Stetson Quality Experiment "Think Tank"

[HatsEnough]

My problem with those 70s, 80s and 90s 7X and 10X Stetsons is .... what the heck does it mean? In the 50s and early 60s they said "Clear Beaver" after all the Xs. That at least gave you some idea. But later they just had the Xs. Now, I do have a 10X from the 1990s (it has the metric/US size tag) but it actually does say "10X Beaver." But, I've seen many others from that era that just have 7 or 10 Xs and no "beaver." So, what the heck do the Xs even mean in those years?

I had a 70s or 80s era 7X Open Road once and it was not a very nice hat. Not in the least impressive.

That is what makes me worry that the hats are not really worth the high price Stetson had on them.

 

[Southwesterner]

Hi, I'm new to the forum.

I just bought a stetson western style hat that has a sweatband and liner crest with the leaf instead of the stars on it, a rectangular black size tag that has both 7 a line and 56 in gold lettering.

The front (forehead) area of the sweatband has 20 Xs (two rows of ten) with Stetson underneath in gold lettering.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the Xs mean.

Sorry, I tried uploading .jpg photos of the above but keep getting an 'undefined' error.

Thanks,

Steve

 

[gtdean48]

Welcome Steve.
The X's mean what Stetson/Hatco wants them to mean but for us it is a mystery to actual meaning...
More X's mean more better....

 

[barrowjh]

Southwesterner, in the year it was made, 20X meant something, but now, it only has relative meaning, and even then, relative only to other Stetsons made that same year. A 20X would have been better than a 10X made that year, but not as good as a 30X made that year. That same 20X might not be as good as a 3X from 1955; the Xs lose meaning outside the context of the model line for a particular year. In the days when the Xs were accompanied by other information, such as '7X Clear Beaver' - that has meaning that goes forever.

 

[Southwesterner]

Many thanks gtdean48 and barrowjh.

From what I'd gleaned so far from this forum I was reaching the same conclusion on the meaning of Xs but it's nice to see I was following it all correctly.

Too bad there isn't/wasn't a uniform quality standard used so one could correctly judge fair value on a hat. Oh well, makes it more interesting.

Thanks again,

Steve

 

[alanfgag]

Sunday bump

 

[CRH]

Welcome Steve.
The X's mean what Stetson/Hatco wants them to mean but for us it is a mystery to actual meaning...
More X's mean more better....

So, then XXXX clear corn whiskey is better than XXX clear corn whiskey?

 

[TheDane]

So, then XXXX clear corn whiskey is better than XXX clear corn whiskey?

Yes, if both whiskeys were made on the same distillery.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Some kind of difference must exist between a XXX and a XXXX whiskey.

 

[TheDane]

Yup! The latter is deadlier than the first one

 

[Joao Encarnado]

It depends on how much you drink of each of them and what you do after that.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

I'd be very careful about anything made that way...(shine) as we may not recall that at times when someone could not read and write, the "X" was a person's signature...

 

[Joao Encarnado]

For what I know, the "top" of the line was a 10x beaver in the 20's.
I have seen 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 10x, 15x, 20x, 30x, 50x and 100x beaver.
Sometimes a "25x" or "75x" appears but it is a Stetson/Resistol 25 or 75. I think I never saw a 2x beaver, only XX premium wool.

 

[carouselvic]

oh my[huh]

 

[fedoracentric]

A 10X in the 1920s?

 

[alanfgag]

Is it possible to unbump?

 

[carouselvic]

I'm holding you responsible

 

[gtdean48]

I'm holding you responsible

:arated:

 

[Joshbru3]

i'm holding you responsible

hahaha

 

[alanfgag]

Hats will roll.

:kick: