Your first hat

[RJR]

View attachment 58734
I still have the hat and bags.

Very cool.

 

[RJR]

I just came across this old thing.
It's got to be one of the first ones I ever made that looked half decent.

7 yrs ago if memory serves me well.

Interesting colors.

 

[moontheloon]

at my moms house tonight I found another shot of my first hat.
... I guarantee there is some RUN DMC or Sugar Hill Gang blasting on that boom box.
That hat never left my head

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[Frunobulax]

Cool shot, Anthony.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[cmoy]

My first hat was this JJ Hat Center hat. I think it was advertised as a Whippet. It had an open crown. I bought it back in 1990 just before they moved to 5th ave. I use to wear it all the time. Loved it! I still have it. I doesn't fit anymore My head got fat and I think the hat shrunk. I was actually going to try to have it stretched for this winter and start wearing it again. Then I won the real Whippet at my current head size and realized the JJ was definitely too small

Around the same time I bought a dark gray Young's fedora at Young's down by Pace University. I don't remember the model but it had a teardrop crown, narrow ribbon and bound edge. Wore that quite a bit too. I don't have it anymore but I went back to Young's and bough a replacement. I put a diamond bash on this one I didn't wear it much. By that time I stopped wearing hats. When I have time I'll dig it out and take some pics. It's pretty much mint but again too small

In reality I have 3 hats but only one fits. This is why I tell everyone I only have one hat I need more that fit!!!!! LOL

 

[Bigger Don]

My first hat was this JJ Hat Center hat. I think it was advertised as a Whippet. It had an open crown. I bought it back in 1990 just before they moved to 5th ave. I use to wear it all the time. Loved it! I still have it. I doesn't fit anymore My head got fat and I think the hat shrunk. I was actually going to try to have it stretched for this winter and start wearing it again. Then I won the real Whippet at my current head size and realized the JJ was definitely too small

Around the same time I bought a dark gray Young's fedora at Young's down by Pace University. I don't remember the model but it had a teardrop crown, narrow ribbon and bound edge. Wore that quite a bit too. I don't have it anymore but I went back to Young's and bough a replacement. I put a diamond bash on this one I didn't wear it much. By that time I stopped wearing hats. When I have time I'll dig it out and take some pics. It's pretty much mint but again too small

In reality I have 3 hats but only one fits. This is why I tell everyone I only have one hat I need more that fit!!!!! LOL

Have you tried some steam and a hat jack?

Or you can do what others do...sell them to fund purchasing another?

 

[Bob Roberts]

at my moms house tonight I found another shot of my first hat.
... I guarantee there is some RUN DMC or Sugar Hill Gang blasting on that boom box.
That hat never left my head

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Remarkable! Even a monster crown at that age.

 

[cmoy]

Have you tried some steam and a hat jack?

Or you can do what others do...sell them to fund purchasing another?

I tried the jack with a little steam but I don't think I was aggressive enough. I'll try again when I have time. It's 6 7/8 but measure closer too 6 5/8 and I'm a 7 now. I'm not sure if I can stretch it that much. Maybe I can bring by JJ's and see if they can do something. I really would like to be able to wear it again. Both the JJ and the Young's.

 

[Bigger Don]

I tried the jack with a little steam but I don't think I was aggressive enough. I'll try again when I have time. It's 6 7/8 but measure closer too 6 5/8 and I'm a 7 now. I'm not sure if I can stretch it that much. Maybe I can bring by JJ's and see if they can do something. I really would like to be able to wear it again. Both the JJ and the Young's.

Sounds like a tough choice, made tougher by an emotional attachment to the hat.

From what I've read (and I'm no expert) you should be able to stretch a felt hat 1 size, but I think that is from the original size. I bought a Christy's a few weeks ago that had shrunk a couple of sizes. It was my first on-line "vintage" buy, giving it a special place in the emotional range.

After some steam and some hat jack work I'm nearing stabilizing it at its original size. It's a stingy brim (2") and since I'm a big guy I'm thinking about making it a pork pie with a little more steam and a bit of stiffener.

IMO, you might want to take it to a hatter to see what they can do...or, like I said before, perhaps sell it to another loving head and make that seed money for another hat.

 

[Zombie_61]

Remarkable! Even a monster crown at that age.

He'd need it to contain all of that hair.

Having had an overly voluminous head of hair myself in my younger days, I speak from experience.

 

[andrew_AU]

at my moms house tonight I found another shot of my first hat.
... I guarantee there is some RUN DMC or Sugar Hill Gang blasting on that boom box.
That hat never left my head

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you still have the hat?

I've kept my first hat. Mind you, it's only about 10 years old. I don't wear it anymore but it's fun to keep it knowing that it was my first.

I'll try to dig out a pic.

 

[moontheloon]

Do you still have the hat?

I've kept my first hat. Mind you, it's only about 10 years old. I don't wear it anymore but it's fun to keep it knowing that it was my first.

I'll try to dig out a pic.

I don't
No idea what happened to it ... this is 33 years ago


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cmoy]

Sounds like a tough choice, made tougher by an emotional attachment to the hat.

From what I've read (and I'm no expert) you should be able to stretch a felt hat 1 size, but I think that is from the original size. I bought a Christy's a few weeks ago that had shrunk a couple of sizes. It was my first on-line "vintage" buy, giving it a special place in the emotional range.

After some steam and some hat jack work I'm nearing stabilizing it at its original size. It's a stingy brim (2") and since I'm a big guy I'm thinking about making it a pork pie with a little more steam and a bit of stiffener.

IMO, you might want to take it to a hatter to see what they can do...or, like I said before, perhaps sell it to another loving head and make that seed money for another hat.

I'll give the jack another try and if that doesn't work I'll take it to JJ's. For now I'll enjoy the Stetson Whippet Thanks again for the feedback Bigger Don!

 

[The Shoe]

The last post on this forum was in 2016, so not sure if anyone will see this, but here goes. By first hat, I’m thinking first by a hat maker - as opposed to apparel and sports apparel makers.
My first was this one from Japanese brand Country. It’s cotton velvet with a polyester lining. After that, I bought a leather cowboy hat from Henschel hats, a summer and a winter cheesecutter (New Zealanders will understand - others may need to look that up). I bought a couple of summer hats from Bailey - and then I discovered felt - first a wool felt pork pie from Bailey, then a stingy brim wool felt from New York Hats. These were the brands that a quick internet search was telling me were among the best around. Then I got my first fur felt from Christys’. This was a class or three above anything I’d owned before. I may buy a wool felt Fedora at some stage (maybe Bigalli) for everyday wear, but it’ll be pretty much fur felt from now on. That said, I still love this hat and wear it pretty regularly.

 

[GHT]

View attachment 58734
I still have the hat and bags.

My first hat was my school cap, there's a picture of me wearing it too, but it's one of those big group photos where you can hardly pick anyone out, let alone recognise them. The year was 1957.

 

[SteveFord]

First "real" hat? Stetson bowler from JJ Hat Center.
Followed shortly thereafter by that collapsible top hat they had in the window, I was powerless to resist, it was too tempting.

 

[ILB Frank]

I was digging through a box of old stuff and came across an old hat. So I came here to search Henschel hats and found this thread. Seems like a good reason to bump.

Unfortunately, aside from this replica forage cap, I don't have any of my early hats. This hat was picked up in a leather shop around 1980 ($20-30).

However, my first "grown-up" hat was a $20 (circa 1979) western (dark brown). Completed with an add-on gaudy feather hatband that was so popular at the time.
In about 1984, when Indiana Jones was the man to mimic, I had a $20 movie-branded black version (all the brown ones were sold out). A few months later, I picked up a $30 brown stingy brim fedora in brown (that was as close as I could get to finding a color-matched Indy hat). I was always a fan of hats (obviously still am) but by the summer of 1984, I was pretty much done wearing real hats until late spring of 2021.
I only mention the price of the old hats for some vague reference to the potential quality of those hats. I certainly wasn't knowledgeable about hat quality, I just bought what my parents allowed or what I could afford at the moment. I really don't know if any of those hats were more than wool felt but if I knew then what I know now...

 

[TLW '90]

My very first hat was a little trucker hat my dad bought me as a baby ( I only know because I still have it somewhere )
Then came a conductor's hat I wore till I grew out of it , and from there a Hotwheels ball cap my dad bought me which I wore till I was 12.

Finally when I was 12 and the new pit bull pup chewed up my hotwheels hat my dad gave me his last issued M81 woodland patrol cap and I instantly loved that hat.
Sadly the pup chewed that one up too, but my dad found the first patrol cap he was issued and that one became " my hat " .
I wore that hat every single day for 10 years till it was thoroughly worn out and ordered 6 NOS replacements online so I would have a lifetime supply.

My dad taught me that every man must have a hat a pocket knife and a handkerchief ,but never taught me to take my hat off inside so I don't ( even though he does ).
I feel naked without my hat on, so it's the first thing on my head in the morning.
In the summer the patrol cap is swapped for a USGI boonie in m81 woodland when I go outside.
These days in the fall and winter the patrol cap is often but not always swapped out for my outback hat when I go outside.


That outback hat is my first and probably only " fedora ".

It's a US made Eddy bro's cougar model in packable wool felt.
I bought it last year for I think $15 on Ebay just because I needed something cowboy-ish for Halloween and it seemed like a nice hat so I decided I'd try it out.
I cleaned it up , straightened it out, made my own band for it , and it didn't take long for the hat to really grow on me.
It's now my go-to for working in the yard and walking the dog and when I'm out plinking in the fall/ winter.

 

[Hats Matter]

In about 2003 and on the advice of my dermatologist I purchased an Optimo fedora in Canyon Gray

 

[groovemachine]

I have some funky caps and a Scala wool felt pork pie, but I finally got my first "real" hat.

I love my pork pie and have changed the feather at times for variety. I always get compliments on it. I play bass guitar and it's been my "jazz hat" or if I need to be a bit more formal. It serves that purpose well, but is not a hat that is the most comfortable to wear all day and more circular than oval, so not the best fit.

Part of my issue has been that there are no proper hat stores in my city, so no great way to get started even figuring out what fits/works, etc. I did a jazz gig recently and the singer works at a men's clothing store and loved my pork pie. He told me about a lady in town that sells fine hats out of her house...generally appointment only, besides Saturdays.

So, I stopped in this past Saturday and this wonderful lady welcomed me in. Each room of her house is full of built-in shelving and HATS!!! They are somewhat sorted by color and size. I tried on a number of pork pies and smaller hats in the green/brown palette to figure out sizing and try some different styles and then she asked me what I thought about grey. I told her I like grey quite a bit, but want something that I will wear a lot and greys can come across a bit too formal.

She had me try on a 100% beaver grey fedora and it was beautiful, but very light weight and formal. In the meantime, she pulled out a box that was tucked away that contained a Stetson fedora. I had told her I liked greens and didn't want too big of a brim. This Stetson fedora was an absolutely beautiful deep, muted turquoise color with a 2" brim and I instantly fell in love. I purchased the hat and couldn't be more pleased.

Once I got home I tried investigating further what I had purchased and it seems this hat is from the Stetson 150th anniversary catalog based on the hat box. The hat model is listed as a Stetson Grissom...label also mentions "ROYAL" and the color code is TQ for turquoise. Any other details anyone here can provide would be much appreciated! I feel that this hat is most similar to the Stetson Saxon being a 100% rabbit fur, 2" brim, and grosgrain ribbon band. The differences seem to be the unique color and the finishing on the bow, which I think is a cool touch and just different enough...and no feather. I honestly don't know and haven't handled enough nice hats...maybe this is a western weight and not a dress weight? It is fairly thick felt...so maybe that is the main difference between this Grissom model and the Saxon?

I presume this lady had probably been sitting on this unusually colored hat since 2015 and it was just waiting for me to find it!