The Lost Cowboy
Call Me a Cab
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- 2,618
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- Southeast Asia
With your build and hat size, a 3 inch brim would look fine - it would probably look pretty good, actually.With your indulgence I would like to pick the brains of the knowledge base.
Ok new custom hat time as Tibor who makes custom hats has sourced midnight blue 20x beaver felt in cowboy weight which means 230 grams.
As the felt can support a wide brim I am looking at a high and wide fedora that is built to be as formal as such a beast can be.
I have Akubra Federation IV but they are more “adventurer” style with non-edged brims, and often used as the bases for the Indian Jones style hats. I have Akubra Stylemasters and Bogarts that are what I call city hats, meaning crossovers in classical casual to business wear but fall slightly short of ultra formal.
I need a high crown of at least 5” formed maybe 4.5” at a pinch. Thinking 5.5”. Been an Aussie we like wide brims and especially handy in Tassie due to the low winter sun angle. Also at 6’3” and axe handle wide a more substantial hat suits my frame.
The concept is at night it reads formal black but in daylight you can see the blue thus not appearing as a “funeral” hat.
And yes I am not afraid to buck convention as I will leave being a “safe corporate drone” look to others.
Any pointers or pictures what works well doing this? Happy to consider other formal styles but think it would be a shame not to use the Western weight felt for a broader brim. As said channel formal as possible.
I use ChatGPT as my “design” tool and it came up with this based on my requirements. It is around 2.75 to 3” brim and 5.5” crown after forming.
HOWEVER, if you plan to use this hat to go out in the evenings, then you might want to think about what you will do with it when it's not on your head. 2.75 inches is still small enough to fit under a chair at a restaurant or somewhere in a corner, but 3 inches is not. If you're at a concert, 2.75 inches will sit in your lap - 3 inches will not.
I consider 3 inch brims to be for a working hat, and you are getting it in a working weight. As Rob pointed out, really the only reason to do this is if you are actually going to be working a lot outside. Our modern, developed world lifestyles just don't put wear and tear even on dress weight hats, let alone on the heavy weight.
That being said, the temps are cooler in Tassie and the heavier weight might suit you better for that purpose alone.
You might consider getting a dimensional brim. That is actually the kind of brim shape that an Indiana Jones hat has - longer in the front and back and shorter on the sides. You can get a dimensional brim and still have the brim edge bound and that will give it a different feel from an Indy hat. Or you can even do what I did and get a dimensional brim, bind it, AND get a thin ribbon instead of a ribbon and bow (thin ribbon like a Campdraft).
There are tons of options but first I would think practically: what range of activities do you want this hat for. If it's strictly for outdoors, then a bigger brim is worth it. If you're gonna want to wear it in society, then a bigger brim is probably just gonna be a burden.
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