I found this moth-eaten and very dirty white long-hair hat with a faded violet/purple ribbon in a Los Angeles antique store last year and brought it home for a few bucks.
I dyed the ribbon in black and washed and cleaned it up a bit - here is the result:
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Hello my Cowboy Hat Friends.... I have some Stetson and Wrangler Cowboy hats, asd a couple of Stetson Australians in forest green and Tan (more like a camel tone) BUT I am falling in love with the Akubras, I already have a Slouch hat, IF YOU WERE TO BUY YOUR FIRST AKUBRA Cowboy or Australian style hat WHAT WILL YOU BUY??? Why?
I have in mind the Snowy River or Cattleman but haven´t made up my mind.
Any Input will be highly appreciated !
I can give you my opinion on both as I own both.
Cattleman:
Flat brim for maximum sun protection.
Eyelets in crown for air ventilation.
Taller and fuller crown. (helps with the ventilation)
Snowyriver
Curved brim to give it more style. (but still wide enough for good sun protection)
No eyelets so it does keep you warmer in cool weather.
Shorter and slightly tapered crown.
Both are great hats. I find for a basic practical hat for summer vacations I go for my Cattleman. For a stylish year round hat I would prefer the Snowriver.
My two cents worth.
Johnny
Hello my Cowboy Hat Friends.... I have some Stetson and Wrangler Cowboy hats, asd a couple of Stetson Australians in forest green and Tan (more like a camel tone) BUT I am falling in love with the Akubras, I already have a Slouch hat, IF YOU WERE TO BUY YOUR FIRST AKUBRA Cowboy or Australian style hat WHAT WILL YOU BUY??? Why?
I have in mind the Snowy River or Cattleman but haven´t made up my mind.
Any Input will be highly appreciated !
Hi, Chamuco --
I have 10 Akubra westerns. I thought about the Snowy River, but it has a pretty low crown, which seemed like it might rest on the top of my head. So I went for some taller crown styles, which also have slightly wider brims. Depends on your tastes.
The Bobby is a great hat with a 3.6" brim. The crown is softly shaped, not quite a cattleman block but close. However, it's easy enough to coax either crown or brim into shapes more to your liking with a little tea-kettle steam or just spraying it with distilled water. (Lots of us here can tell you more about how to do that. All of my hats I've reshaped myself, and it's fun. Plus you get a "custom" hat when you're done. But not everyone wants to go to the trouble.)
I have 3 Rough Riders (3.8" brim, which I cut to about 3.5") in loden (dark brown), light sand (very light but not quite white) and black. I love all 3 colors and wear them pretty much any time. I just brush them to keep them clean, but then I don't tend to engage in activities which would get them very dirty.
Everything Australian (http://www.everythingaustralian.com.au) is a great place to order Akubras. Really good prices, reasonable shipping, excellent customer service from Sam Menche.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Here are some of my Akubra westerns in various styles:
Chamuco. Good choice and what a great question. I have can make a comment on the colours I have.
Santone Fawn: Great classic Akubra colour. I have had this hat for ages. Daily wear for over two years then casual wear. Colour goes with just about anything. Dust and dirt doesn't show up on it. I have sweat threw the thing more than a few times mowing lawns and it shows no sign of visible sweat stains. Classic Akubra hat in a classic colour.
Black: Second most common colour. Replaced my Santone for a daily wear hat for about three years. Colour goes with anything as well. Dust and dirt shows up on this hat like a neon sign. If you like that look its fine but all it takes is a light brushing and its back to looking new. I have sweat threw this one as well and no sweat stain either. Only added comment I will make is it does get hot in the sun wearing a black hat. May or may not be an issue depending on how you handle heat.
Sand: Nice looking Colour. Very rarely worn. Two reasons 1. I got it at a time I was buying a lot of hats. 2. It gets dirty very easily. If you like a beaten up worn look this is a hat for you. If you like your hats looking clean and new this is not a hat for you unless you are planning on babying it. Dry cleaning pad wold be recommended. finger prints show up on this hat when you are doing yardwork.
Rodeo Red: Love this colour on women. Bought it for my wife, she never wears it so my little girls wear it. Fantastic primary red. Rarely do photo's get the colour right, ends up looking pink.
Nothing really to say from personal experience about the other colours but the grey does look fantastic. I have grey hats that are not Akubra and they get a lot of use.
One more thing I should say. If you are leaning towards a black hat the new "Croc" model looks like a Snowyriver with a crocodile band with teeth. Little more expensive but looks bad ass as well.
Hope that helps some.
Johnny
Thanks a lot !!!
Great answer, I will have to rethink a little bit on the kind of hat That I want.....
I just ordered a Safari and a Steel Grey Squatter from Sam, Also have ordered and will be soon delivered a Adventurer and a Campdraft in bluegrass green.
I checked pics and loved the sand in those hats, I already have a very light pearl stetson, a black stetson and a Regency Fawn Mexican Tardan cowboy hats.
Love the clear one but it is hard to keep it clean.
I will take my time to order this one...
Now I have more to think about !!!
Kind regards.
You're welcome.
I like to replace the bands on all of my hats. I usually have something in mind when I order one. Some of them (like the 3-color horsehair on the brown one and the tooled leather band on the last hat) I buy pre-made. Others I make myself.
I find changing the band or ribbon is an easy way to make the hat distinctive. The silver one was a brown tooled-leather band from a local western-wear shop; I use shoe-color spray-paint to make it silver (replicating a specific hat).
Sounds like you're building a nicely varied collection. Whatever you get, I'm sure you'll enjoy wearing it!
Welcome to the biggest problem in hat wearingI am building a nice assorted collection of hats and I love to wear them, the only bad thing is that there is always another great looking hat that you want to have!
Nice Akubra collection!I have 10 Akubra westerns. I thought about the Snowy River, but it has a pretty low crown, which seemed like it might rest on the top of my head. So I went for some taller crown styles, which also have slightly wider brims. Depends on your tastes.