Spring weather.

[riccardo]

Hi to all,
today and yesterday here in Sicily there were 22¬?C...the spring is arrived!
Since a couple of days I've begun wearing, everyday, my Open Road 7x beaver.
It works very well, it's a wonderful hat for spring temperature, but my OR is very vintage and old...I have to handle it very careful...
Do you know if a new OR could be shaped like a fedora?
Do you advice me to buy another OR or do you think that could be better to buy another vintage OR?
What kind of felt do you use during the spring?
Could you post any pics of them?

Many thanks to all.

Best regards.
Riccardo.

 

[John in Covina]

Riccardo and the Open Road!

Hi Riccardo!

Mostly, the guys here will search out a vintage Open Road from Stetson on Ebay or have good luck finding one at a used clothing store, antiques store or thrift shop. They can usually effect the change of the crown and presto Fedora style! if the hats need some more help they guys will seek out a proffessional like Art Fawcett to clean & reblock plus what ever fixing the hat needs and get back an outstanding example of a hat.

Also in th group of imitation Open Roads are the:
Dobbs Westward,
Mallory Dallas
and the Resistol San Antonio
which widens the possibilities for the Open Road style.
One of the guys found a Lee brand hat that is open road style but it doesn't list a model name.

I have a Dobbs that is very cool.

So, to get a new one is not considered the best or first choice.


Best wishes!

 

[RBH]

Greetings Riccardo !

Here is a pic of a goodlooking hat from Miller Hats. It has the Open Road fedora look.
There is nothing like the vintage felts but I thought you may like to see some other choices.

<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/6007/miller8qj.jpg" border="0" width="264" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>

Here is the website..
http://www.millerhats.com/derby2.htm

 

[tonyb]

I suppose you could use denatured alcohol to take some of the stiffener out of one of those new cardboard Open Roads and then reshape it, but I'd advise against it. The new ones just can't compare to the vintage models. Still, I understand your wanting to keep your old hats in good condition by not subjecting them to everyday wear. The Borsalino model now commonly called the Alessandria (at least that's what they call it on this side of the pond) has been in production for an awfully long time, and it looks quite a bit like an Open Road. Can those be found in your vicinity? If so, can you send me three or four of 'em?