The modern cowboy hat

[suitedcboy]

I have several fedoras and wear them on occasion but western felts are my favorite and are worn daily, even most summer days even if only during the evening or morning.
I see posts here and I think most of us find a shape and style we like and most of our hats end up in that shape and our new acquisitions are that style and will be shaped into "your" shape.
Cowboy hats are that way too. My hats all have cattleman crease as a basis. I like the brim in a certain shape with a bit of roll up front. Many have cutter's dents in the two flanking bashes in crown. I prefer a crown height of a little more than 4 inches and 4 inch or 4 inch plus brim width.
I'm not sure where or why the cattleman's crease became my shape but when I try anything else it doesn't look right or looks "costumey" to me.
For someone who wears western hats, I can see loads of variation in cattleman's creases. I guess it may look boring but I have over 3 dozen part beaver to all beaver to beaver plus chinchilla or beaver plus mink hats and they all have "my" shapes to them and I don't find them boring.
I don't find the classic whippet with a C crown or one of its variation into diamonds or 5 or 6 sided to be boring. I don't find Homburg classic creasing to be boring either.

 

[Undertow]

I know I've been waiting to get my hands on a felt cowboy hat - just a matter of time. I'll be going for something a little more distinct, or at least something I can steam into different shapes.

I currently wear a straw with generic crease. I love it, and it's great for sunny Iowa summers.

 

[donnc]

Cowboy hats are that way too. My hats all have cattleman crease as a basis. I like the brim in a certain shape with a bit of roll up front. Many have cutter's dents in the two flanking bashes in crown. I prefer a crown height of a little more than 4 inches and 4 inch or 4 inch plus brim width.

Cutter's dents - like this?

 

[suitedcboy]

yes, that's it.
cutter's pulled their hats down to keep 'em on during a ride and the dents would end up there. Someone decided it needed to be creased there to start with.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

I was in Shepler's tonight, buying a rain cover for hats to keep in the car. Shepler's has say 250 hats on display. They are different colors, some felt, some straw, but they're all the SAME SHAPE, and all with the same crease. God that's BORING.

I have an old Resistol from 1981, and it isn't that shape.

Later

 

[Lone_Ranger]

Is it me, or is the style just mind numbingly boring?

Historically Cowboy hats had lots of character... look at all those old west pictures. The style carried into the movies with the telescoped crowns and wide bound brims pencil curls and Gus creases and every look under the sun imaginable.

Sign of the times? It used to be you could tell what part of the country a man was from, by the cut of his hat. Everything is homogenized theses days. The regional clothes and accents, are fading into the past. Or maybe it's just that the current cowboy hats look the same, because they are coming from the same few companies that make them?

 

[Erik]

Don't like the generic bash(es)? Modify. Problem, if there ever was one, solved.

And if you think about it, it should not come as a surprise that COWboys (real or cultural) have an affinity for the CATTLEman's crease.

 

[DBLIII]

Just as an FYI, Stetson is making some of the old creases again. Gus, Bat Masterson (basically a tall bowler hat with a wider brim). I don't know how they are selling since out of 100 hats, 99 will have the cattleman's crease, but I like the old creases.

 

[jimmy the lid]

I guess it may look boring but I have over 3 dozen part beaver to all beaver to beaver plus chinchilla or beaver plus mink hats and they all have "my" shapes to them and I don't find them boring.

Have you posted any of these, sutedcboy? Love to see a few...

Cheers,
JtL

 

[shortbow]

Matt, I haven't read this entire thread, but it's certainly not just you. I find the current "cowboy" hat looks like de riguer for Rexall Rangers. They look about as good as the new bull rider's outfit of padded vest and crash helmet. (No slur to bull riders intended)

The ones I like, and the one's I wear are all pre-1920 styles. My favorite is a beat up Boss of the Plains, but I also like Montana Peaks.

 

[vintage68]

I agree about all modern cowboy hats looking the same these days. I have three cowboy hats, all made my Jaxonbilt, and they're all different which is what I love about them. No one would pick one of my hats up "by mistake."

 

[Lone_Ranger]

And if you think about it, it should not come as a surprise that COWboys (real or cultural) have an affinity for the CATTLEman's crease.

Good point!