Can someone help me with this one?

[luvthatlulu]

Today, Lulu and I saw a vintage fedora that is sized / tagged "Customized 7" that looks for all the world like a Stetson "Open Road". However the label in the crown said that it was made by Stephen (?) Stetson and then the label proceeded to clarify in great detail that they were "NEVER ASSOCIATED WITH THE JOHN B. STETSON CO." or words to that effect. Light tan hat was in primo condition although the clear vinyl over the label inside had fogged up and reading the above information was difficult at best. Store's price tag stated that hat was from the 40s and had never been worn, but I wasn't so sure. Matching hat trolley. XXXX Quality in gold embossed on one side of the sweatband and the name of a men's store in California that I have now forgotten on the other.

Does anyone here know of such a company and can you shed some light perhaps on the value of this bird? Many thanks in advance.

 

[duggap]

I tried a search here on Stephen Stetson but it keeps showing all references to Stetson so that didn't help. You will get some good information on this soon. There was a Stephen Stetson company that made hats. I vaguely remember that there may have been a suit to distinguish the two companies. I don't have a guess as to value but it should have a bit of a rarity factor to it.[huh]

 

[ScionPI2005]

Don't know if the information provided by this seller is accurate, but take a look at this completed ebay listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14065&item=280166423689

This may be from the company you are asking about.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Stephen Stetson was a (NY?) hat maker. There was a court case, and the upshot was that J B Stetson got free advertising inside each of Stephen Stetson's hats and Stephen Stetson was allowed to continue trading using the name Stetson (his own name! Sucks, no?).

I've always found the reasons and need for this court case unfathomable.

bk

 

[scotrace]

Buy it.


Edit to add: Value? Size 7? Should be cheap unless it's a funky colour. $60 or less.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

A little background on Stephen L. Stetson

One of John B. Stetson’s grandnephews, Stephen L. Stetson, in January 1934 was sued by the John B. Stetson Co. for trademark infringement. That happened after he decided to put his name, Stephen L. Stetson, on his manufactured hats. Stephen L. Stetson ultimately was ordered to stop using the family name on his hats.

The plaintiff, John B. Stetson Company, is a corporation of Pennsylvania organized in 1891. It succeeded to the hat business founded by John B. Stetson in 1865 in Philadelphia, and it has become one of the largest and best known manufacturers of hats in the world. In May, 1906, it was granted the trade-mark "Stetson" upon an application for registration under the Act of February 20, 1905, c. 592, § 5, 33 Stat. 725 (see 15 U.S.C.A. § 85), which stated that the trade-mark had been used continuously in the business of the plaintiff and its predecessors since 1866. More than five and a half million dollars have been spent in advertising the plaintiff's hats, and the trade has come to know them by the name Stetson. From 1891 to 1931 the hats of no other manufacturer carried the word Stetson in any form.

In 1933 the defendant Stephen L. Stetson Company, Ltd., a New York corporation, was organized by Stephen L. Stetson to take over the business which he had conducted under his own name since about June, 1931. The hats which he put on the market under his name were made in the factory of the defendant Hutt & Wasserman, Inc., and the Stephen L. Stetson Company has continued the same arrangement with Hutt & Wasserman. Prior to going into business for himself, Stephen L. Stetson had been employed as a clerk with the No Name Hat Manufacturing Company.

-dixon cannon



http://books.google.com/books?id=uCHNh9K-UkwC&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=stephen+l+stetson+co+ltd&source=web&ots=K9RO7NRjpE&sig=BuAZdZA2y_HuUFOUDm6FDYs-ABQ

 

[luvthatlulu]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses and information!!!

Don't know if the information provided by this seller is accurate, but take a look at this completed ebay listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14065&item=280166423689

This may be from the company you are asking about.

Yes, that is essentially the same tag inside the crown and that is the same information printed on it--however, I don't recall the crown graphic being on the top of the label like this one.

Again, the hat we saw looks exactly like the Stetson "Open Road" with a matching wind trolley in very light tan and very soft and pliable felt. I was able to easily manipulate the crown from a Cattleman's crease to a Diamond bash with no trouble at all. The hat is very clean and the only real negatives were the "fogged" vinyl covering over the interior crown label and a single moth divot I found behind the ribbon on the left side. If anyone is interested in it, let me know by PM, we'll work out the details, and I'll get it for you. Hat was priced at $55 and I am sure there is some flexibility there but didn't pursue it while there.