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Just to be clear, my comments in post #31948 were really nothing more than me having a bit of fun with Anthony's comments about the disappointing Campdraft he received recently. I have six Akubras myself--three Fed IVs and three Campdrafts--and I like 'em all. Are they the best hats currently available? No. They're probably not even the best mass-produced hats currently available. But I agree that you get a lot of bang for your buck when you buy an Akubra.I have a Campdraft, the very first felt hat I bought - it's the bluegrass green.
When it arrived, the felt was so stiff, it felt like it was made of cardboard.
Since then, and with lots of wear (from blizzards in New England, to sweatfests in Texas) it has softened up and honestly the felt quality is as good and soft as any hat I own.
I've worn the heck out of this hat and it still looks just about perfect. A couple of years ago, I removed the liner to make it work better in warns weather and I must have re-creased it a dozen or more times.
Since then, I've bought a Tablelands (I swapped the the leather band with an Aussie pug that I bought from a bloke in Singapore) which I swear is tough enough to stop a ******.
Sure, I have a bunch of vintage and custom hats, but my Akubras are both great hats and probably have the best cost/quality ratio of anything I own.
Cheers!
David - 21st Century Man
Or maybe I've just been lucky. The only real inconsistency between mine was the degree of stiffness on one of the Campdrafts--so stiff that it actually required some effort to snap the front of the brim down (and it snapped right back up the first four or five times), and the crown resisted shaping. But they've all become softer as I've shaped and worn them. Nowhere near as soft as a vintage hat, of course, but they're not 40 to 80 years old. *shrug* They're what I can afford, and so far I've been happy with the hats I've received.


