Tilley Fedora

[Spellflower]

All the talk about Tilleys got me wondering what the heck they looked like, so I checked out their site, and found that they are indeed as ugly as everyone says. Except the "Tilley Fedora," which, while it's by no means handsome, stands out like a mouse among toads.



The description makes it sound like this is the ultimate fedora, which I'm sure Mr. Tilley believes.

I'm especially impressed to learn that this hat was made by "the age-old tradition of blocking hats using presses and molds and shaping material using heat and steam."

Heat AND steam? And a feather in the secret pocket too?!? This is one heckuva lid!

Seriously, though, does anyone know what this hat is like? It's got a better guarantee than just about anything not made by L.L. Bean, but I have trouble believing that the quality of any mass-market hat made in the U.S. for $130 is all that great.

 

[Rick Blaine]

Yeah, I would be very interested to know where exactly Tilley farms these out. Does anyone know what manufacturer makes these f/ Tilley?
Tho' I do agree w/ ya' Spell', they are likely as good or better than what Hatco offers us these days.

 

[Mustang]

The Secret Pocket

From the Tilley website:

SECRET POCKET:
Inside the crown is a good-sized pocket sealed with Velcro®. In it, carry your I.D., hotel key, $10 bill (in your case, a 20), plus a quarter for an emergency phone call.

Since it's also (like the other Tilley hats) insured against loss, I wonder what the reimbursement would be when it blows off your head and into the ocean or a ravine with all those other things in their as well. [huh] lol

It would be bad enough just to lose a hat, let alone your ID, hotel key, $20 bill,...and a quarter. However, since pay phones have more or less been replaced by cell phones, you would stash your cell phone (in lieu of the quarter) in the "Secret Pocket"! :eusa_doh: lol

 

[Aaron Hats]

...but I have trouble believing that the quality of any mass-market hat made in the U.S. for $130 is all that great.

With the lifetime guarantee who cares. If it wears out you get a new one free of charge.

I wonder what the reimbursement would be when it blows off your head and into the ocean or a ravine

If it's lost or stolen in the first two years you'll get a 50% refund.

Personally, I would buy anything with the Tilley name on it knowing how well they stand behind their products.

Aaron

 

[Mustang]

If it's lost or stolen in the first two years you'll get a 50% refund.

Personally, I would buy anything with the Tilley name on it knowing how well they stand behind their products.

Aaron

I agree with you: They stand behind their products very well. I love my T3's, and may, even buy one of their fedoras too.

My sarcasm was directed toward their recommendation of putting all those things in the "Secret Pocket".

 

[SMCK]

Tilly hat

I bought one of these when they came out. Its certainly a well made robust hat, however it does not have a lot of character. It is designed to sit higher on the head than I like and I keep thinking that its going to blow off. It has a pull down earflap thing which does work but probally looks a bit odd, when down the hat is really one size larger.The crown is smaller than I have got used to.Im sure its perfect for someone, just not me.

 

[tandmark]

Mornin' all,

I special-ordered the black fedora direct from Tilley Endurables in Canada a few months ago. It's not the most stylish fur felt hat out there, but it's not the ugliest one either. It might be more stylish if the brim would snap up in the back, but your mileage might vary on that score.

The sizing is indeed non-standard. My head measures around 61cm, but instead of a 7 5/8, my "Tilley size" is 7 3/4 according to the online size chart, and a full 7 7/8 according to what looked best when I tried one of the hats on, a month or so before ordering one.

The guarantee is nice, but it wasn't part of the decision-making process behind getting the hat.

The secret pocket is small. Good for keeping a spare doorkey, perhaps a little cheat-sheet with (disguised, please!) phone numbers and passwords you might need when travelling far from home, etc., maybe a second ATM card.

The earflaps are certainly unusual. They're good to have on windy and/or cold days.

It'd be a more useful hat if it had a wind trolley or one of the head-snuggers Tilley puts on its cloth boonie hats. Mine flew about 75 yards in the general direction of an airport runway a few weeks ago, when a sudden gust of wind came through the Boeing site where I work.

In general, it's a hat I often grab for days when cold rain is expected, or snow.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[mtechthang]

That they do!!

If it's lost or stolen in the first two years you'll get a 50% refund.

Personally, I would buy anything with the Tilley name on it knowing how well they stand behind their products.

Aaron

Aaron- I couldn't agree more! :eusa_clap They have a great customer service model that lots could emulate but what's interesting is they've always been that way, to my knowledge. As another who has dealt with skin related complications, I have to wear a hat to work in the sun. I live in the desert and though their hats are ugly relative to our beloved Fedora they are highly functional and truly do stand up to a lot of abuse! Still calling them hats, hmmmm. How about head coverings? [huh]

Since the dust around here is part silica and part ash, the hats I love can stay home and be fresh and happy after a day of us trapesing around in the wilderness or sweaty yard work. I'm not interested in their Fedora. The idea of a *traveling hat* has been executed by any number of fine hat makers including Akubra. Maybe with practice they'll finally get it right - but I don't think so.

Oh. I did think of something re the thing blowing off with the flaps down, as it were. Could you put your cell phone in the pocket. Maybe that'd weight it down sufficiently.

 

[NonEntity]

The Tilley fedora came up on another thread a month or so back when a good many folks weighed in. Pretty much the same verdict as here: they appear to be fairly well made even if the styling is a tad off the mark.

One thing remains unanswered, though: Tilley outsources some manufacturer to make its fedora, but who?

 

[Jerekson]

I just do not understand this fascination with Tilley.

 

[carldelo]

Amen

I just do not understand this fascination with Tilley.

I'm with you Jerekson --- for a rough-wear hat, you'd be better off buying just about anything by Akubra or maybe a Borsalino Traveler, Nomad or Country Fedora, all of which possess truckloads of style compared to that Tilley toadstool.

 

[Aaron Hats]

I'm with you Jerekson --- for a rough-wear hat, you'd be better off buying just about anything by Akubra or maybe a Borsalino Traveler, Nomad or Country Fedora, all of which possess truckloads of style compared to that Tilley toadstool.

Personally, I'm glad we're not all wearing the same style and color hat. If we were it would look like a uniform. Variety is the style of life.

Aaron

 

[carldelo]

Fair enough

Personally, I'm glad we're not all wearing the same style and color hat. If we were it would look like a uniform. Variety is the style of life.

Aaron

Aaron, you're right, of course - Tilleys just give me a real droopy geezer vibe - nobody's asking me to wear one, etc. - my apologies...

 

[Aaron Hats]

Carldelo, No need to apologize. We all just need to remember that some folks prefer a style other than an ebay fedora from the 1940's. The people that buy a Tilley fedora, a Bailey wool crushable fedora or a modern Stetson buy it because they like the style and they like the way it looks on them.

Cheers,

Aaron

 

[Simon82]

Some like both!

You can't get any classier than a VS fedora from Art Fawcett, and I love mine. But I also own three Tilleys -- including the safari-esque T-10, which is my hat most of the summer; it's ventilated to keep me cool, won't wilt in rain (my Resistol straw would turn to mush) and I think it actually has some style all its own.

From what I've seen, Aaron's store straddles the line between modern and classic pretty well -- something that benefits everyone, as the more hats we see, all the more hats we'll see later.