

I really like the look of that Golden Gate Chicago you linked to above. Golden Gate has a pretty decent reputation.

Now, on the subject of Bailey hats. Their hats are not remarkable, neither are they dreadful. They make perfectly serviceable hats that come in many styles and suit many tastes that some other companies simply don't. In addition, I have found their fur felt hats to be fairly durable, and comfortable. A few people I know swear by Bailey hats (I'm more eclectic).

Finally, remember: felt dress hats are not rain hats. Not the fur felts, not the wool felts, none. If you are just walking from your car to the store or your home during some rain , even a wool felt will hold up just fine. If you get stuck in the middle of a field during a serious storm, well... you should have watched the weather or need to be prepared. In order to be prepared, I buy hat covers to put on my fedoras if I get caught in a downpour. They are shaped correctly for a hat with a crown and a brim, have an elastic band that holds the cover on, are definitely rain proof (soft clear plastic stuff), and only cost 3 or 4 dollars (USD) at almost any western store or hat store. I keep one in the car, one in my wife's purse, and one in the house. This may sound like a bit much, but where I live it is either raining sheets of water, or bone dry. And the two seem to happen in intervals, and with a vengeance.

You're right about the dress hats, they aren't designed with "weatherproof" kept in mind, but most fur felt hats should be durable enough to withstand at least some rain like you were saying (if it can't, then take it back!). One of main reasons why I like hats so much is their ability to keep the rain off my head. Usually when it's raining, I don my Fed IV (it's like wearing an umbrella!) because I know it will hold up well and has a lifetime warranty (I think). I have one nice vintage hat, but I wouldn't purposefully wear it in the rain just because it is more of a dress hat and it's probably my nicest hat and I wouldn't want to risk it. My logic says that it should hold up as well or better than any other hat, but my value for it says not to risk it.

 

[JohnnyB53]

Some Akubra fedoras. All are made of 100% rabbit fur felt and are made to withstand the weather and hold their shape:

Bogart: 2-1/2" bound-edge brim.
http://www.hatsdirect.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi?view=41&returncat=Fedora+Hats&returnpage=0
This is the Federation IV. It comes with a flat brim and open (uncreased) crown. You can definitely make this hat look more contoured and dynamic than this picture shows. I have two of them plus a very similar David Morgan Adventurer (also made by Akubra) in different colors and bashes.
http://www.hatsdirect.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi?view=44&returncat=Fedora+Hats&returnpage=0

Here is mine in tawny fawn:

Stylemaster: Unassuming; looks good on just about anyone.
http://www.hatsdirect.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi?view=44&returncat=Fedora+Hats&returnpage=0
Short brim, wide ribbon like the Blues Brothers hats:
http://www.hatsdirect.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi?view=49&returncat=Fedora+Hats&returnpage=0

 

[Madcap72]

Wow! Thanks so much for all the quick responses! Especially answering such vauge questions.

So, yea, it's a 60$ hat, not expecting the world out of it. Not worried about it feeling vintage either, since it's not being paired with a vintage suit. My hat size USED to be 7 1/4, but thats when I was in the Marines, and had no hair, probably 7 3/8" now.

I'm kind of leaning towards the "5th avenue". Right now coin in the pocket is the main issue, once I suck it up and go back to diving for oil, It'll be High hats and arrow collars (white spats, and lots of dollars). Then I can roll the dice and see if there are surviving vintage suits with 44" chests, and pants in 34x36! Btw, I own quite a few high quality, hand made western hats, so I'm quite familier with fine hats; albeit they are of a differnt shape and size.

Like I said, thanks, but by no means stop posting! The more info I can garner while you fine people pay attention to me the better.

Edit: for some reason I thought these were baily hats, but I guess I link surfed to a differnt brand, and they are "Golden Gate..."

 

[jpbales]

Semper Fi

I'm in the reserves now, and I often wear my Akubra Fed IV at drill when we're released at the end of the day and I notice my hat feels too big when there's no hair around the sides of my head. If I were you, I would go for an Akubra, they have a great selection of hats which seem to have a good rep and they are at a pretty decent price for the quality you get. The Fed IV is at around 90$ U.S. right now, plus shipping of probably 20 or so dollars. The hat will last a long time, can take some wear and tear, is plenty weather proof, and it won't disappoint you. I wish I knew all that when I bought my first hats, then I wouldn't have had to work my way up to a decent hat! Anyway, good luck in life!
Jim