What was your first fedora?

[diabolicaldog]

I went to work on a large sheep station in western N.S.W in 1986. Going hatless for the first summer where the temp gets well over 100 for long periods is something I will always remember. The local menswear shop had good selection of Akubras including many cowboy styles. I ended up with a Squatter in carbon grey. This was followed up a few years later(1989) by a Akubra made Stetson Open Road in silverbelly.

I have just ordered a Squatter in deep fawn and Campdraft in silverbelly for the first time since the original purchase. The past 20 years have seen a Akubra Arena and 5 or 6 Akubra Bobby all in sand to protect my now very bald head.

 

[RBH]

Glad to have you join us Dog!
I am looking forward to Stetsons reissue of the fedora style Open Road.

 

[Bugguy]

I picked up a black 60's Dobbs in a local vintage store. I took it to Batsakes in Cincinnati to clean and he totally restored it. It was sold by one of his competitors 2 blocks down that he out-survived. It's still my favorite.

 

[DJH]

Akubra Campdraft

I still have this hat, although i don't wear it too often.

 

[RBH]

You should... it looks good on you.

 

[earl]

Bought my first 1, a 1940's Lee, in a Goodwill store in the mid-80's, (never saw another 1 in a thrift shop since). Only bought my second felt fedora in the past year and my first straw 1 this summer. Earl

 

[ChiTownScion]

As promised earlier, here are the Before and After shots of my Knock Around hat, an Orvis fly fishing fedora. I suppose it really is my "first," as I have had it about 3 years. I think that the good people at the Brass Rooster of Milwaukee did a superb job in cleaning and re-ribboning the lid.

 

[Lotsahats]

Black felt hat, brand I don't recall. My father still has it, although it no longer fits me.

 

[Retro Spectator]

My first fedora was a panama, and I got it when I was either 9 or 10 years old. I don't have it anymore, because it got ran over by a car. It was a Scala, and it was white. For some reason, it didn't have a snap brim. It just was flat all around. I can't take a picture of it, because I don't know where it is. Funny thing is that I wear the same size (extra large) back then, as I do now.

Kind of unrelated: When I was either 9 or 10, I liked wearing suits everyday. I bought them cheap at Marshalls.

I think I made a mistake, my first fedora was a tan crushable Minnetonka. I was either 9 or 10 (like I said in my first post) when I got it. Personally, I hate crushable hats. They always feel too loose, and get mashed up all the time. You don't need a hat to be crushable to be fixed. My brown Scala fedora came all smashed, and I just pushed it back in place, and it looks as good as new.

 

[Seth Duzan]

My first would be the hand me down Disney in my Ava pic... I'm definitely wanting more, but due to constraints atm that is on hold... The old thing is a bit of a beater now, but still in nice enough shape that a little reshaping and cleaning and she'd be more of an everyday dress/casual shape... One thing I really love is the dent, looks like a center dent, but there is a cross dent in it making it almost a diamond shape...

The picture is of before I 'squared' up the dent, and gave it more of a classic cross like dimension shape to the diamond... Maybe I'll try and get an updated pic posted soon...

 

[Kevlar]

My Borsalino Film that I inherited from my Dad. Full-fledged fedora in black fur felt -- wide brimmed, tall in the crown.

I prefer for everyday wear a decent stingy brim fedora -- like a Dobbs Twenty or the trusty Hardeman that I wore to work today. They fit my face and physique better. Nothing beats a nice porkpie, either.

 

[Bill Hughes]

My 9-year-old grandnephew likes fedoras because of his uncle Billy. He comes over to my house and stares at my assortment of makers and colors. So the other day I gave him his first fedora. It's a Dobbs Jet 707. I think he likes it.
View media item 1328View media item 1327

 

[Doctor Strange]

I collected hats as a kid in the sixties - top hat, derby, homburg, boater, deerstalker, etc. - but never had a proper fedora! My first fedora came much later: one of the better (fur felt) Indiana Jones hats Stetson sold in the eighties, tied in with Temple of Doom. It was a really good hat apart from its cloth sweatband. Alas, I lost it in my divorce.

The next one was a Stetson Temple in 2002. Since then I'm moved on to Akubras and custom hats...

 

[Benzadmiral]

My first real fedora was a Stetson in dark brown, a model a lot like today's Chatham. My second was the no-name "Casablanca" model that I had Meyer's customize with a leather belt and buckle instead of a ribbon. (I still have it; it was the model for Mike of Northwest Hats to build my first custom from him.) Then came a succession of Stetson Temples, 2 of which I still have.

There ensued a long break, ironically including my time in Denver, where a hat would have been useful as well as decorative. When Australia the film came out, though, I liked the broad-brimmed, dusty fedora Nicole Kidman wears during the trail drive scenes, and went searching online for one like it. I wound up here. Bought a Federation in carbon gray, and have been off to the hat races ever since.

 

[Bushman]

Mine was a green canvas hat by a company I can't remember that I bought for an expedition to the rockies in Summer of 2011:

 

[Bob Roberts]

Stetson. A few years ago.

 

[BobHufford]

My Grandfather's hat that I wore in the '70s/'80s. Liner was lost, so I'm not sure the brand. It was from a local department store.

The one that brought be back to hats in 2014 (pic taken at the time of purchase). Late 1950s Stetson Open Road.

 

[FedOregon]

My uncle gave me a Stetson that I only wore once, and a no name grey fedora I loved. When I went off to college, etc, my youngest brother "used" them and I haven't seen them since.

First one I bought was a Norm Thompson wool "traveler." Mrs Fed is wearing it in this pic, and my next "real" purchase was a Penman Everyman Inday hat which I really like.

Indy!

 

[Frunobulax]

Well, my first was a Panama I picked up in San Juan a few years ago. I picked it up at a shop called Ole's. I can't find a photo of it right now and it's packed away.

My first fur felt was a Selentino Sterling I bought from Gus Miller at Batsakes in Cincinnati. I don't wear it as much now, but it still has an honored place in my dining room to hang.

 

[moontheloon]

my first was this number that my mom found at an estate sale around 1983
don't recall what make it was but I wore it until I could no longer squeeze my skull into it ... rarely been without a hat since