Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

What Hat Are You Wearing Today ?

Messages
18,440
1. I didn't say I was "optimistic", I said "I (am) hoping". It's not the same thing.

2. I am very familiar with the Hattery in Katoomba where the Fed IVs are exclusively sold. I've been there twice in person and have ordered numerous Akubras from them online. I believe we have had some Loungers order from them since the new owners took over. As I understand it, online sales are possible, but you must contact them via email instead of using a shopping cart checkout process.

3. Akubra's fur felt is practical. I understand that you appreciate it and I don't care to denigrate it... I like it very much. But even the heritage quality does not compare to vintage felt (although the heritage quality is very good - or was, at least), and there has always been a lot of variation in quality in Akubra felt. So again, time will tell if the new changes carry a permanent reduction in quality. But yes, sorry to hear you report a drop in quality at the moment.

4. I am one of those who do not trust AI. So please stop telling me ChatGPT is my friend. It's patronizing language and I have no intention of ever using the technology.

I support Akubra and have done so now for ten years. I hope I can continue to do so under the new owners. Am I optimistic? No. But I am not pessimistic either. I am simply practical and unemotional about it (for now...).

But I am also not nearly as invested as you or other Australians are in the company, since the mainstay of my collection is vintage US hats anyway. I absolutely understand your skepticism and hostility towards the new billionaire owners.
Well said!
 
Messages
15,131
Location
Buffalo, NY
Summer white and very light... could be 1950s or 1930s. With European hats it is hard to know for sure.


042425_2.jpg



042425_3.jpg


042425_6.jpg


042425_4.jpg



042425_7.jpg



042425_1.jpg



042425_5.jpg



042425_8.jpg
 

RickP

One Too Many
Messages
1,522
Cant figure out where to put this so Ill just leave it here lol. This weekend in my quaint little East Texas town of Crockett, were having having the annual Blues Music Festival ( Home town of the famous blues guy Lightnin' Hopkins). Live music, food and vendors. Got to thinking with an influx of Blues fans and Hipsters, that it might be a chance to sell some of my shorter brim hats. Had a nice mix of Stetsons, Champs, Adams, Dobbs etc. Worked a deal with a local Antique store ( right next door to a couple of the main live music venues) to put up some of my hats. The owner immediately fell in love with one of them ...A nice 3x beaver 2" brim) so I went home to dig out the original stetson box for him. Before I got back there, a couple all the way from France walked in and bought one of the others! Two hats sold and the festival doesnt even start till sat morning... not a bad start! This weekend might leave me some wall space for more new hats at home lol

Wish me luck!!!

PXL_20250424_152933291.jpg
PXL_20250424_152920830.jpg
 

VoodooSan

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,656
Location
Boise, ID
Cant figure out where to put this so Ill just leave it here lol. This weekend in my quaint little East Texas town of Crockett, were having having the annual Blues Music Festival ( Home town of the famous blues guy Lightnin' Hopkins). Live music, food and vendors. Got to thinking with an influx of Blues fans and Hipsters, that it might be a chance to sell some of my shorter brim hats. Had a nice mix of Stetsons, Champs, Adams, Dobbs etc. Worked a deal with a local Antique store ( right next door to a couple of the main live music venues) to put up some of my hats. The owner immediately fell in love with one of them ...A nice 3x beaver 2" brim) so I went home to dig out the original stetson box for him. Before I got back there, a couple all the way from France walked in and bought one of the others! Two hats sold and the festival doesnt even start till sat morning... not a bad start! This weekend might leave me some wall space for more new hats at home lol

Wish me luck!!!

View attachment 699243 View attachment 699244
Smart marketing inspiration, Rick! Well done!
 

Gary in NC

One of the Regulars
Messages
251
Cant figure out where to put this so Ill just leave it here lol. This weekend in my quaint little East Texas town of Crockett, were having having the annual Blues Music Festival ( Home town of the famous blues guy Lightnin' Hopkins). Live music, food and vendors. Got to thinking with an influx of Blues fans and Hipsters, that it might be a chance to sell some of my shorter brim hats. Had a nice mix of Stetsons, Champs, Adams, Dobbs etc. Worked a deal with a local Antique store ( right next door to a couple of the main live music venues) to put up some of my hats. The owner immediately fell in love with one of them ...A nice 3x beaver 2" brim) so I went home to dig out the original stetson box for him. Before I got back there, a couple all the way from France walked in and bought one of the others! Two hats sold and the festival doesnt even start till sat morning... not a bad start! This weekend might leave me some wall space for more new hats at home lol

Wish me luck!!!

View attachment 699243 View attachment 699244

Wow, that's great to hear. I think that people really want to own nice quality hats. I think you'll sell a lot.
 
Messages
17,710
Location
Maryland
S. J. Frankel Wien "Sirius 1/2 (Et.) Etui", date stamped 01/06/1959. The felt is a dark navy blue with a smooth finish. The overall workmanship is high quality and I really like the form plus mid ribbon width. I found this Soft Felt back in 2019.

54474132539_62a19130b2_h.jpg


54474300770_0135f17a3c_h.jpg


54474313285_f029bc1b7d_h.jpg


54473946531_c0f60f167d_h.jpg


54473105257_9e96a55e83_h.jpg


From Gustav Menschel last factory director of S. & J. Fraenkel Wien, Ebreichsdorfer (Austria) Filzhutfabrik. "½ Etui(Et.) Is an indication of Stump weight, about 120grams."

54474221318_00262f27cc_h.jpg


"Fraenkel Wien" Mirrored Display Stand, date stamped May 2, 1931. A fantastic gift from Daniele back in 2018!

43862208050_bc4cb1a2a5_b.jpg


45629801812_e87368b1d7_b.jpg


45629827632_56538753b1_b.jpg


44766218915_aee9033870_b.jpg
 

Ent

One of the Regulars
Messages
108
1. I didn't say I was "optimistic", I said "I (am) hoping". It's not the same thing.

2. I am very familiar with the Hattery in Katoomba where the Fed IVs are exclusively sold. I've been there twice in person and have ordered numerous Akubras from them online. I believe we have had some Loungers order from them since the new owners took over. As I understand it, online sales are possible, but you must contact them via email instead of using a shopping cart checkout process.

3. Akubra's fur felt is practical. I understand that you appreciate it and I don't care to denigrate it... I like it very much. But even the heritage quality does not compare to vintage felt (although the heritage quality is very good - or was, at least), and there has always been a lot of variation in quality in Akubra felt. So again, time will tell if the new changes carry a permanent reduction in quality. But yes, sorry to hear you report a drop in quality at the moment.

4. I am one of those who do not trust AI. So please stop telling me ChatGPT is my friend. It's patronizing language and I have no intention of ever using the technology.

I support Akubra and have done so now for ten years. I hope I can continue to do so under the new owners. Am I optimistic? No. But I am not pessimistic either. I am simply practical and unemotional about it (for now...).

But I am also not nearly as invested as you or other Australians are in the company, since the mainstay of my collection is vintage US hats anyway. I absolutely understand your skepticism and hostility towards the new billionaire owners.
Hi Lost Cowboy

No offence or patronising intended re AI. I do find USA is a rather different English to Commonwealth country’s English so your interpretation of “you friend” is probably different to ours which merely means “useful to you”. Also different countries people’s sensibilities to taking offence when none was intended which likely reflects in differing murder rates between countries. As a visiting Irish comedian once quipped in Australia people laugh with him while in another country they want to shoot him.

To me AI is merely a tool as is a computerised lathe/milling machine which allows you to do the mundane stuff quicker but does not mean you should not still understand machining.

Decades back I had AI as a subject in my degree so understand the concepts of AI and its built in weaknesses with the major one being you do not actually know what it learns. So distrust is heathy and indeed “your friend” when working with it.

Though over sixity I grew up with computers and like many of my fourteen year peers were “hackers” when it was seen as a challenge not a crime. So I have some idea how to “test” it. I even got it to admit it lies! Its answer to that was because it is trained on millions of things written by humans not surprisingly it picked up the capacity to lie.

As they say “know thy enemy” and I am picking up emails answered by it which is frustrating as the issue often can only be dealt with by a real person. Handy to understand the hacks to circumvent this and get it to escalate matters to a real person.

As for felt quality I believe USA regards beaver been the gold standard so beavers not been native to Australia we are used to rabbit instead. I to test this out had two custom made 100% beaver hats made. They are rather different beasts. My only USA hat is a Stetson fedora and found it rather did not enjoy the rain. I am a wearer not a collector and for health reasons walk to work so a hat must be able to handle that. Beaver looks like it can take a beating and still look good.

I concur vintage felt is better as well as age on a hat. But with a need for a 62cm hat vintage hats of that size are rare as only around 5% of the male population take that or a bigger size.

We Australians care about our icons especially ones founded by people that care about their craft. Not unique amongst nations in that trait. Difference is Aussies are not blind to such icons failings so no need to believe will be insulted when they are pointed out. Maybe even laugh if irony is used.

Brisbane Hatters has closed and yes if you jump through hops you can still get hats online but I do question why the barriers?
 

The Lost Cowboy

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,020
Location
Southeast Asia
Hi Lost Cowboy

No offence or patronising intended re AI. I do find USA is a rather different English to Commonwealth country’s English so your interpretation of “you friend” is probably different to ours which merely means “useful to you”. Also different countries people’s sensibilities to taking offence when none was intended which likely reflects in differing murder rates between countries. As a visiting Irish comedian once quipped in Australia people laugh with him while in another country they want to shoot him.

To me AI is merely a tool as is a computerised lathe/milling machine which allows you to do the mundane stuff quicker but does not mean you should not still understand machining.

Decades back I had AI as a subject in my degree so understand the concepts of AI and its built in weaknesses with the major one being you do not actually know what it learns. So distrust is heathy and indeed “your friend” when working with it.

Though over sixity I grew up with computers and like many of my fourteen year peers were “hackers” when it was seen as a challenge not a crime. So I have some idea how to “test” it. I even got it to admit it lies! Its answer to that was because it is trained on millions of things written by humans not surprisingly it picked up the capacity to lie.

As they say “know thy enemy” and I am picking up emails answered by it which is frustrating as the issue often can only be dealt with by a real person. Handy to understand the hacks to circumvent this and get it to escalate matters to a real person.

As for felt quality I believe USA regards beaver been the gold standard so beavers not been native to Australia we are used to rabbit instead. I to test this out had two custom made 100% beaver hats made. They are rather different beasts. My only USA hat is a Stetson fedora and found it rather did not enjoy the rain. I am a wearer not a collector and for health reasons walk to work so a hat must be able to handle that. Beaver looks like it can take a beating and still look good.

I concur vintage felt is better as well as age on a hat. But with a need for a 62cm hat vintage hats of that size are rare as only around 5% of the male population take that or a bigger size.

We Australians care about our icons especially ones founded by people that care about their craft. Not unique amongst nations in that trait. Difference is Aussies are not blind to such icons failings so no need to believe will be insulted when they are pointed out. Maybe even laugh if irony is used.

Brisbane Hatters has closed and yes if you jump through hops you can still get hats online but I do question why the barriers?

Alright Ent, thanks for the response.
Nice to have a "get to know you" chat. Next time, best we do it in private messages.

Nice to have you onboard, even if you do think an Open Road is a Campdraft (and not the other way around). ;D

Best to you, enjoy your day.

Now back to hats. Here's my one and only Disney.

IMG_8549.jpeg

IMG_8550.jpeg

IMG_8465.jpeg
 

VoodooSan

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,656
Location
Boise, ID
S. J. Frankel Wien "Sirius 1/2 (Et.) Etui", date stamped 01/06/1959. The felt is a dark navy blue with a smooth finish. The overall workmanship is high quality and I really like the form plus mid ribbon width. I found this Soft Felt back in 2019.

54474132539_62a19130b2_h.jpg


54474300770_0135f17a3c_h.jpg


54474313285_f029bc1b7d_h.jpg


54473946531_c0f60f167d_h.jpg


54473105257_9e96a55e83_h.jpg


From Gustav Menschel last factory director of S. & J. Fraenkel Wien, Ebreichsdorfer (Austria) Filzhutfabrik. "½ Etui(Et.) Is an indication of Stump weight, about 120grams."

54474221318_00262f27cc_h.jpg


"Fraenkel Wien" Mirrored Display Stand, date stamped May 2, 1931. A fantastic gift from Daniele back in 2018!

43862208050_bc4cb1a2a5_b.jpg


45629801812_e87368b1d7_b.jpg


45629827632_56538753b1_b.jpg


44766218915_aee9033870_b.jpg
That hat is beautiful in every way a hat can be, Steve!
 

Forum statistics

Threads
111,216
Messages
3,116,977
Members
55,514
Latest member
sagarika585
Top