Optimo south side mobsters

[belfastboy]

Ditto what Kona said. I own three. I dream of making the trip & getting in the queue for a Pioneer Peak. Maybe then I could downsize to ~10 hats.

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Great hat. Is it made in western weight? I have a very similar one by Art but with a centre dent in a stiff dress weight.....but I like this 'modified' Gus.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Great hat. Is it made in western weight? I have a very similar one by Art but with a centre dent in a stiff dress weight.....but I like this 'modified' Gus.

I have two hats from the Original West series which the Pioneer Peak is from as well. They are dress weight silver beaver fur.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I recently bought a 7 ½ Optimo. Doc @NewJack reached out and offered a trade. This 7 ⅝ was my end of it:

It’s in great condition, but it’s half to a whole size too small for me. The felt on the 7 ½ blue-gray was more to my liking with a softer hand.

I’ve now owned around seven Optimos now. They are all well-made hats. The styling, including the tapered crowns and modest crown heights, just don’t work for me. The felt has been good or better, but I’ve never found it to be exceptional.

 

[Rmccamey]

I've never owned an Optimo but I did visit the store several years ago. As you state, their fedoras seem to lean toward Borsalino with the taper and shorter crown, so they have never been high on my Get List. The pictures always look very nice.

I’ve now owned around seven Optimos now. They are all well-made hats. The styling, including the tapered crowns and modest crown heights, just don’t work for me. The felt has been good or better, but I’ve never found it to be exceptional.

 

[Mighty44]

I recently bought a 7 ½ Optimo. Doc @NewJack reached out and offered a trade. This 7 ⅝ was my end of it:

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It’s in great condition, but it’s half to a whole size too small for me. The felt on the 7 ½ blue-gray was more to my liking with a softer hand.

I’ve now owned around seven Optimos now. They are all well-made hats. The styling, including the tapered crowns and modest crown heights, just don’t work for me. The felt has been good or better, but I’ve never found it to be exceptional.

Agreed—the proportions on this are way off for my taste.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Agreed—the proportions on this are way off for my taste.

To be fair, part of what makes the proportions seem off is the wider than typical brim, something I like. I wish it had a taller crown; although, at 5 ½” open it’s not a particularly low crown.

If the hat had been blocked on a minimally tapered block (52 or similar) with a height of around six inches I’d like the hat much more. Even then, I would never be able to justify the cost of one new. It’s no doubt a well-made hat, but a large part of what you are buying is the name.

 

[Mighty44]

To be fair, part of what makes the proportions seem off is the wider than typical brim, something I like. I wish it had a taller crown; although, at 5 ½” open it’s not a particularly low crown.

If the hat had been blocked on a minimally tapered block (52 or similar) with a height of around six inches I’d like the hat much more. Even then, I would never be able to justify the cost of one new. It’s no doubt a well-made hat, but a large part of what you are buying is the name.

To be fair, part of what makes the proportions seem off is the wider than typical brim, something I like. I wish it had a taller crown; although, at 5 ½” open it’s not a particularly low crown.

If the hat had been blocked on a minimally tapered block (52 or similar) with a height of around six inches I’d like the hat much more. Even then, I would never be able to justify the cost of one new. It’s no doubt a well-made hat, but a large part of what you are buying is the name.


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The brim does accent. Less taper would help a lot. Does look nice otherwise. A brown sweat would class it up a bit, too.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I've never owned an Optimo but I did visit the store several years ago. As you state, their fedoras seem to lean toward Borsalino with the taper and shorter crown, so they have never been high on my Get List. The pictures always look very nice.

I’ve read your similar comments before. Many Borsalinos have minimally tapered crowns of “regular” height. I’ve had different experiences with vintage Borsalinos. To be sure, they made a huge variety of hats and it all aren’t my liking (e.g., the Agusta line), but as someone who likes boxy tall crowns I can say Borsalino made some of my favorite hats!

 

[Mighty44]

I’ve read your similar comments before. Many Borsalinos have minimally tapered crowns of “regular” height. I’ve had different experiences with vintage Borsalinos. To be sure, they made a huge variety of hats and it all aren’t my liking (e.g., the Agusta line), but as someone who likes boxy tall crowns I can say Borsalino made some of my favorite hats!

Agreed—I’ve got some terrific vintage borsas that are shaped very much like vintage American hats.

 

[Altiori]

A happy day!
Received this afternoon my custom open crown in nicotine from the craftspeople at Optimo.
I post several photos in attempt to do justice to this beauty.

I am blessed to have purchased three Optimo hats over the past 8 years. The craftsmanship is impeccable, the felt is of the highest quality, and the customer service is thoughtful, engaging, personal and professional. I worked with Graham personally on this. It was my pleasure.

One photo is of all three Optimo’s: the Mondo, the new Nicotine, and the Montecristi Panama. These will get me through the year.

Cheers to all.

M enjoying a Manhattan preprandial while celebrating this Chicago marvel.

 

[Rmccamey]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

A happy day!
Received this afternoon my custom open crown in nicotine from the craftspeople at Optimo.
I post several photos in attempt to do justice to this beauty.

I am blessed to have purchased three Optimo hats over the past 8 years. The craftsmanship is impeccable, the felt is of the highest quality, and the customer service is thoughtful, engaging, personal and professional. I worked with Graham personally on this. It was my pleasure.

One photo is of all three Optimo’s: the Mondo, the new Nicotine, and the Montecristi Panama. These will get me through the year.

Cheers to all.

M enjoying a Manhattan preprandial while celebrating this Chicago marvel.

 

[doberdadinmd]

A happy day!
Received this afternoon my custom open crown in nicotine from the craftspeople at Optimo.
I post several photos in attempt to do justice to this beauty.

I am blessed to have purchased three Optimo hats over the past 8 years. The craftsmanship is impeccable, the felt is of the highest quality, and the customer service is thoughtful, engaging, personal and professional. I worked with Graham personally on this. It was my pleasure.

One photo is of all three Optimo’s: the Mondo, the new Nicotine, and the Montecristi Panama. These will get me through the year.

Cheers to all.

M enjoying a Manhattan preprandial while celebrating this Chicago marvel. View attachment 586356 View attachment 586357 View attachment 586358 View attachment 586359 View attachment 586360 View attachment 586361

Love the color on that Mundo!

 

[doberdadinmd]

Was just up in Baltimore and got complimented on my hat and he asked if it was a Stetson, I said no, asked if it was a Dobbs, I said no. At this point I told him it was an Optimo and he replied that he literally had been looking at the Optimo website a few hours earlier! It was a treat to hand over the hat so he could take a closer look.

 

[Altiori]

Was just up in Baltimore and got complimented on my hat and he asked if it was a Stetson, I said no, asked if it was a Dobbs, I said no. At this point I told him it was an Optimo and he replied that he literally had been looking at the Optimo website a few hours earlier! It was a treat to hand over the hat so he could take a closer look.

Great story. Optimo makes an excellent hat indeed.
I’m still playing around with the bash on my new open crown. Great fun.

 

[Hats Matter]

And now for something completely different...........

As I have written in this thread in years past, I have a fairly substantial number of Optimo Fedoras....19 to be precise. In the past two years or so I had a severe medical problem which resulted in a large loss of weight. The Fedoras I have are all 63 cm. and no longer fit my shrunken head. Rather than discard the Fedoras I contacted Graham and asked then if they could resize and refurbish them to 62 cm (my new head measurement. We experiment with 2 hats and they were returned to me and fit my head correctly and were nicely refurbished. I sent him 6 more hats for work and they were returned to my satisfaction. As a result I sent him the remaining 11 hats for refit and refurbishment. When there are returned I will as Graham if he can also do something with my straw hats.

 

[doberdadinmd]

And now for something completely different...........

As I have written in this thread in years past, I have a fairly substantial number of Optimo Fedoras....19 to be precise. In the past two years or so I had a severe medical problem which resulted in a large loss of weight. The Fedoras I have are all 63 cm. and no longer fit my shrunken head. Rather than discard the Fedoras I contacted Graham and asked then if they could resize and refurbish them to 62 cm (my new head measurement. We experiment with 2 hats and they were returned to me and fit my head correctly and were nicely refurbished. I sent him 6 more hats for work and they were returned to my satisfaction. As a result I sent him the remaining 11 hats for refit and refurbishment. When there are returned I will as Graham if he can also do something with my straw hats.

As someone who just recently worked with Graham on resizing two of mine I can concur with the results (though the Mundo took two tries). My wife would have a fit if I had 19!!

 

[doberdadinmd]

The person related to me by marriage had one question about the 19 hats - how do you organize, store, and display them?

 

[hatsRme]

The person related to me by marriage had one question about the 19 hats - how do you organize, store, and display them?

There’s a thread on that.

 

[doberdadinmd]

There’s a thread on that.

Thanks, I'll search!

 

[hatsRme]

Thanks, I'll search!

Here’s one…
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/how-do-you-display-your-hats.45034/