The Open Road Guild

[M Hatman]

This ad with a thin ribbon OR is 1948.....

This hat is from a 1937 Stockman-Farmer.....note the model "Kingsway" has a 5 1/2 inch crown with narrow ribbon and windcord as well as 2 1/2 inch narrow bound brim.

and here is an image for an early 20's booklet "Stetson Staple Shapes"......the Kingston.

M

 

[PostDriver]

A question on the older Open Roads and like hats. If a hat is stored in its original box, not in temp/humi control or anything like that, but not worn much, will it shrink up an 1/8 size or more in, say, 60 years??

 

[Tukwila]

Maybe.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

4X with a 2-3/4" brim.

 

[M Hatman]

In the Spring of 1950.....the Stetson Open Road was a hat anybody would be proud to wear...East or West......

By October of 1960 (a litte over 10 years later) the OR has become THE "Hat of the West" AND Stetson's all time best selling western. Yes, quite a versatile and remarkable hat!!

One of my favorite styles (but usually not with the now called ""cattleman" crease). I generally like to wear mine as a snap brim fedora with many differant creases including a hand done "telescope" crease.
AND we see many great examples right here on this thread AS WELL as in the Open Road Clone thread (where we see the copy cat hats the "others" made)! Yes, it was and is still now a very popular style!
M

 

[Rmccamey]

Thanks for sharing. I love my OR's but I, too, most often put them in a fedora crease and move the side dents up and forward. The low crown and side dents on the typical cattleman's crease tend to rub the top of my head otherwise.

In the Spring of 1950.....the Stetson Open Road was a hat anybody would be proud to wear...East or West...... View attachment 158095
By October of 1960 (a litte over 10 years later) the OR has become THE "Hat of the West" AND Stetson's all time best selling western. Yes, quite a versatile and remarkable hat!! View attachment 158096 One of my favorite styles (but usually not with the now called ""cattleman" crease). I gennerally like to wear mine as a snap brim fedora with many differant creases including a hand done "telescope" crease.
AND we see many great examples right here on this thread AS WELL as in the Open Road Clone thread (where we see the copy cat hats the "others" made)! Yes, it was and is still now a very popular style!
M

 

[tsores]

Thanks for sharing. I love my OR's but I, too, most often put them in a fedora crease and move the side dents up and forward. The low crown and side dents on the typical cattleman's crease tend to rub the top of my head otherwise.

View attachment 158098

Your hat seems to have a minimal brim flange compared to others I have seen and that I prefer. Is this true or just looking that way in the photo? How do you get it that way? Which ones come like that?

 

[DaveProc]

Wore the Open Road today to shovel snow. It had been put away for quite a while. No idea why I took it out of the rotation!

 

[Tukwila]

Wore the Open Road today to shovel snow. It had been put away for quite a while. No idea why I took it out of the rotation! View attachment 158249 View attachment 158250 View attachment 158251 View attachment 158252

That's a great looking OR, Dave!

 

[DaveProc]

That's a great looking OR, Dave!

Thank you!

 

[Rmccamey]

Some is the camera angle and some is that I don't play with the brims much. I tend to like the gentle fedora brim curls rather then perfectly flat or very curved on the front and back (ie, the gangster look). I usually steam the back brim and run my palm along the underside to lift the brim up slightly. I don't hold or force the brim up into a heavy curl unless it just wants to stay flat. Same with the front. I usually snap the front brim down, smooth it, give it some steam and let it "set". Basically I just let the brims find their natural stance. On this OR, the brim is probably up 3/4 inch in the back and down 3/4 inch in the front. My sweet spot for brims these days is 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 and the shorter brims, I think, tend to stay flatter. I have a couple of Stratoliners of similar vintage to this OR and they all seem to mold into almost identical hats.

Royal Deluxe OR.


Stratoliner. Can you tell any difference???

Your hat seems to have a minimal brim flange compared to others I have seen and that I prefer. Is this true or just looking that way in the photo? How do you get it that way? Which ones come like that?

 

[Rmccamey]

Question: Is the modern Hemp OR fairly easy to reshape into a teardrop fedora crease or is it more like the modern felt OR, pressed into shape and hard as a rock?

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Question: Is the modern Hemp OR fairly easy to reshape into a teardrop fedora crease or is it more like the modern felt OR, pressed into shape and hard as a rock?

I have one in natural but I can't answer, I haven't tried to reshape it other than I ironed the side roll down some. Just from handling I will say it is not as stiff as the hemp Strat.

Rogera has one also but I don't recall if he reshaped it or not.

 

[MC]

General question on footwear choices with the Open Road by Stetson. Clearly cowboy boots are the norm, but what else do people wear with theirs? Other types of boots? Work boots? Dress boots? Due to the old advertising, dress shoes? Converse sneakers? Other sneakers? Very interested in the pairings to dress up or down this legendary hat.

Love this question because I get asked about it all the time in person, "Can you do that?" "Is that and that hat...ok..?" haha. Anyway, yea, you can pair with almost all footwear. I pair it with jeans and brown Red Wings, Black Moc Red Wings, tennis shoes (usually black/white converse or fairly plain Nikes, and finally I go with my Lucchese Jonah's- though I try to say away from doing the total cowboy thing. The Open Road is my go-to favorite because it goes with just about anything, and makes just about anything look friggin cool.

 

[jonbuilder]

Royal stetson size 7 picked up in Florence Oregon in unworn condition for $20 plus resizing cost from Art

 

[jonbuilder]

Stetson twenty five 7 1/8 LO

 

[Rmccamey]

Very nice. I have it's twin in Art's refurb queue as we speak!

Stetson twenty five 7 1/8 LO View attachment 160265 View attachment 160266 View attachment 160267 View attachment 160268 View attachment 160269

 

[M Hatman]

An 80's Open Road "antique mall" find....a tragic story......
Ok.....I am wondering through a mall and then I spot it.......what appears to be a large felt OR........I approach with caution.....Then......with trepidation as it looks "funny" and indeed it is......the felt looks off.....feels off......it is indeed a Stetson OR.....but from their "bad" time......it had the crappy painted or coated fake leather sweat (remember the "leather shortage" of the early 80's). It was black and marked "Royal Stetson Open Road"....it had one of those generic Stetson liners of the time.....and the felt, well........the felt looked and had the feel of well....the mange!
I have read where some here say that the current line of Stetson Royal felt has a good deal of dryer lint.......I would say the version on this hat was a good deal worse.......I strongly feel that there were MANY naked rats and mice running around the factory during this time........their hair being scraped off and put to use..
It was in a 7 5/8 lo and seemed larger.......that was the only good thing. The asking price was $85.....which well.......I would not take for free let alone pay that!!
I did not take a picture, though perhaps I should have, just to document the mess.
Not really dirty or abused too much, but still, I had to go wash my hands after I put it down.....
M
PS It was probebly a good thing pictures do not exist.....it saves your eyes from looking at the horror! And well in all honesty, IF it were offered to me free.....I probebly would take it......if for nothing else, to give it a good burial in the back yard.....after I tried unsuccessfully to resurrect it.
M

 

[M Hatman]

And then there is this.....a short brimmed OR for the "city"! Interestingly this was run in 1964 AND again in 1970.......
M

 

[MC]

And then there is this.....a short brimmed OR for the "city"! Interestingly this was run in 1964 AND again in 1970.......
M
View attachment 161577 View attachment 161578

Gross.


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