The perfect hat

[VetPsychWars]

Or, instead of a custom right away, you can get a Borsalino from Bencraft. Perhaps one of these:

http://www.bencrafthats.com/product.php?pid=1042&subcname=Borsalino

I don't know if the custom makers will allow you to return a hat if you don't like it, but with this Borsalino, you probably could.

Tom

 

[BR Gordon]

Hello everyone,

I am pretty new to this site but it seems like the perfect place to continue my search for my dream hat. I have been on a mission for the last 6 years, since I started wearing hats again, to invest in my perfect hat.

The only perfect hat that I know of is the next one that I'm going to order.

 

[John in Covina]

You can search for a hat with the right crown height and color but a bigger brim and have it cut down to size.
You can search EBAYfor something vintage.

Best bet win the lotto and have it made.:eusa_clap

 

[zetwal]

Welcome, and good luck in your search ... :yo:

 

[jlee562]

Well, how expensive is expensive to you?

The aforementioned Parker of Falcon Park Hattery has rabbit felt custom hats starting at $150, which is a pretty darn good deal. I can't personally vouch for his work, but many members here have gotten some awfully nice looking lids.

Art Fawcett is another good choice and he has $50 off his hat orders for Fedora Lounge members this month.

My personal choice for custom hats has come to be Mr. Bob Jessee of Black Sheep Hat Works, whose custom rabbit hats start at $195, and beaver felt at $285. He has some vintage block shapes, and will hand dye different felt and ribbon colors. He made the hat in my avatar picture.

Other custom hat makers to check out include Optimo hats, who is at the top of the scale with regards to price, but also have top notch quality. Penman Hats, Buckaroo Hatters, Tumwater Hats, and I'm sure I've left a few off....

 

[the dude79]

:yo:Hey thank you gentlemen for the advice and help! You have definitely given me some ideas of where to look. I think I'm going to like it here! *Tipping my hat you all* http://www.thefedoralounge.com/images/smilies/yo.gif

 

[memphislawyer]

What attributes does your ideal hat have?

Some of you men have had custom hats done. Some prefer wider brims, others prefer a more western approach.

So in deciding what to have done, what attributes do it for you as far as YOUR ULTIMATE hat?

For me, I think a fedora, not something with a tall crown, but something out of the film noir movies, though not necessarily a 30's hat or a 50's hat. Something between a 1 7/8ths to maybe 2 1/4?

Not a thin ribbon, but ideally, maybe a bit less than 2 inches.

Now in seeing some hats, I see that they have under the brim stiching with cloth downturned (I think that is underwelting?) and then some with it over, and then some have either a matching or contrasting ribbon stiched on the edge.

I have heard of long hair, and then the beaver vs. hare vs. mixed felts.

So how did you decide and what hat floated your boat?

 

[Duper]

I prefer the thin ribbon hats myself. Or a thin band of some sort. Nothing more than a inch wide. Brim needs to be 2 1/2" minimum. Modern suits me fine, so a CD fits the bill, but there are tempting customs out there to be had.

 

[m0nk]

Personally, the only way for one to know what they like is to try a couple of different styles. I thought I liked stingy brims and raw brims when I started wearing hats, I've also tried wider brims with binding and welted edges. After some work, I found the ideal dimensions, but things like under vs overwelt, ribbon binding, etc, is fairly up in the air for me; I have one of each because I like them all.

 

[gtdean48]

This statement makes no sense to me = you are talking about brim width maybe?
"For me, I think a fedora, not something with a tall crown, but something out of the film noir movies, though not necessarily a 30's hat or a 50's hat. Something between a 1 7/8ths to maybe 2 1/4?"

I prefer a brim of 2 5/8 to 2 3/4 inch width.
I prefer mid to thin ribbon width on the hat band.
I prefer 5 3/4" open crown & absolutely nothing under 5 1/2"
I prefer a 4 ligne ribbon bound edge. I do have a few raw edge & 1 underwelt.
My ultimate hat is a Stetson Wanderer & I have custom hats to replicate that style.
My next favorite style is the vintage Open Road which Akubra replicates in the Campdraft model.

 

[hatophile]

I have several ideas for a custom, since I like different styles for different purposes. I have an old mothy Strat
I am sending Art Fawcett to recreate because I like the color combo and crown/brim size. It is a medium gray hat with a cream colored thin ribbon band and edge binding. Crown height about 5 1/2 and brim will be about 2 5/8 or so.

I also would like a very light gray styled close to a Fed IV (without the dimensional brim) with a raw edge and a medium gray ribbon band. This one is for next year most likely.

 

[lewisskimonster]

I have to agree with Monk. There are so many options for hats. That in itself is a good reason to have a few hats for whatever you are feeling on a given day! Similar to leather jackets. Its hard to have just one.

 

[jlee562]

I like to wear a variety of brim and crown heights depending on my mood, or the weather, or my outfit.

Stingies for me are a more casual look, with the exception of my Optimo Dillinger.

The widest brim I have is 2 7/8". The tallest crown I have is 5 3/4 (open crown height), and that one is really on the edge of how high a hat I can wear. 5 1/4"-5 1/2" seems to be good, and for a non-stingy, a brim between 2 1/4"-2 7/8"

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Westerns with 4" brim. Never tried a 5" brim hat... westerns are not common here (no western stores as in the US) so cannot try one without buying one.
It's the same about quality. I'd love to see a Nutria and a 100% beavers to feel how much different it is from 20x Black Gold Resistol I own... but they are very very far away...

 

[nice hat dude!]

Here's a quote from a little book called "A Cowboys Guide To Life" I'm sure it's only in relation to western hats.
"Wear a hat with a brim wide enough to block the sun and rain,fan a campfire,dip water and whip a fightin cow in the face"

 

[Banky]

Hey guys, this is a train of thought that I've been mulling over for the last couple weeks and I'm curious if any of you guys think the same or not. It may be somewhat disjointed as I'm having trouble kind of arranging what I mean to say. As long as I've been collecting hats, I've always been after "The hat" for me. I live in an apartment so I don't have a great deal of space for storing hats (I also live with my lady who doesn't want to allocate much space to storing hats). Working in a hat shop I've had access to and own a decent number of great lids, be they vintage, modern, hats we make, etc. But at the end of the day, I only have one head and can only wear a single hat at a time. Recently, I purchased a Banjo Paterson, since receiving it I have worn nothing else. Everything about the hat works for me and I've received more compliments on it and more comments like "you look better in that hat than any of the others I've seen you wear" I've began to wonder if perhaps I've found the hat that ends my search for "the one". I've also historically tended not to do much variety when wearing hats, I wear one for a week or two, find a new one and then that gets worn, I know a lot of you guys change hats from day to day. So I guess the question here is, do you collect hats for the sake of collecting hats or do you collect them in an effort to find that "one hat" that works for you?

 

[mayserwegener]

I am both a wearer and collector. I like variety so I couldn't just wear one style or model. At this point I am only adding hats that really draw my attention.

 

[bowlerman]

Yes.

I change my mood, attire, head hair and facial hair regularly (some would call that a sign of instability) and what works with one combo I can't stand with another, so I enjoy the variety. For me it's definitely aesthetic versus practical. I'm influenced more by actors and musicians than well-put-together gentlemen dressed to the nines, but I certainly appreciate that from afar as well-- just doesn't work for me.

There is always the search for the perfect hat, but I'm coming to the realization that I change my appearance too often to settle. On a related note, it's fun to go back and check the "Holy Grail" thread and see if people's goals are still the same.

I like that BP, but also really dig that Lawless repro you have!

 

[Lotsahats]

So far, I'm a wearer rather than a collector: I only keep hats that I can and do wear, and the rest I sell. The perfect hat depends on my mood and what I'm wearing, but I'm partial to wider brims, often with edge ribbons and wide, contrasting ribbons.

A

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

I'm a collector and wearer. There is no one single hat that is "the one", but then again I'm a woman and there is much more variations in hat styles from decade to decade than there is for men. One day I may feel like wearing a 40s tilt hat, the next day I may feel like wearing a 30s slouch hat. Then the next day it will be a 20s cloche. So many styles, colors and shapes to choose from that it would be hard to pin it down to just one. The closest thing for me is to say that if there is one era that I feel says "me" it would be the early 1930s short brimmed cloche hat that sits cocked to the side.