Bad hats.

[Matt Deckard]

I've mentioned many times before of my bad hat experiences with hats... you can search the forum for those stories.

What are yours? Sagging shrinking wearing holes in the felt.

My favorite hats are the ones that can take the elements and a regular beating. That means they don't sag in the rain... even when drenched over and over again. I prefer a maluable hat which can be rolled up for travel which eliminates the cowboy hats. I like it when the crown doesn't shrink... being a kid raised on the Indiana Jones look i grew to be an adult into the high crowned 1930's styles. That means I prefer the hat's crown to keep it's vertical tendancies.

What I dislike is stated at the top.

So what are your stories of bad hats?

 

[PeeWee]

I ruined a brand new hat once trying to shrink it and to change the bash. I figured I could leave it out in the rain, then bring it in to shape and dry. The next day it would'nt even fit my pug lol

 

[RedPop4]

I work at an HBCU (Historically Black College and University) and one of the campus police officers told me this summer...."That's a baaaaaaad hat" when I was wearing my Panama HatWorks of Montecristi creation.:eusa_clap

 

[griffer]

That's some bad hat, Harry.

 

[nulty]

humidity

Killed the hat..

I found a near dead stock Royal Stetson 2" brim fedora in the local Salivation Army store once..it was the deep brownish gray brown color, had a narrow ribbon for that style hat.. 7 1/2 long oval...only one I've ever seen...mid 50's vintage..paid 2 dollar for it..

Loved it so much I wore it every day. Kept in the car too.....in the summer even....till one day I looked at it and it was all faded and didn't fit me any more...I learnt my lesson..shure enough.

 

[tonyb]

The Borsalinos I've purchased new over the past several years aren't "bad" hats, but they certainly aren't worth what I paid for 'em. Sure wish I had spent that dough on vintage and custom lids instead, which has been my habit of late. They're far, far better values.

 

[gughunter]

Not a bad hat in itself, but a bad, or at least alarming, experience: last year I went on a trip to Mexico and brought along a "LiteFelt" (wool) Broner Melodrama. The hat itself was terrific (though a bit warm at times) and I even got a few compliments. But the day I wore it on a boat trip, I discovered a curious thing -- wherever a beige Melodrama gets splashed with salt water, the splashes turn the color of orange sherbet.

Fortunately it turned out that plain tap water solved the problem!

 

[Steve]

My bad experience comes from a problem I have with sweating. When wearing my Adventurebilt this summer, my inhuman way of sweating caused the sweatband to shrink up incredibly tight within eight months. So I've learned my lesson, the AB and other fur hats will be for the fall, and I'm getting a Panama for the summer. :eusa_doh:

 

[moustache]

True enough!!

The Borsalinos I've purchased new over the past several years aren't "bad" hats, but they certainly aren't worth what I paid for 'em. Sure wish I had spent that dough on vintage and custom lids instead, which has been my habit of late. They're far, far better values.

No doubt about the quality of Borsalinos today vs before 1960.I tried on (for fun mind you )a Borsalino last weekend at one of my local haberdashers.It had no lining,no banded or lined edge,and the colour just didn't seem right.The felt quality was sub-par and it was so light i felt nothing was there.
To top it all off,i looked at the price tag and laughed audibly!$245???
The salesman wondered why i was laughing and asked.I didnt really give him the reason i wanted but did admit that hats are not made like they used to be.
He agreed and then commented on how expensive the Borsalinos are for what little one gets.
Made my point for me he did.

So now all i buy are vintage Borsalinos.The drawback there is that i see fewer vintage Borsalinos in decent shape for an affordable price.

JD

 

[Tomasso]

The Borsalinos I've purchased new over the past several years aren't "bad" hats, but they certainly aren't worth what I paid for 'em.

I concur. Borsalinos are simply overpriced. If they were priced at $100, the haters would be raving about them.

 

[Dinerman]

my wool felt hat's shrunk to the size of a thimble.

wool. bad!

 

[DobbsFan]

Pain in the hat experiences

Howdy,
Can report two:
1) Picked up a vintage Stetson panama w/ some damage for $25; quickly
became my favorite summer hat. Went to an all-day auction in August,
sweatband, then hat became soaked w/ perspiration. Left hat in hot
car to dry out -- sweatband turned into crisp bacon imitation
2) About two years ago, while still new to hats and FL, felt horrified to find
Art using a Mallory that I had just won at auction as an example of "what
not to buy" in comparison to a much older/nicer Mallory. Sure enough,
when the hat arrived it was a piece of 1970's crap -- donated it to the
Goodwill. Learned a lot from Art's discussion, haven't made that mistake
since.
Appreciate the stories; hope Santa is nice to each of us
DF

 

[scotrace]

The ultimate Bad Hat

Pepito!