Stetson Stetsonian

[cmoy]

I'm temped to pick one up in twany after my vintage Whipped got it's first sweat stain on the lining. The Whipped was mint till I wore it for two and a half weeks straight. The sweat band also feels like it's harder than before especially along the edge near the sweat stain lining. I'm afriad the Whippet will fall apart. I'm thinking of a modern hat to wear everyday and save the Whippet for specal occassions. Does this make sense? Or should I just wear the Whippet and don't be such a scardy cat?

 

[rclark]

I'm temped to pick one up in twany after my vintage Whipped got it's first sweat stain on the lining. The Whipped was mint till I wore it for two and a half weeks straight. The sweat band also feels like it's harder than before especially along the edge near the sweat stain lining. I'm afriad the Whippet will fall apart. I'm thinking of a modern hat to wear everyday and save the Whippet for specal occassions. Does this make sense? Or should I just wear the Whippet and don't be such a scardy cat?

I wear my hats but I understand your concern. I have a mix of vintage and modern production hats, and in situations where I would hesitate to risk a vintage hat, I opt for a replaceable modern production hat. Hope that helps.

FYI - depending on your size, I have a modern Stetsonian in tawny for sale. Size 7 1/4. Pardon my shameless plug!

 

[cmoy]

I wear my hats but I understand your concern. I have a mix of vintage and modern production hats, and in situations where I would hesitate to risk a vintage hat, I opt for a replaceable modern production hat. Hope that helps.

FYI - depending on your size, I have a modern Stetsonian in tawny for sale. Size 7 1/4. Pardon my shameless plug!

I'm a 7 Thanks though!

 

[rclark]

You bet! I believe you'd like the Stetsonian

 

[Frunobulax]

You bet! I believe you'd like the Stetsonian

They're great hats.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[Bob Roberts]

I wear my hats but I understand your concern. I have a mix of vintage and modern production hats, and in situations where I would hesitate to risk a vintage hat, I opt for a replaceable modern production hat. Hope that helps.

FYI - depending on your size, I have a modern Stetsonian in tawny for sale. Size 7 1/4. Pardon my shameless plug!

You took the words right outta my mouth. If you didnt tell him, I woulda.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Get one. Delmonico has a sale on now I believe. Wait, maybe that was only for Veterans day?

 

[cmoy]

Get one. Delmonico has a sale on now I believe. Wait, maybe that was only for Veterans day?

I'll check out their site. I may wait till Black Friday and stop by JJ's. See if they have any sales. That's if I can wait till then lol

 

[Bigger Don]

I opt for a replaceable modern production hat

Today's replaceable hat will become someone else's irreplaceable vintage hat.

That said, IMO hat's are to be worn.

Back in what we consider vintage times, hats were put on the shelf based on changing styles. Hatmakers pushed this. Ergo, men might have hats they didn't wear. Today, someone with a collection of hats may wear one more sparingly, but to not wear one (once again, just my opinion) is like owning fine art and putting it in the closet.

 

[cmoy]

Today's replaceable hat will become someone else's irreplaceable vintage hat.

That said, IMO hat's are to be worn.

Back in what we consider vintage times, hats were put on the shelf based on changing styles. Hatmakers pushed this. Ergo, men might have hats they didn't wear. Today, someone with a collection of hats may wear one more sparingly, but to not wear one (once again, just my opinion) is like owning fine art and putting it in the closet.

I felt the same way till I saw the satain and the sweat band stiffening up. Especially only wearing it for two and a half weeks. I'm afraid by the end of winter the sweat band will be trashed. I'm into vintage watches and wear them all the time so I understand. But I can't get replacement parts for the Whippet like I can for my watches. I'm more affraid with the hat.

BTW Is there a way that I can keep the sweat band soft?

 

[cmoy]

Another option is to find a less than perfect Whippet as a daily hat and save the other for special occassions.

 

[Bigger Don]

BTW Is there a way that I can keep the sweat band soft?

Being a total newby to hats, I'm the wrong one to ask. I know I've read something about some treatments that work. I'm just not as knowledgeable as most. That said, I always found help for my questions in the Ask a question, get an answer thread.

Best of luck. I'm sure that if I saw a hat of mine I cherished moving to a point where I felt it was be damaged I would be concerned, too.

 

[cmoy]

Being a total newby to hats, I'm the wrong one to ask. I know I've read something about some treatments that work. I'm just not as knowledgeable as most. That said, I always found help for my questions in the Ask a question, get an answer thread.

Best of luck. I'm sure that if I saw a hat of mine I cherished moving to a point where I felt it was be damaged I would be concerned, too.

Thanks Bigger Don!

 

[moehawk]

You can try Lexol on the band, but if the leather is compromised with dry rot, it won't help. The sweatband on my Game Bird seemed in wonderful shape, nice and soft and supple until I sweated it up a couple of times, then the part along the forehead got stiff and crumbled like bacon bits. The rest, while not crispy, was about as strong as a paper towel. Lounger Bond makes some nice leather replacement sweatbands, he will even cut them to whatever length and sew the ends together for you if you want. Kinda kills the resale value of a vintage lid, but will give you years more wear, and you may discover you enjoy refurbishing these old gems.
Lets be optimistic for now that leather conditioner is the answer, not sewing in a new sweat.

 

[Bigger Don]

Lounger Bond makes some nice leather replacement sweatbands, he will even cut them to whatever length and sew the ends together for you if you want. Kinda kills the resale value of a vintage lid, but will give you years more wear, and you may discover you enjoy refurbishing these old gems.

.., and that's where we can all diverge...or maybe it's "triverge", go in three different directions. There are those who see preservation as their first priority, either as investment or a sense of responsibility to history. Others, like me, see hats as first and foremost another article of clothing, which is why I'm not a big seeker of hats due to their vintage. (That, I admit, may change over time as I understand more.)

To be certain, I'm not insensitive to those of the other mindsets. About a week ago someone mentioned their (1890s?) top hat's sweat band was falling apart and the hat was being retired. I was interested in what he would do with it next: display, store, donate to museum, restore. I see all those as options depending on each owner's sensibilities.

 

[moontheloon]

Today's replaceable hat will become someone else's irreplaceable vintage hat.

I don't agree with this at all

it is not simply the age of something that makes it desirable ... it is the process used and the materials used to make it ... where it was made and by whom .... in a time when things were frankly made better

that is why anything pretty much from the 1960s to present day is not all that desirable to the serious collector ... to some collectors a product even from the mid to late 50s.... because the process and materials changed due to less demand of a quality product .... that's not going to change

I don't think someones random Campdraft or modern Stetsonian is going to be a sought after irreplaceable item simply because it is old ...

I also collect vintage drums and it is the exact same situation... there are drums from a certain era that are desired because of the materials used and the process of which they were made ... some modern drum companies use the exact machines and process they used in the golden era of drum building but the materials aren't there and there are certain things that just cannot be duplicated because it is just not cost affective and other things that cannot be duplicated simply because they cannot be ... impossible

there is a lot more than nostalgia and age that goes into making something "irreplaceable" or "vintage"

In my opinion the only modern hats with a chance to be "irreplaceable" would be a custom hat built by a hatter who left his mark as a respected expert in their field

the modern Stetsonian is a fine hat ... an extremely wearable hat ... I love mine... but it is a 2016 Toyota Camry ... if you dig what I'm saying

for the record I drive a Camry ... great car

 

[Redfokker]

+1

 

[johnnycanuck]

I would wear it and look for a hatter to service your hat when it needs it. The sweat band may and will eventually wear out. Same with the liner. At that time send it to a reputable hatter to get a new one put in.
My two cents anyway.
Johnny

 

[Bigger Don]

I don't agree with this at all

it is not simply the age of something that makes it desirable ... it is the process used and the materials used to make it ... where it was made and by whom .... in a time when things were frankly made better

that is why anything pretty much from the 1960s to present day is not all that desirable to the serious collector ... to some collectors a product even from the mid to late 50s.... because the process and materials changed due to less demand of a quality product .... that's not going to change

I don't think someones random Campdraft or modern Stetsonian is going to be a sought after irreplaceable item simply because it is old ...

I also collect vintage drums and it is the exact same situation... there are drums from a certain era that are desired because of the materials used and the process of which they were made ... some modern drum companies use the exact machines and process they used in the golden era of drum building but the materials aren't there and there are certain things that just cannot be duplicated because it is just not cost affective and other things that cannot be duplicated simply because they cannot be ... impossible

there is a lot more than nostalgia and age that goes into making something "irreplaceable" or "vintage"

In my opinion the only modern hats with a chance to be "irreplaceable" would be a custom hat built by a hatter who left his mark as a respected expert in their field

the modern Stetsonian is a fine hat ... an extremely wearable hat ... I love mine... but it is a 2016 Toyota Camry ... if you dig what I'm saying

for the record I drive a Camry ... great car

I think I understand what you are saying, and appreciate the time and effort to post this. I respet your opinion on this forum.

Let me add a few things regarding from where my opinion comes.

First, we cannot predict that future collectors will have the same standards we do now. Assuming more collectors would mean greater demand. Greater demand can widen standards. Today's vintage hats would be in greater demand and those from later periods would be brought in to help fill that demand.

Second, assuming changing styles over time, the collectors of the future may look to today's hats as something that cannot be replaced.

As a kid I collected coins. It was in the 60's, when silver dimes and quarters were much more in circulation than today. Therefore a 1945 dime might be considered more replaceable than today, although I can go to most coin dealers and find them, but not a 1909 S VDB penny, my Holy Grail of those times. Replaceability of something no longer produced is a product of availability as well as demand.

Is a modern hat replaceable? I'll say that depends.

A modern bespoke can be replaced if the buyer is on good terms with the hat maker. For example, if I, somehow, put myself on the bottom of Gus Miller's customer list and the hat he made for me were destroyed in some way, he probably wouldn't find time to make a replacement. OTOH, since we're on good terms, I might be able to replace it. That will all change sometime in the future. Mr Miller is 84 years old. Some day the hat will be irreplaceable because he won't be making any hats. I might be able to get another hatter to create a replica, but it would not be a Gus Miller, no matter the quality and workmanship.

A 2016 production hat is replaceable, assuming affordability from the buyer's viewpoint. A hat that was an "extravagant" gift or purchase may not be replaceable from an emotional or financial standpoint.

OTOH, one may find duplicate hats from the golden era, same company, color, size, style, etc. Ergo, the Dobbs from the 50s may be deemed replaceable.

That doesn't make the 2016 production vintage now, it just shows the standard of replaceability has its limits.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Wondering if my recent production Stetsonian would have any desired collectibility eighty plus years from now...?