It's barely been online a full day it's already received a bucketload of compliments from across the board, of which I am most assuredly humbled by.
I think perhaps, I should relate the full story behind this hat:
I went to Melbourne's well-known hat-shop, "City Hatters", last week. Summer was well and truly on the way here in Australia and all my hats (thusfar) were heavier, thicker rabbit & beaver-felt trilbies and homburgs. While perfect in windy or cold weather, they're thoroughly unsuitable (and incredibly uncomfortable) in a sweltering Australian summer sun. After discovering the "Boater Faction" thread on this board a few weeks ago, I decided that perhaps I should look into purchasing one of these classic men's summer hats for myself. So off to City Hatters I went to see what they had.
While I was at the shop, I happily discovered that they sold boaters (a fact not mentioned on their website). I tried a few on, but the prices scared me so much that I kinda skidaddled out of there pretty sharpish.
But then today I went back. "Just have a look", I told myself. By luck, the same lady from last week was there, and she recognised me the moment I came in. I tried on a number of boaters of different sizes, trying to find one that fit me just right. Was a bit harder than I expected, but I finally found one that fit nice and comfy. It was a full $25 cheaper than the first one I saw and after a bit of thinking, I decided I should buy it. So much for 'just looking'! But I'm happy with my purchase.
I asked the lady (her name's Jennifer, if anyone here's going to City Hatters) if it was possible to change the ribbon (I like the ribbon there, but I think it would look nicer if it was solid royal blue or navy blue. Opinions on this are welcome). She said yes, and gave me the details of one of their milliners. I've since sent her an email and I'm waiting for a reply.
Here's some extra photographs of the hat and other details...
I am off in shortly to fly to a gymnastics meet. I am wearing my Stetson Flagship today. I have meet schedule, coaching duties schedules and meet credentials work on my computer yet. I have tipped back the brim and am working away.
As I am looking more carefully at the pic of the hat, I see that I will need to pull the steamer out and rid the hat body of some "ripples," add more flair to the cup in the rear, and a re-position of the ending of the cupping. The hat survived a recent rain and has changed. I still feel confident wearing the hat as in person the felt is terrific and the texture is appealing to the eye.
Most of the time when selecting a hat, I just choose. With this hat I am concious that I need to treat this hat with extra care as it is not common and I may not ever find another one to replace it. I heard from a family friend who is in his 70's that he would plan that a hat would only last a couple of years. I do not know for certain how hard he might wear his hats, so hat durability would vary greatly in my hands. For now I just treat the hat gently.
After seven days in row wearing my new Tumwater, grabbed the Borsalino this morning. A little bit of variety plus it just seemed to go better on a drizzly, dark day when I'm wearing sneakers and an old golf shirt.
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