THE SUNBODY ASSOCIATION

[RBH]

HI RBH- I, too, love the hat in your avatar. Is that the Peter Bros. Milan you are referring to? If so, I can't find it on their site. Does Peter Bros. make it, or is it under one of the other liens they carry? How "tough" is it under summer conditions? (Peter Bros have no search function, unfortunately.........).
Thanks-
js

Thanks.. the hat in my avatar is a Stetson Stratoliner.
The hat in the stream photo is a Peters Brothers straw Indy that I had Joe put a diamond crease in.
You will find the hat at the bottom of the page... the price has gone up also.
http://www.petersbros.com/INDY_CUSTOM/Default.htm

 

[CRH]

It is a straw... its a milan from Peters Brothers in Texas.

:eusa_doh:

Very cool hat!

 

[RBH]

:eusa_doh:

Very cool hat!

Thanks!!!!

 

[gtdean48]

I... except it's very tight on my head. I can push it down to its proper position, but it's a tight squeeze.

I'm a 61 extra-long oval so I usually buy 63's and pad the sides (that's what I did with my two Stylemasters, though my Sydney is a 62). But with this hat, there's very little room on the sides (a little, but not much), so even if I were to soak it and try to reshape it to my head, I have my doubts it would get much more comfortable.

I went with the advice of Scott at Sunbody, who told me a 62 would do, and I'm very disappointed to find it so snug.
...What should I do? Send it back and get a 63? Try soaking it and see if I can get it to fit (the sweat band is much thicker than I imagined, which I guess is part of the problem)? Order a 63 (or even a 64) and sell this one to a Lounger?...

I've got a 62 in shipping but I'm a 61 Long Oval, not extra long. I'll let you know how mine fits. My other palm leafs have a lot of give to them & when wet will form & hold to shape. I think earlier you said you were between 61 & 62, so a 63 makes more sense especially with the XLO thrown in. I'm sure some of these 7 1/2 to 7 5/8 sizes at the Lounge may be interested in it...

 

[mikey517]

My Sunbody arrived and I could not be happier! The fit is just the way I like it, ie a bit looser than snug I'll be wearing this a lot on a sailboat, so I don't mind if it's sitting firmly on my head. I am glad the owner of the store (Blueridge Outfitters, Wharton, NJ) measured me, tried on some Sunbody's she had in stock, then recommended the size 60 (7 1/2).

The brim did not come flat, but with a nice front dip. I plan on soaking it to do some minor re-shaping, but not until the New Jersey weather warms up a bit more. The whole hat appears to be very well made for a straw that cost me $55.00.

If I had to find one thing to improve, it would be the hat "ribbon". The stock "ribbon" is pretty cheap. I'd like to replace it with a regular 1 1/2 inch grosgrain in black.Is there anywhere to purchase pre-made hatband ribbons? I've seen some of the tutorials on replacing ribons, but I'm as handy as a toad, so I'm pretty sure that would be beyond me.

 

[gtdean48]

Came in last night. I soaked it, reshaped the crown for longer side dents then adjusted the brim. I had them cut the brim to 2 3/4" before binding it. Other accessory is thin ribbon matching the edge binding in khaki like Rusty & Phil...

 

[RBH]

Came in last night. I soaked it, reshaped the crown for longer side dents then adjusted the brim. I had them cut the brim to 2 3/4" before binding it. Other accessory is thin ribbon matching the edge binding in khaki like Rusty & Phil...

For some reason I like that hat!!!

Looks good on you!

 

[jpbales]

Looks good!

Came in last night. I soaked it, reshaped the crown for longer side dents then adjusted the brim. I had them cut the brim to 2 3/4" before binding it. Other accessory is thin ribbon matching the edge binding in khaki like Rusty & Phil...

 

[CRH]

...

GT, if you can happily squeeze yourself into a low downed tapered farmers hat like that then maybe you just could fit yourself into a Squatter, which is just a low downed tapered farmer's hat with a fancy ribbon in felt.

 

[gtdean48]

...maybe you just could fit yourself into a Squatter, which is just a low downed tapered farmer's hat with a fancy ribbon in felt.

The Squatter has way too wide a ribbon for me!

 

[Dundee]

Looks sharp.

That is a great looking hat. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[skyvue]

I ended up returning my too-small Sunbody and requesting one two sizes larger with an open 6" crown and a bound brim trimmed to 2 5/8".

My fingers are crossed.

 

[gtdean48]

Mine is the Guatamalan version & it does have a nicer, padded sweatband than any of my Mexican palm leaf versions.
Skyvue, being as you're an Xtra Long Oval where I am just a Long Oval & sounds like you are a shade larger, a 62 is definitely too small for you. It fits me very well.

 

[gtdean48]

I did wear this yesterday mowing the lawn. Had a good sweat going & it did just fine. I do think the ribbon hat band could be done better.

 

[hollowpond]

Ok... I talked enough about it. Now I've finally done it! I got an open crown (5 1/4") oak colored Sunbody. I've had the brim trimmed to 3" and bound with khaki grosgrain, I pencil rolled the brim and bashed the crown fedora style (The top of the crown bash was inspired by RBH's peter bros. fedora. The only bad part of the hat is the ribbon...it pretty much sucks! Oh well, love the hat just got to fix a new band of some sorts.

 

[skyvue]

The only bad part of the hat is the ribbon...it pretty much sucks! Oh well, love the hat just got to fix a new band of some sorts.

I had to return my Sunbody and haven't received the replacement yet, but I too am getting the ribbon and brim binding in khaki.

I considered the possibility of getting the ribbon replaced somewhere, but I wonder: Shouldn't the wide ribbon around the crown and the ribbon used to bind the brim match? If so, that means having both done when I get the ribbon replaced (which could start to get expensive).

Or is it not bad form to have the brim bound in a different color than the crown's ribbon?

 

[Lefty]

A slight difference in tone between brim binding and ribbon makes the hat interesting. Search for JtL's photos of his Lee Trinity. Another possibility is having the the brim binding nearly match the color of the hat, while the ribbon is some other simple color (black or brown). This is pretty common on Whippets, but I can't say that I've seen it on a straw.

Here's BobC's new (wet) Whippet

edit on Jtl - it's an Adam

As with my other two Adams, the edge binding is a slightly different color than the crown ribbon -- the crown ribbon on this one is taupe, and the edge binding is a complementary shade of light brown.

Johnny Phi had a Stetson with a pinkish binding and black ribbon, but this seems tougher to pull-off.

 

[RBH]

Ok... I talked enough about it. Now I've finally done it! I got an open crown (5 1/4") oak colored Sunbody. I've had the brim trimmed to 3" and bound with khaki grosgrain, I pencil rolled the brim and bashed the crown fedora style (The top of the crown bash was inspired by RBH's peter bros. fedora. The only bad part of the hat is the ribbon...it pretty much sucks! Oh well, love the hat just got to fix a new band of some sorts.

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap
You did a great job!
I really like it, the pencil rolled brim is a nice addition!
Hope you enjoy it this summer!

 

[mikey517]

My Sunbody Fine Palm Tear Drop 2 1/2" brim. (I'm not too good at taking hat pics yet) I plan on following everyone's advice and govong the hat a good soaking, tweaking the sahpe somewhat, and wearing it dry. Actualy, it arrived with a pretty good shape on it out of the box...

 

[Chinaski]

Ok... I talked enough about it. Now I've finally done it! I got an open crown (5 1/4") oak colored Sunbody. I've had the brim trimmed to 3" and bound with khaki grosgrain, I pencil rolled the brim and bashed the crown fedora style (The top of the crown bash was inspired by RBH's peter bros. fedora. The only bad part of the hat is the ribbon...it pretty much sucks! Oh well, love the hat just got to fix a new band of some sorts.

HP - I think you did a great job! Looks like a perfect summer beat-around hat. You also inspired me. I found an old palm cowboy hat I got in Mexico seven or eight years ago up in the closet. It had a glued cattleman's crease and a cheap plastic hatband treatment. It was maybe a $5 hat. I soaked it in water and put a teardrop bash in it, and then gave the brim a nice Hollowpond pencil roll - it came out great! I put a nice camel colored ribbon on it and finished it off by hot gluing a one guilder coin from the Netherlands on the side of the ribbon. Thanks for the inspiration, and if I get around to it I'll post pics.