Baron Hats

[bburtner@moran]

Any loungers have any dealings with Baron Hats in tinsel town?

 

[Matt Deckard]

To be brutally honest... yes... I just brought a few hats from them that I left off to get repairs done last month.

I took them a gray fedora that needed a new sweat and a new ribbon.
And two brown hats, one with a ribbon and one without. I wanted them to take the ribbon off one and put it on the other... that's it.

I was specific with the gray, I wanted a brown sweatband. I swore a long time ago I'd never go back to Baron hats after they ruined two hats I had about 5 years ago... Ask me about that later.

Anywho, the gray hat came back with an off kilter black sweatband with the seam about an inch from center... the ribbon they put on had big stitching that was making the ribbon not level with the brim of the hat... I was upset, I'm used to vintage and stitching that's hard to see and sweatbands that look like they are part of the hat, not something put in as an after thought... I should have taken a picture... I admit I'm a crazy stickler for details and they do about the same quality work I saw in the high end European hat shops. They also took out the liner which was originally stitched in and fabric glued the sides in under the sweatband... Stetson and the other off the rack companies use glue today as well. I'm spoiled by companies like Optimo that stictch in liners. When I got the Baron worked-on hats, the linings were falling from the top.

The Brown hats came back with the ribbon from the one put on the other... though they added a completely different ribbon to the one I asked them to leave no ribbon on. Stitching again chunky and the ribbon was wobbly, not straight across along the brim.

The kicker is that when they brought out the order, they brought it out... all hats squished together in a plastic bag. I can can treat my hats that way... yet when I see a hat shop do that I cringe.

That was the first time I'd been there to have work done in 5 years and they provided just what I should have expected. They have grown a lot, and they tout working on Temple of Doom and Indy IV.

So, I sent all the hats (plus a few others that needed work) to Optimo in Chicago and just got them back from Graham... They look like they came off a shelf of a 1930's department store. Stitching is perfect inside and out and nothing is off kilter or off center. Now I'll take pics.

 

[randooch]

Informative story, Matt. A classic "get what you pay for" tale.

 

[CaddyKid21]

The problem with Baron also, is that they literally take months to get stuff done, my boss wanted to have his great grandfathers hat re sized and it took 3 months. They did a good job. I am an hour from Baron, but personally id rather send my hat to Optimo to get it done. I think its worth shipping it and having a better job done then waiting forever and having a decent job done.

 

[Matt Deckard]

Time's never really been an issue when I've spoken to them, though I've never needed a rush from them. They work for the movie industry a lot and if you want something done in a short period of time they can accommodate... but, I'm not going back to that shop to have work done... maybe to check out what they carry every now and again, though never again will they touch my hats.

 

[bburtner@moran]

Baron

Thanks for the insite on Baron,it squares me away about dealing with them..

 

[Lefty]

Does Art?

Yep.

 

[Torpedo]

Hi,

John Penman's hats have sewn liners, too.

 

[Lefty]

Maybe you're seeing where the ribbon is tacked? The liner is sewn in behind the sweat, so it's also behind the ribbon. You shouldn't see the stitches from the liner being sewn on the inside or outside of the hat, without flipping the sweat down.

 

[jdbenson]

Sewn Liner

Gus Miller at Batsakes hat shop in Cincinnati sews in liners as well. He recently cleaned a vintage Resistol OR clone for me, inside and out. The original liner had long ago come loose (either unstitched or unglued) but when I got it back he'd very carefully stitched in the new liner. I think rather than stitch thru the felt, he just slips the needle thru about 1/2 the felt thickness, so no stiches show from the outside.

 

[gtdean48]

The Royal Stetson OR that I just got off OFAS has a sewn in lining....

 

[Viper Man]

The Royal Stetson OR that I just got off OFAS has a sewn in lining....

All good vintage hats have sewn-in liners. They started gluing them in right about the time that the hat business went to pot.