Bob Roberts
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 11,201
- Location
- milford ct
Thx for the update. No Stetsonians...?Well, just got back from the outlet. Made a stop there prior to getting over to Ft. Worth to my hotel. Unlike WHW, I had some luck. This was my second trip; last year I was a bit overwhelmed and, since they had stacks of discount hats I walked out with several. This year I am much pickier. If I couldn't find something of Royal Deluxe Quality, preferably open crown, I wasn't going to bite. And of course I was hoping for a Strat. They had some Strats in my size but, alas, none of the higher, open crown quality. For those of you big-headed guys, there were a few in 7 1/2 and 7 5/8, but no 7 1/4. What I found were two Racines and an Absinthe. The Absinthe was pretty nice looking, and I liked the Sage color, but it was not up to par and was obvious why it was in the outlet. The thing that killed it for me was a lower quality sweatband than the sheepskin. There was one other, that was marked as a prototype, but it was a mess. The sweat said Excellent, the liner said Royal, and the felt wasn't as nice as the newer open crowns.
To make a long story short, here is a pic of my Racine - looks just like Javadave's!
View attachment 42974
The felt quality is on par with my new Stetsonian, and is very soft. I gave it a good once-over and didn't see too much off about it. The felt is consistent, the sweat's nice, I'm sure I'll find something eventually. But for $129, I'm happy. Most nicer quality hats were in the $129 range. I saw some Dobbs in the $75 - $100, and a few Knox, marked for Levine Hat Company. As previously noted (I think by Javadave), the felt on these are nice, but the sweatbands are awful. I think they were going for $50-$60.
I had it shipped home, so it should arrive about the same time I get back on Friday.