Lee hats

[funneman]

Greetings everyone,

This is my first post on F.L. I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments and helpful hints on the care and feeding of felt fedoras.

BTW, I've found steam and the wife's EYEBROW TWEASERS work great on surface holes caused by silverfish.

Question: I've had my eye on a certain Lee Fedora on a certain internet auction site and was wondering if anyone here knows anything about them. Are they a Dobbs/Stetson product with a Lee name on the band? If not, are they usually well manufactured? Also, is it the same Lee brand as the blue jean manufacturer?

Thanks,

 

[Flash Gordon]

Lee hats are NOT made by the jeans manufacturer. Different animal entirely. I have a book somewhere that has the history of Lee hats...which are named after someone named Lee. (If only I could remember his name!) Maybe one of the others here can jump in.

One of my favorite vintage hats is a Lee. It has a beautiful Cavanagh edge. It's a good quality hat. You won't be disappointed.

 

[Magus]

I wore a vintage Lee all day today...love it.

 

[maintcoder]

I wore a vintage Lee all day today...love it.

Me too... wanna know which one? lol

 

[funneman]

Thanks

Thanks for all of the info. I missed this hat when it was up for auction and it ended with no bidders at $11.00 including shipping. DOH! I feel kinda cheated having to BUT IT NOW for $21.00 Guess I shouldn't be so cheap!

 

[MattC]

A bit of info on Lee

Lee was one of the great Danbury Conn hat companies. It was not owned by Stetson or the HCA companies (at least not for most of its life). Lee was not the top quality, but it made a very good hat.

 

[jamespowers]

Hat brand names came from the experienced hatters that started the companies. John B. Stetson, Charles Knox, Frank H. Lee, H. Dewit Dobbs, John Cavanagh all fit the bill.
Lee was a huge company at one time. It produced hats for other store brands like Brent and Marathon. They did a huge business in low end hats but they were quite capable of producing high grade hats as well. Usually the wider the ribbon on a Lee the higher the grade of the hat---but not always as is the case with the Lee 100. Lee considered its base $5-7.50 hat (depending on the year) a "farmer hat." The farmer hat had a thin ribbon and a thinly bound edge. The accoutrements were cheaper. The sweatband and liner were not as high quality as their expensive models. As the scale went up in price the hat was a better dress hat on up to the 100.
It would help to have a picture of the hat. Looking at a Lee is the easiest way to understand what you have. You can tell the difference easily.
As for the brands merging, it sort of went like this as far as I can trace it:
Knox merges with Dunlap 1918
Cavanagh-Dobbs is bought by Hat Corporation of America making John Cavanagh president--1932
Knox and Dunlap are bought by Resistol
Resistol acquires Hat Corporation of America in the mid 60s Resistol now has brands Knox, Kevin McAndrew, Bradford, Churchill, Champ, Dobbs and Cavanagh.
HCA/Resistol sells to the Salesky Brothers in 1968
Stetson sold its machinery to the Stevens Hat Company in 1971
By 1979 the Salesky brothers had also acquired the Stetson name and decide to sell their hat division to Levi Strauss of all people!
HCA/Levi Strauss hat division is bought by ADJ Caps 1985. ADJ caps already had Texas Miller at that time whose labels were Adam and others.
ADJ Caps is bought by Hat Brands, Inc. (HatCo) 1993
If anyone has more specific dates and information please add them.

Regards,

J

 

[besdor]

James, you've pretty much got the history down pact ! There is a book by Debbie Henderson that explains it all called Hat Talk .
Anyway, Lee was a good company to deal with and they made nice hats for the money .

 

[jamespowers]

James, you've pretty much got the history down pact ! There is a book by Debbie Henderson that explains it all called Hat Talk .
Anyway, Lee was a good company to deal with and they made nice hats for the money .

Yep, I have the book. My only problem with it is that at some points it seems to contradict itself. The timeline is not clearcut. To get all of that I had to check out other sources and make sure I was getting the transition right. Especially when it came to Resistol. Some books say Resistol bought HCA and other say HCA bought Resistol. The brands included are also somewhat concrete but not all. There probably can be further research done to get a better idea of what went on when. Until then I'll stick by what I can get.

Regards,

J

 

[Wobbely]

Hi Guys
Hope you don't mind a female chiming in and asking a question or two. I was pleasantly surprised when I ran across your Lee Hat thread as hubby and I have three Lee (Fedoras) I guess they are, that originally belonged to his grandfather. All three appear to have been stored for a number of years inside a Mr Disney hat box. None of them fit hubby so I'm going to try to list them somewhere online. Any suggestions as to where to list them....ebay, set up our own web page, etc etc? I'm open to suggestions and looking for advice from people in the know.
Have to say some of the pics you guys posted take me back a few years. My grandpa used to wear an old well worn hat. Last time I was in the old farmhouse it was still there but certainly moth eaten.
Have a wonderful afternoon

 

[funneman]

Any suggestions as to where to list them

Yeah, if they're 7 or 71/8 list them in my email.

 

[jamespowers]

Yeah, if they're 7 or 71/8 list them in my email.

That is one cool avatar you have there.
I am also glad we are not nearly the same head size.


Regards,

J

 

[Wobbely]

Yeah, if they're 7 or 71/8 list them in my email.

LOL Will look again but figuring they might all three be the same size. One I know says 7 1/4. Have pics if you'd like to see them. If I can figure out how to post pics here I'll post one of the three of them together.

 

[Pilgrim]

Wobbely, there are enough members here that wear 7 1/4 (myself included) that if you list them in the classifieds, provide good pictures and good measurements, the chances are good that you'll be able to sell them right there.

[[Blatant self-promotion warning!!]]: If you have a *dark* grey 7 1/4 fedora with a brim 2 1/2" or wider, feel free to let me know.

If they don't sell here, I recommend Ebay.

 

[Wobbely]

Wobbely, there are enough members here that wear 7 1/4 (myself included) that if you list them in the classifieds, provide good pictures and good measurements, the chances are good that you'll be able to sell them right there.

[[Blatant self-promotion warning!!]]: If you have a *dark* grey 7 1/4 fedora with a brim 2 1/2" or wider, feel free to let me know.

If they don't sell here, I recommend Ebay.

Well thank you......Pilgrim.......in my best John Wayne voice LOL

 

[Veronica Parra]

Well thank you......Pilgrim.......in my best John Wayne voice LOL

lol lol lol

 

[funneman]

So, I bought the Lee today for $9.00..

....plus $6.00 shipping. I'll let you know what it's like when it gets here. I still haven't had time to read how to attach auction pages or pics yet

As always, thanks again, Ladies and Gents for your helpful advice.

 

[scotrace]

Bump

I picked up a Lee Adventure last week. It's filthy and I think it is a nice enough hat to send off for professional restoration. I'll post before and afters.

The felt is dense and thin (summer hat), with a small crown liner stitched in (and badly browned). Nice pliable sweatband. In a sort of olive brown with an orange-ish ribbon and binding. At least those are the colors while dirty. Might be white for all I know. Someone wore it through some hot summers and sweated it up. Still has a great shape though.

Oh - it was a poorly-listed item, and I got it for a song. It's a 7.5 Long Oval.

 

[Dinerman]

would you mind posting pics of it?
I think Lee made hats for Brent, and I've got a Brent adventurer with an orange ribbon. Could be completetly different, but it'd be interesting if they were the same.

 

[drummer]

Looking for info about this Lee Blue Label hat, stamped Rugby #2

My first posting here, just trying to research a vintage size 6-7/8 Lee Blue Label hat and wondering how to describe the style? We sell vintage clothing but I'm not completely familiar with correct terminology and thought I'd come to your forum to learn! It is stamped Rugby #2, but I couldn't find any information about it online. Doesn't appear to have been worn. Thanks for any direction and correct terminology to use. Using photobucket for pictures, not sure if there is a better direct way to show hat.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/wpaprints/IMG_8493.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/wpaprints/IMG_8494.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/wpaprints/IMG_8499.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/wpaprints/IMG_8502.jpg