What kind of material would you say this hat made from?

[JoeSki]

At an antique mall across from where I live there's a nice fedora I've been eyeballing that doesn't quite feel like felt. Or at least not the type of felt I've felt. It's a medium brown/tan colored hat with a black ban and a lining that says "Sak's Fifth Avenue". Definitely vintage. Anyways, the hat feels almost like velvet and the rim of it's brim has no lining. Very sturdy. Crushable, but also good at maintaining it's shape. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any pictures online of a similiar hat - it appears as though Sak's lids are a bit of a hard find. Does anyone have any idea what kind of material it might be made of? Is this what fur felt feels like? My own hat is a wool felt beater, so I wouldn't know.

The going price for it is $45, which is a bit much for this poor college student. Hopefully they'll drop the price some for their Black Friday sale and it'll still be around. It looks wonderful.

 

[D.W. Suratt]

I'm not sure about the hat in question. Someone here will surely know, but if you're looking for a nice vintage lid try e-bay. I've picked up several in the last few weeks in almost new conditon. None of them cost me over $20.00

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

Hmmmm... No reference to "Fur Felt" inside the hat on the sweat band, huh?

Well, I can say that I have a couple of fur felt fedoras (one with a felted in Cavanagh style brim edge, no binding) that feel just like fine, crushed velvet or velour.

Being that it's old, and from Saks, and feels that way it is probably fur felt and of a good quality. Hope you can negotiate yourself a deal. If it is what we think, a hat like that today (if one could be found) would be in the $200 range or higher.

My opinions. Subject to being human.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Sounds like a velour finish beaver hat. But no sweatband (?) is a bad indicator. If it doesn't have a sweatband - is this what you mean by "and the rim of it's brim has no lining" - it's not worth dropping $45 on. There are too many great hats out there for much less than that.

bk

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

Hi, Baron. Good to see you.

I gleened that he meant 'no grosgrain edge binding' on the brim. As is welted or raw brim edge.

Hard to say, that is worded a little strangely - but then again, I didn't know what to call the different brim treatments until I learned from guys like you!

 

[JoeSki]

Hi, Baron. Good to see you.

I gleened that he meant 'no grosgrain edge binding' on the brim. As is welted or raw brim edge.

Thanks for the help, gentlemen.

I'm not really familiar with a lot of the terminology regarding hats, but I think HarpPlayerGene has it right. The outside edge of the brim has no binding. Unlike this:

See the baby blue thing running around the brim's outside edge? The hat I'm looking at doesn't have one of those. It does have a interior sweatband, but I don't recall if/what it had printed on it. I'll be going back to the store today and I'lll take another look at it to see if there's not more info on it.

 

[Wil Tam]

could possibly be a velour felt fedora circa 60's to 70's when they were most popular... they're rare and sought after, usually go for a small fortune, the ribbon treatment varies from triple row silk cords with a belt loop to patterned silk accordion with a half twist or the traditional grosgrain bow.

Bottom line is if you love the hat then skip some meals and buy the hat!

 

[JoeSki]

Well I went back and put the hat on lay away so I don't feel the sting of spending all that money at once and so I can budget myself a bit better this month. In addition to that, the cashier dropped the price of the hat from $45 to $35! I'm not entirely positive she knew she did it, she didn't say anything about there being a sale, but it was done. My receipt said I only owed $22 more after putting $13 down.

I looked the hat over to see if there was any more details. The leather sweatband said "Sak's Fifth Avenue" and on the other side there were three letters. I believe they were WSJ. The price tag on the hat said it was a 1950s hat, but there's no details on the hat itself to say when it was made or what from.

I did notice some more wear on the hat. The hat lining had some sweat stains, there was some discoloration where the hat had held it's creases/bash for however long it had held them, and it needs to be dusted. Perhaps most troubling is that while the leather sweatband bends without cracking, it does seem to want to come undone from the hat. I'm not sure if there's a way to stop this in its tracks, but if anyone has any ideas I'm all ears. Considering these flaws, I'm not sure how much value it actually has compared to if it were unused, but it really is a great looking hat. Nice light brown color, sharp black ribbon just the right size, and nice to the touch. A bit big on me, but I've read on here that hats can be resized a bit smaller so that gives me hopes. I'll post a picture of it here later.

For anyone who's interested, while I was there, I noticed that they had another hat much like the one I described but much darker in color and with a tattered ribbon. But a hat with the same texture and a lining that says it was from Sak's Fifth. It too was selling for $45. If it's something anyone here is really interested in and you think it would be worth your while, the name of the store is Orange Tree Antiques Mall‎ and it is located off of S. Orlando Ave in Winter Park, Fl. Using this information you can pull it up on Google Maps if you want to and call them.

 

[Wil Tam]

Cool!

The WSJ is most likely the initials of the original owner ... as far as the sweat stains on the lining is concerned you can get the hat professionally cleaned if you like... like all of my previously owned lids before I wear them, Optimo does it and you can have Graham re-size it for you too, but it'll cost.

A quick & simple method is to carefully pull the lining away from the hat body and use some Woolite and warm water on a clean towel to blot out the stains then use Lysol spray to disinfect and kill the germs that might still be in the lining.

To re-size use the lampshade trick to shrink the sweat to size or you can just Google hat size reducers and get some strips to put on the band, that is if isn't dried up and cracked... if that is the case, then you need to replace it.

The leather sweatbands are meant to be replaced if damaged by time & use same with the lining and ribbon... doing so doesn't detract the value of the lid itself, it is the piece of felt and the the way it was crafted that is important, renovations to preserve vintage hats so as to pass on to another generation, there within lies the treasure. IMHO

 

[JoeSki]

Did they usually print the initials of the owner onto the sweatband? That's pretty neat.

Professional cleaning sounds nice, but like I've said before in a past thread, I'm your stereotypical poor college student. If there's a makeshift soultion to something, I'll go to the ends of the Earth to find it just to save a few dollars. I appreciate the advice on hat cleaning and resizing by the way. What is the lampshade trick?

And good to know about the sweatband. Still, it seems like it's ok save for the fact that it's falling off. And I like that the one it has now says it's from Sak's. I don't think there's anyone in town that could replace it, so I may have to find a way to keep it on.

[Edit] Ah, so apprently the local Western Wear store cleans felt hats. Huzzah! Perhaps they could resize it as well.

 

[Wil Tam]

I believe that it was an option have your initials put into your hat, but then again -- back in the day, fedoras were commonplace, much like the baseball cap is nowadays, plus there were hat & coat checks in all of the better restaurants & night spots... so I would imagine that it would be pretty easy to get the wrong hat back & initials in your hat would be very helpful to locate your hat, especially if there are 10 similar gray fedoras with black ribbons & one of them happens to be yours.... see where I'm going here?

If you really want to keep the sweatband & if it's in good enough condition you can see if the Western shop can sew it back on after the cleaning and resizing... but it would probably have to be trimmed down a bit or it will overlap.
but it will save you the cost of having to buy a new band also.

 

[JoeSki]

Alright, so after the loss, gain, loss, and again gain of my online connection, a holiday, and a move later, I can finally post pictures of the my hat. I've not been able to find any pictures of a hat like this anywhere online, so if anyone has anykind of info about the it (original price, era, special care instructions) they'd like to share, I'm all ears

 

[billyspew]

Nice

I think that looks like a great lid and it suits you.
What are the dimensions of the brim and crown?

Cheers,

Bill

 

[Dinerman]

most definitely a fur felt. Looks great.

 

[carter]

Great looking fur felt and I like the wide ribbon. That's a classic look. Very nice.

 

[JoeSki]

So it appears the hat was quite a deal for my $35. Thanks for the compliments. I'll post the dimensions when I find a ruler tomorrow .

I like it a lot too. I've even found myself changing my wardrobe and clothing purchases around it's colors.

Is it safe to assume the hat is beaver felt with a velour finish? Or is there no way to know without it being labeled someplace on the hat?

 

[Matt Deckard]

60's I'd say... looks swift.

 

[Yohanes]

Very unique crown bash I think you've scored a deal wear it proudly bro!

 

[JoeSki]

"Unique" is one word for the bash .

I'm still not sure how to make different creases and bashes so I'm trying out different stuff with it.