I once picked up a 1940's dove gray Borsalino fedora at a garage sale. The person running the garage sale had no idea what kind of hat they had. When I took it to a men's hat shop in town (shop had been there 80 years) the clerk's hands actually shook when she took it out of the box.
@@almostvintagestyle They are my favourite brand. Australian Hare Fur, great in all conditions. Western durability with dress style. I have three Campdrafts, 1 Homburg. 1 Squatter open crown. I also have a MaGill Jackson, Stetson Open Road and Stetson Hemp Stratoliner. But Akubra is my favourite hat brand hands down for quality, durability and price. Looking at approx $200 US for anything the sell. Better than Stetson , family owned and operated.
@@davidcallan7844Preach it brother. I have a Campdraft and a Cattleman. My favorite things about the Campdraft - besides its incredible "bluegrass green" color - is the open crown I can shape any way I want. I bashed mine more or less like Hopper's hat from Stranger Things, and I like that it looks a little asymmetrical and hand-formed, not factory preformed. I love that hat so much. The Cattleman is more my rain and sun work hat. Its so tough. I've never owned a 100% beaver felt hat, but Akubra's rabbit felt takes rain better than any Stetson I own.
Super helpful. I have the pure beaver Stetson, but it doesn’t fit perfectly. Would love to see more on fedora about styles, weights, colors of felt. There is so much to choose from, and going straight to a wellema or optimo. Choosing a color, style, crown shape, brim, band on a hat you’ve never seen with limited knowledge about hats is intimidating.
For work I generally wear baseball caps and on the weekends it’s usually a flat cap it is the style I get the most compliments on . Fedora and anything with much of a brim are too big in scale for my build and height. Least favorite hat type is watch cap or knit caps with my 1/8” inch buzz cut they are very uncomfortable.
i hope you will still read this, even 4 months later... i love the troy caps but cant find the brand on the internet. might not finding it because im in the eu and every countries search engine functions a different way, but could you please link me their website or write down the exact brand name?🙌🏼
Thinking I might try the poten Japanese baseball hat on self edge. Unsure if I should get the linen/cotton or the straight cotton. Have very hot humid summers but cotton has more color options
A few brief takes. First, give the Knickerbocker NYC cotton ribbed watch caps a try. Much like the wool watch cap but much cooler and just as cozy. Excellent fit and manufacture here. Next, I am sorry to hear about your Optimo. I too have a long oval (about 59 and some) and my fit is absolutely perfect. With the long oval, nothing fit until I found Optimo. The quality of the fabric is unsurpassed ime. I want another Optimo but balk at the price ('cause who wouldn't?) I've had a few Lock Hatters (London), really nice but not worth the premium price as I see it. Their foldable traveling Trilby is a quite nice. Thanks for the excellent video.
The Knickerbocker cap sounds pretty nice! I agree that the Optimo felt is unbelievably nice. I just wish it fit me better so I could appreciate it more
Are there any makers that make more baseball cap shaped caps? A lot of the ones you showed are kind of in between trucker and baseball style (imo) or flatter brimmed if that makes sense. I enjoy the more baseball cap look. An example would be what PRL sells. Great video thanks for making it!
Actually, the Troy Oshea hats are specifically modeled on vintage original baseball caps. This is how they look. If you want something more curved, maybe try Poten
Great video Jake. I agree with you on Stetson. I’m pretty happy with my Gun Club. But I tell you what, Akubra hats are even better and cheaper too. Very good quality Australian rabbit fur. The Akubra Campdraft is a Western-style fedora similar to your Wellema, obviously not custom or beaver though. IMHO, they are about the best
Any recommendations on cleaning of wool hats would be nice having little hair and a sweaty head cleaning is an issue and I don’t have a clue about cleaning them .
Depends, you can get $5,000 “straw” hats that are better quality than most other hats out there. Get a custom Nick Fouquet for example or even Optimo makes them. They’re not going out into some random cow field or in their backyards and just picking straw lol. It’s high-quality purpose grown “straw” if you even wanna call it straw and it’s made by expert milliners.