Calling any "hat guys"

[MartinH]

Okay, need help from you guys again. I can't find a freakin R/N number for this product, but I want to find where to buy it. I bought a hat, very similar to this one...




It's not quite the same, but the closest I can find. The brand name on the label is "Kenny K." but heck if the interwebs are giving me anything useful. I'm finding some listings with the brand "Eurosport" but that seems to be a little bit of a red herring.

The reason I like this hat, is because it fits my bulbous head. I'm so frustrated, I'm going to call the hat store in Charleston, to see if they can send me the plaid version. It's unlike any hat I've seen. The plain version has plaid patches instead of a symmetric pattern. Very, very cool looking hat, at least to me.

Any help would be helpful.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I've seen plaid-patch fedoras, almost look quilted. They're pretty cool. Very casual looking. The one you pictured can honestly be bought at any Wal-Mart or gas station, if that gives you any indication how prolific that cheap stuff is--but, that may be all you're looking for.

If you have a hat store within driving range, go there. They're a dying B&M, worse off than pipe stores. You'll feel right at home in one, they smell of felt, wool, leather and sometimes even pipe smoke. If it's a store worth its salt, they'll happily help you decide on a hat, fit you, steam-shape the brim and crown to your order (or suggest a good shape) and it'll be worth the trip and the money spent.

PS, nice lids, BH. 8) I may or may not take pictures of some of my finer hats.

8)

 

[KevinM]

My dermatologist urged me not to take my "very fair" Irish skin into sunlight, lest I die. No, wait, that's a different myth . . .

I have about ten baseball caps, but regard them largely as logoed merchcandise announcing my allegiance to various 'Burgh sports teams. I especially enjoy wearing my Steelers cap when they're playing the Pats. Billed caps do not provide adequate sun protection, unless thay have that curtain for the neck which looks dorky unless you're on a boat. And even then . . .

To keep the sun off your head, consider: a stetson, variations of the "bucket hat" which can be found in racquet sports shops, "the special forces" wide brimmed, chin strapped version of the bucket hat which is especially good in the sun. The Panama hat is popular here, but L.L. Bean wants $69 for theirs and less expensive ones look too Jersey Shore. Driving caps are handy. I have one wool and one goretex version. Oh, yes, I'm forgetting my Bean goretex bucket hat.

For winter, I have Orvis' Scottish wool version of the bucket hat complete with ear flaps and, from L.L. Bean, a very nice unisex verion of the Jones hat, also with ear flaps. I also have a very nice black wool Fedora from a men's shop that was moving -- tagged at $100, I got that baby for $25.

I'm guessing I have fifteen or so non-b'ball hats and wear 'em all in the course of a year.

Don't think of a hat as just camo for a bald spot. If you have any old photos of your parents and grandparents you'll notice that guys included hats as a normal part of their everyday wardrobe. The men liiked like grownups. Same thing in old movies -- guys wore hats, nice ones. Today, guys are more likely to wear baseball caps, sleeveless T-shirts with smartass sayings on them, sneakers and shorts. Just like their 6-year old sons. Imagine if they'd add a pipe to this get up.

Our work is cut out for us.

 

[monbla256]

My father wore hats and I got my first "real" hat, a Resistol along with my first pair of boots at a shop on Main St. just down the block from the old Stock Yards in Ft. Worth back in 1959. Been wearing 'em ever since. Felts in the winter, Panama's in the summer. I've found the aussie hat firm Akubra makes probably the best production hat currently available for the money. They truly make a "fan the fire, water the horse" quality of hat as many others did here in the States in the past. I bought my first Akubra from David Morgan Co. up in Seattle back in '72 and have continued to buy them from him ever since. Here's a few of my currently worn Akubra's :
My newset (2nd) Bushman, the first model of Akubra I bought:

One of my Squatters ( I have 4 in different colors)

My Akubra Campdraft which is an OZ available model only which I got from a hat shop in Sydney 3 years ago. It was made under license as a Stetson Open Road back when Akubra made the Australian Stetsons and is still made in OZ under this name today :

I can't recomend Akubra's more as they are some of the finest production made rabbit felt ( you have to get into custom hats to get beaver felt these days) hats today

 

[Blackhorse]

Kevin - in a way I agree. And I think there's almost a hunger or something among some elements of the population...for...I don't know what...like a return to elegance or something. I've had numberous men...always guys...come up to me when I'm wearing a good fedora and tell me how much they like it and that they wished more men would wear one. I remember once that a guy about 50 years old followed me all the way out to the parking structure at the airport to tell me pretty much the above thing...my wife was standing next to me, well dressed, looking at the guy like she thought he was a mugger. I just stared at him until he turned and walked away. We had just put my 20 year old son on a plane...cause he was leaving home...going out on his own...and we were heartbroken. I was numb...but stylin', I guess. Weird. I usually just tell them they should be the next one. Oddly enough they don't take that too seriously. Women will almost always say something about 'the hat' but it's directed at the hat as a piece of 'an outfit' or something...an accessory. But to the guys...it's something far deeper. It's like it's about their identity as...no, it's deeper than that...it's like it's something that is exclusive to being a man...in a positive and good kind of way. And there's not many things around like that any longer. Maybe that's why I like smoking a pipe...other than it's just a damn good thing to do. It's something that's almost totally exclusive to being a guy. And I think since it's really pretty rare, like the fedora, it's not something that you do for anyone else...and that aspect is obvious to everyone around you.


I guess if there was one other thing I'd say about wearing a fedora is that you should get a hat brush for it. It really does make a difference both to how it looks, how it makes you look and how long it lasts. Like anything else, if you value it, take care of it.

That's all.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I value my own pride and worth, therefore, top myself with good style, and good style means the right clothes--they do make the man. 8)

 

[Blackhorse]

:roll:

 

[George Kaplan]

...I think there's almost a hunger or something among some elements of the population...for...I don't know what...like a return to elegance or something...it's something far deeper. It's like it's about their identity as...no, it's deeper than that...it's like it's something that is exclusive to being a man...in a positive and good kind of way. And there's not many things around like that any longer. Maybe that's why I like smoking a pipe...other than it's just a damn good thing to do. It's something that's almost totally exclusive to being a guy. And I think since it's really pretty rare, like the fedora, it's not something that you do for anyone else...and that aspect is obvious to everyone around you.

Well put, Blackhorse! :cheers:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

:roll:

Is looking good for a reason uncouth, my liege? :lol:

 

[monbla256]

If you want to find some like minded "fedora guys" give this Forum a look over. I've been a member for a couple years now and there are some folks with fantastic hats over there. : http://www.thefedoralounge.com/forum.php . Some of 'em even smoke a pipe

 

[KevinM]

By golly, GQ couldn't have done better on a hat question. And a special tip o' the hat to the BoBs who helpfully rustled out their own headwear and cams to illustrate. Well played, gentlemen.

I should have included in my list my L.L. Bean fisherman's hat (no linger offered) which looks fedora-ish, has to be 20+ years old, has just enough brim to ward off the sun, has held its shape admirably and has often done stylish double duty on rainy days.

I should also have added that a modern hat buyer should avoid offerings with a plastic head band, which is uncomfortable and often leaves its impression on the forehead for quite some time after the hat has been removed.

P.S. I once observed that Moby Dick was the only Great American Novel candidate in which the pipe played a significant part. Book worms among us may recall how Stub, one of the mates aboard the Pequod, carried his day's supply of pipes -- safely tucked in his hat band. Of course, Stubb favored clays which wre common in those days.

 

[Blackhorse]

Not at all Mr. K. I was eye rolling at the 'clothes make the man' mantra. I think that a guy makes whatever he wears look right by his attitude, carriage, etc. - regardless of what all the fashion forward that my wife watches on TV would have one believe. Not that you're saying that. There's nothing at all wrong with lookin' sharp, but if a guy thinks that wearing sharp clothes will make him anything more than he already is...well, I just think that's deluded. The truth will out. But I also think that a guy canbe 'enhanced'.

Scum sucking freak with sleazy outfit = scum sucking freak.

Scum sucking freak dressed to the nines = scum sucking freak.

Great guy in tattered faded jeans and a Red Sox t shirt = great guy.

Great guy in tattered faded jeans, a Red Sox t shirt and a Yankees ball cap = great guy that needs therapy.

Great guy in cool duds, wearing a snappy fedora and smoking a pipe = great guy women want and fish fear.

It is what it is. 8)

 

[MisterE]

Great guy in tattered faded jeans, a Red Sox t shirt and a Yankees ball cap = great guy that needs therapy.

It is what it is. 8)

ROFL, dude. He needs treatment for Dissociative Identity Disorder.

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

Great guy in tattered faded jeans and a Red Sox t shirt = great guy.

There is no such thing as a great guy in a Red Sox t-shirt.






:heart:

 

[Puff Daddy]

:lol:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I also think that a guy can be 'enhanced'.

Precisely what I was saying. Glad you clarified all that other stuff for yourself.


Love,

The Verbose Pot Calling The Wordy Kettle Black

8)

(...and clothed as reflects the man...)

 

[Fishfuzz]

Okay, need help from you guys again. I can't find a freakin R/N number for this product, but I want to find where to buy it. I bought a hat, very similar to this one...




It's not quite the same, but the closest I can find. The brand name on the label is "Kenny K." but heck if the interwebs are giving me anything useful. I'm finding some listings with the brand "Eurosport" but that seems to be a little bit of a red herring.

The reason I like this hat, is because it fits my bulbous head. I'm so frustrated, I'm going to call the hat store in Charleston, to see if they can send me the plaid version. It's unlike any hat I've seen. The plain version has plaid patches instead of a symmetric pattern. Very, very cool looking hat, at least to me.

Any help would be helpful.

Just be warned - if you are in the south, any hat built this way is going to be hot, hot, hot. I would look for a straw or paper fedora for this season. My favs are a stingy brim like above.

I have three styles for summer, and others for rainy season plus a couple for more formal occasions. Since I shave my head completely bald, and my very light completion (white!), I almost always have some sort of hat.

I would also recommend always going somewhere you can try on the hat before purchasing. The sizing is never as it seems, and even with a measured hat, you'll want the dealer to steam and shape it for you.

Today's hat

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Fuzz nailed it. Being uncomfortable in the wrong hat sucks.

This is would be a heat-comfy little number:

 

[KevinM]

Wicked cool!

 

[Sean68]

Fuzz, you are a handsome bastard in that straw. I like it much. I am partial to Irish caps (or whatever they are officially called). But I do own one straw that I purchase from a Cuban clothier. I like it very much and enjoy a cold pint and a cigar on the front porch wearing it when I get the chance.

Cheers!