Was Able To Visit Both Stetson Outlets In One Trip

[MJL]

My daughter starts at university in late June so we had two weeks to grab a family road trip. We headed out to Mesa Verde National Park and I noticed that I could bend our route to Dallas to grab some brisket at Lockharts and check out the Resistol/Stetson store. They had a great sale, two or more 50% off the whole order, so I picked up a "few". On the way home I noticed Saint Joseph, Missouri is only a little bit off I70 so we hit the other Stetson outlet. They had hats in the warehouse area for $25. I was able to pick up a few more. Most were crappy wool fedoras but there was a Chatham and Stratoliner that came home with me. I was able to pick up a nice Temple for my daughter and a 6X cowboy she just had to have. When I get home and unbox my purchases I'll get back here with what came home with me. In all a very enjoyable experience visiting both outlets and I feel I got some great bargains.

 

[MJL]

I am reposting to this thread because, a year later, I did this again. This summer my daughter was taking classes so was unable to accompany us on our trip west. Since we live in Southern Florida the big loop is sort of a natural summer trip for a person who likes the American west, actually prefers long distance driving and dislikes cities.

We made it to Dallas in two days from the Miami area and set up in a hotel in Garland. We were able to visit our favorite Dallas area BBQ restaurant twice, Lockhart's, in Plano and I have to comment that anyone visiting the Garland store ought to consider a meal at Lockhart's. This makes our third time in two years at this restaurant and it has yet to disappoint, really fantastic brisket, clod, sausage and pickles to really die for. The Garland, Texas Resistol Outlet is located next to the Hatco factory and I assume corporate headquarters. I have not taken the factory tour but perhaps next time. We always seem to be rushing when we are in Dallas and it was no different this year as we were headed out to California so we had to make haste. In any event the hat outlet is mostly cowboy hats and clothes and it seems that many of the patrons are fellows from our neighbors to the south. I met a man who was getting his hat serviced who said that the cowboy hat was a presentation from George Bush (I presume W). Everyone was pleasant and it is always a wonderful thing to hear clear Spanish instead of the slurred, machinegun -speed Spanish spoken in Miami. The fedora or as they refer to them "dress line hats" were less in evidence this year. I presume the lack of floor stock is due to the fact that I was present at the end of at least a month of 1/2 off sales of their fedoras. As well, I have noticed my head sized migrating as I get older. I have worn a 7 7/8 for several decades and have been plagued with a lack of quality hats in that size. I noticed last summer my head seemed to be a 7 3/4 and this summer 7 5/8 seems to fit just fine. Has anyone else noticed your hat size getting smaller as you get older? That means that there were more hats for me to look at as 7 5/8 is much more commonly made. That was fine for me. I ended up shipping home 7 hats. Off the top of my head 2x Pinnacles (mink and black), 2x Temple (black and sage) 1X old stock Dobbs and 1x old stock Knox. All of these were fur felt and the Knox came open crowned that I requested that they crease. After I paid the hats were brought to the hat service area in the back of the store where Herbey did a great job preparing my purchases. This man also was able to free hand crease the open crown Knox, something I have been shy to do, and made it look easy. If you make it to the Garland outlet I strongly recommend seeking out Herbey to help you with your hats after you purchase them. We shipped the hats home and headed out in the general direction of California. Flash forward a few days and I'm standing in Death Valley with a damned white towel over my head with my wife asking me why I didn't keep one of the hats to wear on the trip. Hurumph! Under the title of hats I should have bought that day and which may still be there: 1. I noticed a few really fine Panama style hats with leather bands but none in my size. 2 A black pork pie crowned hat very similar to Heisenberg's hat but a but too tight. I am an educator so I thought this might look interesting at work but the tight size set me off 3. A higher quality Stetson Stratoliner that I held in my hand a bunch of times, tried on but in a moment of stupidity placed back on the rack for a few minutes. In that time someone called in and bought that Stratoliner via the phone. The girls did a great job packing up my buys and I even noticed a few extra pins in an envelope that was a very nice gesture and will keep me coming back the next time I'm in Dallas.

A few weeks subsequent to us being in Texas we found ourselves heading back to Florida after spending time in California, Oregon and Washington. You have to head south to hit Florida so you might as well do so via St. Joseph, Missouri. I promised my wife we would hit the big Cabela's in Kansas City just so we could hit the Arthur Byrant's BBQ next door but I guess I got caught up stopping at antique shops and by the time we hit St. Jo last Sunday the only thing open was Golden Corral. I knew my wife was miffed at having to eat at Golden Corral when we had KC BBQ on our minds. She chose to do laundry so I dropped her at a laundromat while I headed over to the Resistol/Stetson outlet in St. Joseph. There were virtually no fur felt fedoras out on the floor and none in my size. The sale hats were all in the warehouse area so I stampeded there, knowing the clock was ticking on my visit; I had until the laundry was done! Last summer, when I was at the St Jo outlet there was a crew from BBC TV interviewing staff and I gave them an interview. I gave them an interview and never thought much of it. The manager of the outlet and I started to talk this trip and we both commented that we both gave interviews but neither of us got to see if we made it on the air. The culture, for lack of a better word, of the St Jo outlet is quite different from the Garland outlet. Still, the majority of product is cowboy but I doubt the staff speaks much Spanish and are very proper Southern ladies (many "well, bless your heart" were heard). In particular the manager and I had a long conversation about the history of Stetson hats and the St Jo factory. If they are willing to talk to you the women at the St Jo outlet are former factory workers and seem to be a true font of information about the workings of the St Jo facility and its lamentable closing 13 years ago. The warehouse area is dark and I walked back out to the truck to grab a flashlight so that I could see colors and look for damage. The sale hats are no return so I would recommend that you do the same. I quickly picked out a bunch of hats including 3X of the finely woven Panama hats that I wanted in Garland, 3X cruder but still nice Panama hats (one of which came in the truck with me!) 1x straw Open Road (they had fur felt open road on great sale but none in my size), 1x gray Temple, 1x Roadster, 2x Chatam. This is all from memory as I have already packed away most of these hats. I had them all, except the one straw, shipped home as well and was on my way in time to pick my wife up from the laundry. If you are so inclined there is a fairly decent antique mall directly across the street from the St. Jo Stetson outlet and that is where we headed that late morning. It was just after noon when we exited the mall and we were headed to St. Louis that evening so we needed to get on the road. As we headed to Kansas City I noted that it was lunch time so we might as well hit the original location of Arthur Bryant's in KC as it was on our way anyway. We rolled in to Arthur Bryant's, ordered the pork ribs for lunch and took a pound each of pulled pork and burnt ends to go for supper. Glorious does not come close to describing the feeling of sitting on the red vinyl chair at Arthur Bryant's, inside the red brick building, a slab of KC style pork ribs in front of you, listening to good blues and gospel music and knowing you got some great buys that morning heading home. The box full of hats arrived from St Jo literally the day we got home, as we were unloading the truck.

In all a great trip to both outlets again. I truly like both and can appreciate that both represent different experiences with this company. If you can hit one or both of these outlets I would again endorse them highly and recommend you make the trip.

 

[Mustang Mike's Hats]

Sounds like a truly fun and productive trip! Not quite sure if you have a better time hat shopping or EATING!!?!

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

I am reposting to this thread because, a year later, I did this again. This summer my daughter was taking classes so was unable to accompany us on our trip west. Since we live in Southern Florida the big loop is sort of a natural summer trip for a person who likes the American west, actually prefers long distance driving and dislikes cities.

We made it to Dallas in two days from the Miami area and set up in a hotel in Garland. We were able to visit our favorite Dallas area BBQ restaurant twice, Lockhart's, in Plano and I have to comment that anyone visiting the Garland store ought to consider a meal at Lockhart's. This makes our third time in two years at this restaurant and it has yet to disappoint, really fantastic brisket, clod, sausage and pickles to really die for. The Garland, Texas Resistol Outlet is located next to the Hatco factory and I assume corporate headquarters. I have not taken the factory tour but perhaps next time. We always seem to be rushing when we are in Dallas and it was no different this year as we were headed out to California so we had to make haste. In any event the hat outlet is mostly cowboy hats and clothes and it seems that many of the patrons are fellows from our neighbors to the south. I met a man who was getting his hat serviced who said that the cowboy hat was a presentation from George Bush (I presume W). Everyone was pleasant and it is always a wonderful thing to hear clear Spanish instead of the slurred, machinegun -speed Spanish spoken in Miami. The fedora or as they refer to them "dress line hats" were less in evidence this year. I presume the lack of floor stock is due to the fact that I was present at the end of at least a month of 1/2 off sales of their fedoras. As well, I have noticed my head sized migrating as I get older. I have worn a 7 7/8 for several decades and have been plagued with a lack of quality hats in that size. I noticed last summer my head seemed to be a 7 3/4 and this summer 7 5/8 seems to fit just fine. Has anyone else noticed your hat size getting smaller as you get older? That means that there were more hats for me to look at as 7 5/8 is much more commonly made. That was fine for me. I ended up shipping home 7 hats. Off the top of my head 2x Pinnacles (mink and black), 2x Temple (black and sage) 1X old stock Dobbs and 1x old stock Knox. All of these were fur felt and the Knox came open crowned that I requested that they crease. After I paid the hats were brought to the hat service area in the back of the store where Herbey did a great job preparing my purchases. This man also was able to free hand crease the open crown Knox, something I have been shy to do, and made it look easy. If you make it to the Garland outlet I strongly recommend seeking out Herbey to help you with your hats after you purchase them. We shipped the hats home and headed out in the general direction of California. Flash forward a few days and I'm standing in Death Valley with a damned white towel over my head with my wife asking me why I didn't keep one of the hats to wear on the trip. Hurumph! Under the title of hats I should have bought that day and which may still be there: 1. I noticed a few really fine Panama style hats with leather bands but none in my size. 2 A black pork pie crowned hat very similar to Heisenberg's hat but a but too tight. I am an educator so I thought this might look interesting at work but the tight size set me off 3. A higher quality Stetson Stratoliner that I held in my hand a bunch of times, tried on but in a moment of stupidity placed back on the rack for a few minutes. In that time someone called in and bought that Stratoliner via the phone. The girls did a great job packing up my buys and I even noticed a few extra pins in an envelope that was a very nice gesture and will keep me coming back the next time I'm in Dallas.

A few weeks subsequent to us being in Texas we found ourselves heading back to Florida after spending time in California, Oregon and Washington. You have to head south to hit Florida so you might as well do so via St. Joseph, Missouri. I promised my wife we would hit the big Cabela's in Kansas City just so we could hit the Arthur Byrant's BBQ next door but I guess I got caught up stopping at antique shops and by the time we hit St. Jo last Sunday the only thing open was Golden Corral. I knew my wife was miffed at having to eat at Golden Corral when we had KC BBQ on our minds. She chose to do laundry so I dropped her at a laundromat while I headed over to the Resistol/Stetson outlet in St. Joseph. There were virtually no fur felt fedoras out on the floor and none in my size. The sale hats were all in the warehouse area so I stampeded there, knowing the clock was ticking on my visit; I had until the laundry was done! Last summer, when I was at the St Jo outlet there was a crew from BBC TV interviewing staff and I gave them an interview. I gave them an interview and never thought much of it. The manager of the outlet and I started to talk this trip and we both commented that we both gave interviews but neither of us got to see if we made it on the air. The culture, for lack of a better word, of the St Jo outlet is quite different from the Garland outlet. Still, the majority of product is cowboy but I doubt the staff speaks much Spanish and are very proper Southern ladies (many "well, bless your heart" were heard). In particular the manager and I had a long conversation about the history of Stetson hats and the St Jo factory. If they are willing to talk to you the women at the St Jo outlet are former factory workers and seem to be a true font of information about the workings of the St Jo facility and its lamentable closing 13 years ago. The warehouse area is dark and I walked back out to the truck to grab a flashlight so that I could see colors and look for damage. The sale hats are no return so I would recommend that you do the same. I quickly picked out a bunch of hats including 3X of the finely woven Panama hats that I wanted in Garland, 3X cruder but still nice Panama hats (one of which came in the truck with me!) 1x straw Open Road (they had fur felt open road on great sale but none in my size), 1x gray Temple, 1x Roadster, 2x Chatam. This is all from memory as I have already packed away most of these hats. I had them all, except the one straw, shipped home as well and was on my way in time to pick my wife up from the laundry. If you are so inclined there is a fairly decent antique mall directly across the street from the St. Jo Stetson outlet and that is where we headed that late morning. It was just after noon when we exited the mall and we were headed to St. Louis that evening so we needed to get on the road. As we headed to Kansas City I noted that it was lunch time so we might as well hit the original location of Arthur Bryant's in KC as it was on our way anyway. We rolled in to Arthur Bryant's, ordered the pork ribs for lunch and took a pound each of pulled pork and burnt ends to go for supper. Glorious does not come close to describing the feeling of sitting on the red vinyl chair at Arthur Bryant's, inside the red brick building, a slab of KC style pork ribs in front of you, listening to good blues and gospel music and knowing you got some great buys that morning heading home. The box full of hats arrived from St Jo literally the day we got home, as we were unloading the truck.

In all a great trip to both outlets again. I truly like both and can appreciate that both represent different experiences with this company. If you can hit one or both of these outlets I would again endorse them highly and recommend you make the trip.

We need hat pictures from your purchases.

 

[Bob Roberts]

^ ^ ^ ESPECIALLY THE OPEN CROWN KNOX.

 

[MJL]

Sounds like a truly fun and productive trip! Not quite sure if you have a better time hat shopping or EATING!!?!

No question, eating great BBQ wins every time. As the late Paul Harvey used to say, "...and now for the rest of the story..." We only went to St. Louis because it lined us up for a run to Memphis where we hit Central BBQ for their pork ribs, my personal favorite ribs in the US. After Memphis we headed south through Alabama so that I could hand select a Winchester M1 rifle, an ammo can of M2 ammo, a box of clips, a few WWII slings, a WWII bayonet and other assorted stuff from CMP South

 

[MJL]

We need hat pictures from your purchases.

Ever since photobucket went nuts and shut out forums I have not been able to post photos to forums. Can I load photos directly up here from my computer or do I need a 3rd party host. Who do y'all use for 3rd party hosting if not photobucket?

 

[Frunobulax]

Sounds like a truly fun and productive trip! Not quite sure if you have a better time hat shopping or EATING!!?!

Why not both?


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[RJR]

Ever since photobucket went nuts and shut out forums I have not been able to post photos to forums. Can I load photos directly up here from my computer or do I need a 3rd party host. Who do y'all use for 3rd party hosting if not photobucket?

You s/b able to click on "Upload a File"below and to the right and select directly from your computer.

 

[FedOregon]

purty please on the pics. just click the red "upload a file" button directly under the box where you type your messages/posts, just to the right of the red "Post Reply" button.

 

[Redfokker]

You s/b able to click on "Upload a File"below and to the right and select directly from your computer.

+1 Just watch your size of the images, I think the forum can't handle giant size files. You can resize them in photo shop or a free program such as Irfanview

 

[FedOregon]

I am reposting to this thread because, a year later, I did this again. This summer my daughter was taking classes so was unable to accompany us on our trip west. Since we live in Southern Florida the big loop is sort of a natural summer trip for a person who likes the American west, actually prefers long distance driving and dislikes cities.

We made it to Dallas in two days from the Miami area and set up in a hotel in Garland. We were able to visit our favorite Dallas area BBQ restaurant twice, Lockhart's, in Plano and I have to comment that anyone visiting the Garland store ought to consider a meal at Lockhart's. This makes our third time in two years at this restaurant and it has yet to disappoint, really fantastic brisket, clod, sausage and pickles to really die for. The Garland, Texas Resistol Outlet is located next to the Hatco factory and I assume corporate headquarters. I have not taken the factory tour but perhaps next time. We always seem to be rushing when we are in Dallas and it was no different this year as we were headed out to California so we had to make haste. In any event the hat outlet is mostly cowboy hats and clothes and it seems that many of the patrons are fellows from our neighbors to the south. I met a man who was getting his hat serviced who said that the cowboy hat was a presentation from George Bush (I presume W). Everyone was pleasant and it is always a wonderful thing to hear clear Spanish instead of the slurred, machinegun -speed Spanish spoken in Miami. The fedora or as they refer to them "dress line hats" were less in evidence this year. I presume the lack of floor stock is due to the fact that I was present at the end of at least a month of 1/2 off sales of their fedoras. As well, I have noticed my head sized migrating as I get older. I have worn a 7 7/8 for several decades and have been plagued with a lack of quality hats in that size. I noticed last summer my head seemed to be a 7 3/4 and this summer 7 5/8 seems to fit just fine. Has anyone else noticed your hat size getting smaller as you get older? That means that there were more hats for me to look at as 7 5/8 is much more commonly made. That was fine for me. I ended up shipping home 7 hats. Off the top of my head 2x Pinnacles (mink and black), 2x Temple (black and sage) 1X old stock Dobbs and 1x old stock Knox. All of these were fur felt and the Knox came open crowned that I requested that they crease. After I paid the hats were brought to the hat service area in the back of the store where Herbey did a great job preparing my purchases. This man also was able to free hand crease the open crown Knox, something I have been shy to do, and made it look easy. If you make it to the Garland outlet I strongly recommend seeking out Herbey to help you with your hats after you purchase them. We shipped the hats home and headed out in the general direction of California. Flash forward a few days and I'm standing in Death Valley with a damned white towel over my head with my wife asking me why I didn't keep one of the hats to wear on the trip. Hurumph! Under the title of hats I should have bought that day and which may still be there: 1. I noticed a few really fine Panama style hats with leather bands but none in my size. 2 A black pork pie crowned hat very similar to Heisenberg's hat but a but too tight. I am an educator so I thought this might look interesting at work but the tight size set me off 3. A higher quality Stetson Stratoliner that I held in my hand a bunch of times, tried on but in a moment of stupidity placed back on the rack for a few minutes. In that time someone called in and bought that Stratoliner via the phone. The girls did a great job packing up my buys and I even noticed a few extra pins in an envelope that was a very nice gesture and will keep me coming back the next time I'm in Dallas.

A few weeks subsequent to us being in Texas we found ourselves heading back to Florida after spending time in California, Oregon and Washington. You have to head south to hit Florida so you might as well do so via St. Joseph, Missouri. I promised my wife we would hit the big Cabela's in Kansas City just so we could hit the Arthur Byrant's BBQ next door but I guess I got caught up stopping at antique shops and by the time we hit St. Jo last Sunday the only thing open was Golden Corral. I knew my wife was miffed at having to eat at Golden Corral when we had KC BBQ on our minds. She chose to do laundry so I dropped her at a laundromat while I headed over to the Resistol/Stetson outlet in St. Joseph. There were virtually no fur felt fedoras out on the floor and none in my size. The sale hats were all in the warehouse area so I stampeded there, knowing the clock was ticking on my visit; I had until the laundry was done! Last summer, when I was at the St Jo outlet there was a crew from BBC TV interviewing staff and I gave them an interview. I gave them an interview and never thought much of it. The manager of the outlet and I started to talk this trip and we both commented that we both gave interviews but neither of us got to see if we made it on the air. The culture, for lack of a better word, of the St Jo outlet is quite different from the Garland outlet. Still, the majority of product is cowboy but I doubt the staff speaks much Spanish and are very proper Southern ladies (many "well, bless your heart" were heard). In particular the manager and I had a long conversation about the history of Stetson hats and the St Jo factory. If they are willing to talk to you the women at the St Jo outlet are former factory workers and seem to be a true font of information about the workings of the St Jo facility and its lamentable closing 13 years ago. The warehouse area is dark and I walked back out to the truck to grab a flashlight so that I could see colors and look for damage. The sale hats are no return so I would recommend that you do the same. I quickly picked out a bunch of hats including 3X of the finely woven Panama hats that I wanted in Garland, 3X cruder but still nice Panama hats (one of which came in the truck with me!) 1x straw Open Road (they had fur felt open road on great sale but none in my size), 1x gray Temple, 1x Roadster, 2x Chatam. This is all from memory as I have already packed away most of these hats. I had them all, except the one straw, shipped home as well and was on my way in time to pick my wife up from the laundry. If you are so inclined there is a fairly decent antique mall directly across the street from the St. Jo Stetson outlet and that is where we headed that late morning. It was just after noon when we exited the mall and we were headed to St. Louis that evening so we needed to get on the road. As we headed to Kansas City I noted that it was lunch time so we might as well hit the original location of Arthur Bryant's in KC as it was on our way anyway. We rolled in to Arthur Bryant's, ordered the pork ribs for lunch and took a pound each of pulled pork and burnt ends to go for supper. Glorious does not come close to describing the feeling of sitting on the red vinyl chair at Arthur Bryant's, inside the red brick building, a slab of KC style pork ribs in front of you, listening to good blues and gospel music and knowing you got some great buys that morning heading home. The box full of hats arrived from St Jo literally the day we got home, as we were unloading the truck.

In all a great trip to both outlets again. I truly like both and can appreciate that both represent different experiences with this company. If you can hit one or both of these outlets I would again endorse them highly and recommend you make the trip.

You're my hero! Great trip, and a hat trip!

 

[MJL]

Well, I am back with a new report in 2021. In 2019 we were not able to buy from the two HATCO stores for a few odd reasons. First, we rolled in to Dallas in time for the Garland store to be closed for the July 4th holiday, then, when we visited the St. Jo location we found no fur felt fedora for sale for anything other than retail. 2020 found me staring at the alligators all summer in Everglades National Park while I tried to avoid the rona by avoiding my fellow humans. The summer of 2021 found my wife and myself with a strong desire to get the hell out of South Florida for some Kerouac time on the road to anywhere, to nowhere. Life is not a destiny, life is an adventure of discovery. We set our eyes on western Idaho and rented a car. The car rental place didn't have the car we rented but they gave us a choice between a Chevy Camaro convertible or a Toyota minivan. Yeah, we chose the Camaro, for a full half an hour. We drove that wonderful car home and realized that it was totally unsuitable for a transcontinental road trip of discovery. Yeah, we drove it back and swapped it out for that soccer-mom, suburban assault vehicle. the Toyota minivan. Wise choice. Rather than leave at 0400 we just threw our stuff in the van and headed out that afternoon. We were in Dallas a few days later heading straight to the Resistol Outlet in Garland. As usual, there was heavy stock of cowboy hats and western clothes. I quickly selected 10 fur felt Stetson fedora and a straw boater that seem to fit the ticket. After watching my wife laugh at me wearing several of the hats I weeded the initial selection down to six fur felt hats...and that damned boater. We have used Herbi to prepare my hats for years in the past but we found that he apparently does not work there any more. Instead, we asked Alexi to prepare my hats this year. Alexi did a great job and after talking to him awhile I found that he was truly an interesting young man. He prepared my purchases and boxed them for shipment. We found them waiting for us when we arrived home, weeks later, in great shape. We were out the door by noon and headed to Plano for our destiny with Texas brisket at Lockhart's Smokehouse BBQ. I only regret not taking a damned straw cowboy hat along with me from home or the Garland store for the ride. With temps in the 100s, further west, I had big problem with sun exposure a few days later near Caliente, Nevada while looking for fossils in the desert. Between the extra 30 rona pounds, the 108oF temperature and the 6700ft altitude I almost collapsed while walking back to the van after a few hours in the desert. I fashioned a quick kufiyah out of a liberated hand towel and my baseball cap but it was a bit too late. We made our way from Texas to Nevada and then up to Idaho. We had a tremendous time in Idaho and promised to make our way back to this magical state. After a week in Idaho we headed to Montana via US 95 only to find that the crucial portion that crossed the high mountains had been closed due to forest fires. I found a gravel road that crossed the mountains but the online discussions made it sound dangerous. Needless to say we made it over a rough gravel road in the back woods of Montana in a Toyota minivan, in failing light and rain but had the time of our lives doing so. After a wonderful week in Montana we made our way east, lined up on I80 so that we could again hit the Kansas City area for the St. Jo Stetson Outlet and some of Arthur Bryant's wonderful pork ribs. Yet. again, I found no sales worth anything for fur felt fedora at the St Jo store but I was able to hunt down a Stetson Royal Deluxe quality Open Road in chocolate brown color in my size with a decent price. I also found a few few wool newsboy caps and two Dobb's hemp straw hats to take home. Pickens are slim at the St Jo store and again, I fear deeply for these good folks. We feasted on Arthur Bryant's and then headed home via the Carolinas and some more BBQ at thee famous Skyline Inn in eastern North Carolina. In total I found 11 hats; 1x Stetson straw boater, 2x wool newsboy caps. 2xDobb's Hemp straw fedora, 1x chocolate brown Stetson Open Road, 2 x black Stetson Temple, 1 x Stetson Whippet, 2 x Stetson Temple brown. We had a grand old time and I happy for one more summer of travel under my belt. I restocked my hats for the coming academic year and am raring to go back to work.

 

[MJL]

I'm unpacking my hat purchases from this summer and a question emerged. Are all of the currently manufactured Stetson Whippet made from wool? I'm asking because some of the online discussions seem to suggest that there are fur felt Whippet. I would love to post photos but every time I try doing so I get an error message from this site.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I'm unpacking my hat purchases from this summer and a question emerged. Are all of the currently manufactured Stetson Whippet made from wool? I'm asking because some of the online discussions seem to suggest that there are fur felt Whippet. I would love to post photos but every time I try doing so I get an error message from this site.

The 2020 Stetson catalog includes a fur felt Whippet and a wool felt Whippet. Stetson does make some hats exclusively for other foreign markets too. If you’re talking vintage Whippets those are all fur felt as far as I know.

 

[MJL]

Interesting. Is there any way to tell the difference between the wool and fur felt Whippet? The one that I picked up in July in Garland is quite light and thin but for the life of me I cannot determine if this is wool or fur felt. The wool fedora that I've owned, in the past, seem to have been made from chunky material, thicker than similar fur felt hats. I wish that I could sort out how to post a photo here.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Interesting. Is there any way to tell the difference between the wool and fur felt Whippet? The one that I picked up in July in Garland is quite light and thin but for the life of me I cannot determine if this is wool or fur felt. The wool fedora that I've owned, in the past, seem to have been made from chunky material, thicker than similar fur felt hats. I wish that I could sort out how to post a photo here.

Since the 1930s, the law in the US has required that manufactures disclose wool content (manufactured and imported). The law also defines “wool.” There isn’t a similar law for fur. If it’s not labeled as wool, and if the factory labels are intact, it is fur felt. You can also tell by the fur felt quality designation: names such as “Royal” Royal De Luxe, Sovereign (I think defunct), Excellent, etc. In Stetson’s lineup, I think that fur felt fedoras are more common that wool felt, but that’s just speculation.

 

[MJL]

Thanks a bunch. I just checked the labels and there is no mention of wool at all. This hat was either a second quality or old stock that I bought at the HATCO/Resistol Outlet in Garland, Texas. The hat looks good and I think that I was lucky to have been able to grab this one. Thanks for help.

 

[MJL]

We're heading west again and might angle through Dallas just to stop in at the Resistol factory outlet. Does anyone have a report of what sort of stock they might be offering of fur felt fedoras like Temples, Stratoliners, etc? I called the store a few times and could not get straight answers about what they might have on hand, if they will have any sort of sales or even their hours around the July 4th holiday. If anyone has been there recently and knows the straight dope I would love to hear it.

 

[MJL]

I'll provide my own answer to this question. We arrived at the outlet, in Garland, TX, soon after opening. No sale on fur felt fedoras. Stock on the floor, in my sizes, 7 5/8-7 3/4, was limited and in poor shape. Most looked like practice pieces with visible and obvious flaws. The only thing that caught my eye were some "promo" Stetson Open Road that all seemed flawed, shop worn and dirty. At $129 I passed as I have a nice Open Road from an earlier visit a few years back. I walked out, hatless, with money in pocket less than 20 minutes after arrival. I even checked out the straws and cowboy hats but found nothing that inspired a purchase. I acknowledge that this is a factory outlet selling flawed merchandise but THIS is a first for me; not a single thing found to spend my money on. We left and headed to Specs liqours to pick up some Mezcal that cannot be found in Florida. After, we went to lunch at Lockhart BBQ which we drove to via the JFK assassination site in Dealley Plaza. In the end, the $700-$1000 that I have spent yearly at the HATCO outlet will be spent on booze, guns or other delights. Perhaps, if it is convenient, we will travel east via St Jo and give the Stetson outlet there a shot.