HNC Hatworks (formerly known as Agnoulita Hats)

[J Williams]

Can’t wait to see how Mr. takes these specs and turns it into a hat. Hopefully I’ll get this hat in just 2-3 weeks!

Sounds like it's going to be a nice hat Brent - Bit more western than most of your Agnoulitas?

I emailed him on both his standard email address and through etsy over a week ago for an inquiry. No response.

 

[Tukwila]

The felter providing the 100% hare hat bodies is slow to fill orders. I have two on order, but I know that Agnoulita took delivery of some a couple months ago. I asked Mr. what he has in stock and I selected this felt:

These are the specifications I sent:

1. Size 62
2. #52 block
3. 1-861-311 lightweight felt
4. 16cm open crown
5. Narrow brim binding slightly darker than the felt.
6. Minimal stiffeners added to the crown
7. Finely pounced
8. Tan leather sweatband
9. Tone-on-tone crown ribbon
10. 2.5cm wide crown ribbon
11. Standard bow with frayed trailing edge
12. Curled brim edge
13. Iridescent liner
14. I want the brim to be 7cm wide after the curl
15. I don’t want it to be any stiffer than needed to hold its shape.

Can’t wait to see how Mr. takes these specs and turns it into a hat. Hopefully I’ll get this hat in just 2-3 weeks!


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I can't wait to see it, too. Is this lightweight felt going to have enough real estate for a 6.3" x 2.76" lid?

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I can't wait to see it, too. Is this lightweight felt going to have enough real estate for a 6.3" x 2.76" lid?

I was wondering the same thing, but Mr. P said it was “doable.” The brim will be even larger since my measurement was for after the curl.

My first lightweight from him also has a 16cm open crown and a 7cm (no curl) brim.


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[deadlyhandsome]

Sounds like it's going to be a nice hat Brent - Bit more western than most of your Agnoulitas?

I emailed him on both his standard email address and through etsy over a week ago for an inquiry. No response.

Definitely a bit more western dress. I have two actual western weight felts on order in addition to this, but we are waiting for the felter to deliver the bodies.

Communication with Agnoulita can be very frustrating. I’ve ordered 11 hats from him so I feel like I’m a good customer, but he still doesn’t answer all my emails. Strange, but I’ve mostly accepted it as a quirk of the shop. It is, of course, a terrible business practice, but he’s running at full capacity and is putting in 16 hour days. Keep on him and drop The Fedora Lounge name.

I’ve noticed that his pricing has increased significantly in the last year, and if his rabbit hats reach the same price as say a Gannon rabbit one has to question the value proposition. Then again, Agnoulita offers a huge variety of colors and options not available elsewhere, and his quality has gotten better too.


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[Tukwila]

The felter providing the 100% hare hat bodies is slow to fill orders. I have two on order, but I know that Agnoulita took delivery of some a couple months ago. I asked Mr. what he has in stock and I selected this felt:

These are the specifications I sent:

1. Size 62
2. #52 block
3. 1-861-311 lightweight felt
4. 16cm open crown
5. Narrow brim binding slightly darker than the felt.
6. Minimal stiffeners added to the crown
7. Finely pounced
8. Tan leather sweatband
9. Tone-on-tone crown ribbon
10. 2.5cm wide crown ribbon
11. Standard bow with frayed trailing edge
12. Curled brim edge
13. Iridescent liner
14. I want the brim to be 7cm wide after the curl
15. I don’t want it to be any stiffer than needed to hold its shape.

Can’t wait to see how Mr. takes these specs and turns it into a hat. Hopefully I’ll get this hat in just 2-3 weeks!


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I love the blue grey felt of my wife's 40s Cavanagh. I think the 1-864-311 is something I'd be interested in...

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I love the blue grey felt of my wife's 40s Cavanagh. I think the 1-864-311 is something I'd be interested in...

It’s hard to tell the true colors based on his photos of felt swatches.

Here’s what he currently has in stock for hare hat bodies:

“I am currently carrying light-weight in colors 1-860-311, 1-861-311, 1-862-311 and 1-231-221”.

He has many more in order, and some are due to ship tomorrow, but don’t hold your breath.


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[deadlyhandsome]

I love the blue grey felt of my wife's 40s Cavanagh. I think the 1-864-311 is something I'd be interested in...

You can also talk to Rick at Phoenix and have him procure the felt and make the hat for you; he’s putting an order together. Agnoulita offers felt hat bodies as retail and wholesale items. If you place an order with Agnoulita just be sure to specify all the details (liner seam, binding butting, pouncing, etc.). Also remember to use FEDORA LOUNGE as the discount code to get free shipping.


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[J Williams]

I’ve noticed that his pricing has increased significantly in the last year, and if his rabbit hats reach the same price as say a Gannon rabbit one has to question the value proposition. Then again, Agnoulita offers a huge variety of colors and options not available elsewhere, and his quality has gotten better too.

I dropped the fedora lounge name and even the deadlyhandsome name!

Do you have a price list from him you could pm or email? That was in large part what my inquiry was about. Since Akubra doesn’t make a black CD I was thinking of getting a black OR clone and wanted to keep the price down. Also thought it would be a good way to see his quality on a simple hat I know I would wear before going with something more adventurous.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Most of his prices are on Etsy. Additionally, I included his hare hat price list up thread a couple months ago.


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[drmaxtejeda]

Interesting, do you think the felts will be big enough to get that much brim? The next time Akubra has a sale I am going to bite on one of their sombreros.

Well, he replied he doesn't. I am sorry I missed your post for so long.

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[deadlyhandsome]

I sent an email to Mr. P to express concern about his lack of communication with others who are contemplating orders. I feel some responsibility since I’m Agnoulita’s biggest supporter. After @J Williams didn’t get a response I decided to let Mr. P know of our concerns and at his potential loss of business. This was his response at 3:07 a.m.:



Dear Brent,

I am grateful for your concern and consideration. You are a true friend and I appreciate it.

Busyness can hardly be an excuse for anything. While I have managed to improve our productivity over the past year we still strive to keep up with ever-increasing traffic and orders. My assistant Georgia responds to dozens of incoming messages on a daily basis but she still has a lot to learn about our hat-making process before she could possibly converse with any hat aficionado like your fellow loungers. As a result I get lost in an ocean of messages I need to go through, usually after the heat of the day is over. Not much of a business model I guess. It is more like trying to surf a tsunami wave. Solving our communication issues is a task I need to urgently deal with. Any recommendations in this direction are more than welcome.

At this point, I can only think of one relatively quick fix. I am willing to start calling everyone back if they can just drop their number in my inbox. It will be a bit costly for me but it would greatly reduce the amount of typing back and forth and ultimately the number of messages left answered to loungers.

Mr. P.

PS I am dealing with 120+ custom orders at the moment. As a result I have recently increased my prices to slow down things a bit. At the same time I still regard Loungers' orders as the most intriguing source of inspiration and my best chance to add new notable designs to my collection, like the Deadly Handsome and the Lounger. In this respect I will be sending you tomorrow new coupon codes for keeping prices where they were for you.


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[deadlyhandsome]

I’ll provide the coupon codes as soon as I get them (see end of previous post).

I personally think that his hats are worth the inconveniences, but I too wish communication was faster. For now, if you need to have quick responses you might need to go with someone else. I have two hats and one more hat body on order with Agnoulita and I have no regrets.


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[J Williams]

I sent an email to Mr. P to express concern about his lack of communication with others who are contemplating orders. I feel some responsibility since I’m Agnoulita’s biggest supporter. After @J Williams didn’t get a response I decided to let Mr. P know of our concerns and at his potential loss of business. This was his response at 3:07 a.m.:

Dear Brent,

I am grateful for your concern and consideration. You are a true friend and I appreciate it.

Busyness can hardly be an excuse for anything. While I have managed to improve our productivity over the past year we still strive to keep up with ever-increasing traffic and orders. My assistant Georgia responds to dozens of incoming messages on a daily basis but she still has a lot to learn about our hat-making process before she could possibly converse with any hat aficionado like your fellow loungers. As a result I get lost in an ocean of messages I need to go through, usually after the heat of the day is over. Not much of a business model I guess. It is more like trying to surf a tsunami wave. Solving our communication issues is a task I need to urgently deal with. Any recommendations in this direction are more than welcome.

At this point, I can only think of one relatively quick fix. I am willing to start calling everyone back if they can just drop their number in my inbox. It will be a bit costly for me but it would greatly reduce the amount of typing back and forth and ultimately the number of messages left answered to loungers.

Mr. P.

PS I am dealing with 120+ custom orders at the moment. As a result I have recently increased my prices to slow down things a bit. At the same time I still regard Loungers' orders as the most intriguing source of inspiration and my best chance to add new notable designs to my collection, like the Deadly Handsome and the Lounger. In this respect I will be sending you tomorrow new coupon codes for keeping prices where they were for you.

Thanks for mentioning it to him Brent. I had a feeling you might have before even seeing this as he sent me an email a few hours ago. I am self employed and handle all of my customers directly as well as doing all of our designs and shop drawings and I have to set aside some time to actually work in the shop. I completely understand his struggle - It's 8:30 here and I'm just sitting down to work for 3 or 4 hours on stuff I just couldn't get to.

One suggestion I would make for him is to go ahead and have his assistant or whoever is handling his inbox simply draft a canned response email stating something along the lines of Mr. P. being very busy, your order is important to us and Mr. P. will reach out to you as soon as possible yada yada yada.

I know with my clients as long as they get an acknowledgement from me they are typically happy to wait to hear back, a little bit goes a long way.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Thanks for mentioning it to him Brent. I had a feeling you might have before even seeing this as he sent me an email a few hours ago. I am self employed and handle all of my customers directly as well as doing all of our designs and shop drawings and I have to set aside some time to actually work in the shop. I completely understand his struggle - It's 8:30 here and I'm just sitting down to work for 3 or 4 hours on stuff I just couldn't get to.

One suggestion I would make for him is to go ahead and have his assistant or whoever is handling his inbox simply draft a canned response email stating something along the lines of Mr. P. being very busy, your order is important to us and Mr. P. will reach out to you as soon as possible yada yada yada.

I know with my clients as long as they get an acknowledgement from me they are typically happy to wait to hear back, a little bit goes a long way.

I always get the impression that Mr. P is completely sincere and honest. He is trying to make a small business work and take care of a family. His delayed responses are annoying, but mostly understandable.

I passed on your recommendation to Mr. P.

I’m hoping my latest Agnoulita will be in my hands in the next few weeks.


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[J Williams]

So I'm now discussing my hat with Mr. P.

I can't decide on black or anthracite - It's mostly an OR clone but I'm bumping the brim up to 3"

Thoughts?

https://i.etsystatic.com/icm/344f15....217722664_a09ik8m5j00ssookwwow.pdf?version=0

 

[deadlyhandsome]

So I'm now discussing my hat with Mr. P.

I can't decide on black or anthracite - It's mostly an OR clone but I'm bumping the brim up to 3"

Thoughts?

https://i.etsystatic.com/icm/344f15....217722664_a09ik8m5j00ssookwwow.pdf?version=0

There’s something clean, simple, and elegant about a black hat. They are also a pain to keep clean and have a more formal air. The anthracite looks nice too. For some reason, I think that as an OR the black would be my first choice, but both are nice.


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[J Williams]

There’s something clean, simple, and elegant about a black hat. They are also a pain to keep clean and have a more formal air. The anthracite looks nice too. For some reason, I think that as an OR the black would be my first choice, but both are nice.

That's about as much of a nudge as I needed - going black on black.

 

[belfastboy]

So I'm now discussing my hat with Mr. P.

I can't decide on black or anthracite - It's mostly an OR clone but I'm bumping the brim up to 3"

Thoughts?

https://i.etsystatic.com/icm/344f15....217722664_a09ik8m5j00ssookwwow.pdf?version=0

I have both a bļack añd what i call charcoal.....the charcoal is a far more interesting colour IMO. Īt reflects the light differently and has more depth and interest.

 

[tropicalbob]

So I'm now discussing my hat with Mr. P.

I can't decide on black or anthracite - It's mostly an OR clone but I'm bumping the brim up to 3"

Thoughts?

https://i.etsystatic.com/icm/344f15....217722664_a09ik8m5j00ssookwwow.pdf?version=0

This is a hat that I'm really looking forward to seeing: the very idea of it is giving me that urge that we all know so well.

 

[J Williams]

This is a hat that I'm really looking forward to seeing: the very idea of it is giving me that urge that we all know so well.

I did decide to go with the black on black - I'm probably going to get a charcoal beaver from Gannon and my thought was the black would 'hide' the rabbit. I did stray from the OR style by changing the brim to a flat 3" brim with a pencil curl as opposed to the flanged brim - I'm hoping I don't regret it - I think it will still read similar as I always wear my hats snapped up - still a 3/8 bound edge. Hopefully you are still looking forward to seeing it!