Worst hat deals ... EVER

[Sam Craig]

I got to thinking about a really bad hat deal that I made several years ago, and I thought it might be interesting for a discussion topic.

I'll start[huh]

My business sent my wife and I to Kansas City ... this was about 20 years ago ... for a weekend event.

We got to stay in the Ritz, overlooking the Country Club Plaza and it was the first weekend in December, so the Plaza Christmas lights were on.

We stayed on the Ninth Floor ... very nice ... very beautiful, enjoyable, romantic ... you know

Anyway ... I had planned ahead and saved up some money to go hat shopping. I owned several vintage dress hats ... Knox 40, Dobbs, Stetson dress hats from the 40s ... all of which were relatively easy to find back then.

I also had several nice western hats that I have purchased new

What I really had not done is go into a nice men's wear store and buy a new dress hat, so that was going to be the experience on this trip

We went to Jack Henrys on the Plaza ... very nice store ... and I spend well over $100 for a new Churchill fedora ... grey ... velour finish ... casual dress

It seemed like a snappy hat at the time and, to be fair, I got a lot of wear out of it for the next year

But it didn't take long to see it wasn't going to hold up the way either the new westerns or the old dress hats did

In time, it became misshapened, the size shrunk, the felt in the brim went wavy ... it just got to looking dowdy

I have chalked it up to experience and a nice memory ... and then I come across the box with that old dress hat in it and get disgusted all over again

As careful as I was with that hat, it should have lasted a lifetime at what it cost all those years ago.

How about you?

 

[Art Fawcett]

Sam, I don't want to rain on your story and your thoughts are valid but you are running up against a pet peeve of mine that I'd like to express.

When the term "lifetime" of wear is used, it doesn't mean the hat will never need maintenance, keeping it's original shape forever. It means that, with regular cleaning & blocking, it should last a lifetime. Because it's used often ( if not every day) it will of course need it. Much like changing oil in your car, c&b helps extend the life.
Why not send the hat off to a hatter & extend the life of it?

 

[AlterEgo]

While I agree with Art that maintaining a hat is key to long life, the Churchill you bought in KC sounds like it was not exactly great quality to begin with. And I'm sure that's what you expected--spending well over a hundred smackers for any kind of hat twenty years ago was serious money.

I'm no expert on vintage hats, but the dress Dobbs, Knox, and Stetson from the '40s that you already had at the time you bought the Churchill would be in a league incomparable to it: Any hat from that era would be of considerably higher quality--except a custom or bespoke from Art.

I've had only one Churchill, a suede Alpine style I got at Neiman-Marcus for somewhere between $25 and $40 in 1977. Not being fur felt, it may not be fair to compare it to yours, but it was a great hat. I wore the hell out of it for many years in all kinds of foul weather, and all I ever did was occasionally brush it with a clothes brush.

If I had to pick my all-time favorite hat, this would be it. Unfortunately, moths or some other hungry critters munched on it while it was stored one summer, making it unsightly if still servicable.

Whatever happened to the Churchill brand, anyway?

 

[reetpleat]

I got to thinking about a really bad hat deal that I made several years ago, and I thought it might be interesting for a discussion topic.

I'll start[huh]

My business sent my wife and I to Kansas City ... this was about 20 years ago ... for a weekend event.

We got to stay in the Ritz, overlooking the Country Club Plaza and it was the first weekend in December, so the Plaza Christmas lights were on.

We stayed on the Ninth Floor ... very nice ... very beautiful, enjoyable, romantic ... you know

Anyway ... I had planned ahead and saved up some money to go hat shopping. I owned several vintage dress hats ... Knox 40, Dobbs, Stetson dress hats from the 40s ... all of which were relatively easy to find back then.

I also had several nice western hats that I have purchased new

What I really had not done is go into a nice men's wear store and buy a new dress hat, so that was going to be the experience on this trip

We went to Jack Henrys on the Plaza ... very nice store ... and I spend well over $100 for a new Churchill fedora ... grey ... velour finish ... casual dress

It seemed like a snappy hat at the time and, to be fair, I got a lot of wear out of it for the next year

But it didn't take long to see it wasn't going to hold up the way either the new westerns or the old dress hats did

In time, it became misshapened, the size shrunk, the felt in the brim went wavy ... it just got to looking dowdy

I have chalked it up to experience and a nice memory ... and then I come across the box with that old dress hat in it and get disgusted all over again

As careful as I was with that hat, it should have lasted a lifetime at what it cost all those years ago.

How about you?

That is a shame for you, and a shame for us as a culture that they can not make decent quality anymore.

I wonder how many nice hats that price might have gotten you in Kansas City 20 years ago.

 

[gtdean48]

Christy's Foldaway Fiasco

Purchased a Christy's Foldaway in the Burma color (see the Christy's thread for details). That is about all that I like about the hat, the color. The crown is too low & I requested a 2 5/8 brim but it is so floppy I dimensional trimmed the sides to 2 1/2". The order was delayed from Christy's to Hornett Hats due to being out of that color of felt, then my order seemed to have been lost. Eventually it was processed after my email inquiries to HH. If I had not received by accident 2 Christy's tubes, the deal would've been worse than it was. If I would ever consider ordering another, it would have to be with a 5 1/2" open crown at least as well as the 2 5/8" brim.

 

[Sam Craig]

I've been performing maintenance on my own hats for right at 30 years.

There are a few things I won't try to do, but for most of what it takes to keep a well-made fur felt hat, western or dress, in good condition, I have long since learned the ropes, and I can attest, this Churchill did not live up to what Jack Henry's charged

As I wrote before, I long since chalked the whole thing up to the experience, which was well worth what the hat cost, and reasoned that spread out over a number of vintage dress hats that have been worth many times what I paid for them, I have rationalized the purchase.

Nevertheless, that was a lot of money back then ... still is today, as far as I am concerned

That's all I'm, sayin ... I understand maintenance ... cars, coats, kids and lids

But the Churchill was a turkey![huh]

 

[Art Fawcett]

But the Churchill was a turkey!

That's enough for me Sam. I'm glad you know the value of maintenance and where I was going was the newbie that expects the hat to be pristine through years of use without thinking of maintaining the hat. Back in the day, when there was a shop in every dry cleaner's, C& B's were just a matter of normal care. Now that it's more rare to have a hat shop it's lost its normalcy.

 

[Sam Craig]

I started educating and training myself and learning from some old time hat men back in the mid 70s after I had two great hats ruined at one of those dry cleaners

they used blocks that were too small and shrunk the crowns

 

[Chinaski]

Sam, that last bit about them shrinking a couple good hats is more of a horror story than your original thread-starter! It hurts just hearing that one...

 

[Justdog]

Maintenance

When the term "lifetime" of wear is used, it doesn't mean the hat will never need maintenance


Well this is a good topic. I aquired a few hats thanks to finding FD and the emergence of ebay. 35 years ago I had a nice gray stetson fedora. It was pilfered. So 2 years ago is when I started back into hats. My first couple were experiments, well worn cheaper hats. Then I learned about vintage Stetson and the qualities. After zeroing in on OR, R Deluxes and finally leanring about the 100 and 7x, I could not even bring myself to wear them out in threats of inclement weather. Thinking these hats were delicte treasures of American heritage:eusa_doh: Finally I got over that and wore a pristine Soveriegn as it was meant to be worn. I sweat through the ribbon, got it wet had it snowed on and to my surprise it survived. That partcular hat was purchsed from a seller who bought it for their grandfather who wore out a hat he had rode the rails with for years and finally had to give up. he could never bring himself to wear the new hat and so when he passed she sold it. I have had to turn out the sweat to dry it, accept the salt stains and wear it for long periods to reform it to my head. But it has now got character and in defiance of my fear it returns to the great hat it is every time but with just more character. I am afraid that I have not reached that stage with my 100 though. They are meant to be worn and enjoyed. We last our own lifetime require maintenance and have to be reshaped. Hats are just like us they go through life.

 

[daizawaguy]

When the term "lifetime" of wear is used, it doesn't mean the hat will never need maintenance


They are meant to be worn and enjoyed. We last our own lifetime require maintenance and have to be reshaped. Hats are just like us they go through life.

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Sam Craig]

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Amen to that

I am certainly not worth what was "paid" for me, and I haven't maintained my shape either, could use some more maintenance and probably a complete rebuild, too.

Hopefully I am not as great a disappointment as some hat deals.

Thanks for the perspective!:eusa_clap