So… What’s the Deal With Those Hats, Huston?

January 1, 2011 | Filed Under Fedora, Stetson, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you know me you know that I am what ya might call “a hat guy.” For much of my life one of my “things” has been the wearing of a hat. Some people knew me for my Civil War-styled black slouch hat. Some knew me for my ball cap with that collection of lapel pins on it. Many more have known me for my fedoras. Certainly if you’ve known me for long you’ve known me for a distinctive hat of some type or another. In this post I’ll take you through my fedora collection, the hat style most people know me for these days.

Stetson Long Hair (or Plushe), Black – 1920s

First of all fedoras are a man’s hat — not that women shouldn’t wear one — but real men wear real fedoras. By real I mean well made, professional hats, not those crappy cotton ones with the silly stripes, colors, or wacky pictures on them, the kind that you can buy at Target these days. Certainly fedoras mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people and fedora styles are many and varried, but I’ll tell you what a fedora is to me.

A fedora is a fur felt hat (the “fur” part being beaver or rabbit fur — just the fur, not the skin) with at least a four inch crown. It has to have a brim that measures between 2-1/4 inches and 3-7/8 inches with about 2-5/8 being my favorite width. I don’t do stingy brims at under 2-1/4 and larger than 2-7/8 and you are usually talking cowboy hats at that point. I have several westerns but am not “into” them if you know what I mean? But for sure I don’t do Trilbys or stingy brims.

I also am not really a great fan of new, factory-made fedoras. I rather stick to vintage fedoras. For the most part new hats are not very interesting to me — though I have a few. I just prefer the feel and quality of vintage fedoras to today’s lesser quality factory hats. My style preference ranges from those styles popular from the late 1920s to about 1960.

Anyway, without further ado, here they are and with the Stetsons listed first. (By the way, as I frequently add new fedoras and sell off others, these listings will change)

Stetson is perhaps one of the most famous hat makers in the world (Italy’s Borsalino being right up there). John B. Stetson’s father taught him how to make hats in the early 1800s and John started his own company in Philadelphia in 1865. Soon he became famous for his wide brimmed, western-styled cowboy hats. But the cowboy hat isn’t the only hat style Stetson manufactured. In fact they made just about every kind of hat you can imagine. The original Stetson company went defunct in the 1970s but Stetsons are still made today under contract by a company in Texas. Sadly, the Stetson family is out of the hat business nowadays. For my interests, though, Stetson made some of the finest fedoras in the world and here are the ones in my collection:

Stetson, Derby or Bowler – 1920s or 30s

Stetson, Top Hat – Between 1900s and 1930 (Or maybe late 1800s, not sure)

Stetson, The Avenue – 1920s

Stetson, Select Quality, The Fray, Blue – 1920s

Stetson, Straw Boater – 1930s

Stetson, Imperial in a Brownish Gray, 1940s

Stetson, Special, Bluish-Gray With Blue Ribbon – 1940s

Stetson, Casual, Camel Tan With Pugaree-Style Ribbon – 1940s

Stetson, Medalist, Panama Straw 1940s

Stetson, Premier, Panama Straw 1940s

Stetson, Diplomat, Brown w/Reddish Brown ribbon – 1940s

Stetson, Royal De Luxe, Tan/Cream – 1940s

Stetson, Zephyr Weight, Hunter Green – 1940s

Stetson, Bantam, Forest Green – 1940s

Stetson, Vogue, Khaki – 1940s

Stetson, Stetsonian, Tan – 1940s

Stetson, 3X, Sixteen Fifty, Long Hair (or Plushe) Mode Edge, Gray – 1950s

Stetson, Premier, Made in Canada, Carmel-Brown – 1950s

Stetson, Beach Comber, Creme/Tan – 1950s

Stetson, 7X, Clear Beaver – 1950s

Stetson, Stetsonian, Gray – Early 1950s

Stetson, Suede Finish, 3X, Brown – 1950s

Stetson, St. Regis, Homburg Model, Black – 1950s

Stetson, De Luxe, Black – 1950s

Stetson, Railbird, Dark Gray – 1950s

Stetson, Forty, Tan – 1950s

Stetson Flagship Models

Stetson, Flagship, Tan in Original Box – 1940s

Stetson, Flagship, Brown – 1940s

Stetson, Flagship, Tan – 1940s

Stetson, Flagship, Light Gray (Brim was cut down at some point) – 1940s

Stetson Open Road Models

Stetson, 3X Open Road, Gray – 1940s

Stetson, Open Road Twentyfive, Silverbelly – 1950s

Stetson, 3X Quality, Silverbelly Open Road Model – 1950s

Stetson, Open Road, Tan – 1950s

Stetson, 7X, Clear Beaver, Open Road, Embroidered “Last Drop” Liner – 1950s

Stetson 100, Open Road – 1950s

Stetson 25, Open Road – 1950s

Stetson 100, Open Road – 1960s

Stetson, 7X, Open Road – 1960s

Stetson, Open Road, Chocolate Brown, Made by Australian Contractor – 1960s

Stetson, Stetson Open Road, Silverbelly, Converted With Brown Ribbon by Optimo, Chicago – 1990s

Stetson, Stetson Open Road, Silverbelly, Converted With Black Ribbon by Optimo, Chicago – 1990s

Stetson Playboy Models

Stetson, Playboy, Light Weight (With Crown Air Vent Holes) Black – 1940s

Stetson, Playboy, Vitafelt Gray – 1940s

Stetson Stratoliner Models

Stetson, Stratoliner, Vita Felt, Brown – 1940s

Stetson, Stratoliner, Brown – 1950s

Stetson, Stratoliner, Gray (2-3/4 Brim) – 1950s

Stetson, Stratoliner. This is the 1940s model re-issued in 2011 by Stetson

Stetson Whippet Models

Stetson, Whippet, Gray w/black ribbon – 1940s

Stetson, Whippet, Green – 1940s

Stetson, Whippet, Gray w/gray ribbon – 1940s

Stetson, Whippet, Hazel/Brown – 1940s

Stetson, Whippet, Blueish/Gray – 1940s

Stetson, Whippet, Brown – 1950s

Stetson, Whippet, Gray with Brown-Gray Ribbon – 1950s

And now the other hat makers…

Adam, Executive, Brown, 1950s

Akubra, Pastoralist, Blue-Gray – 1990s

Akubra, Federation IV, Brown – 1990s (Indy Jones Fans Love This One)

Alexander, Pork Pie, Brown – 1960s

Bohm (German Maker), Gray – 1940s

Borsalino, Olive Green – 1950s

Cavanagh, Cavanagh Edge, Gray – Made between 1950 and 1953 (Cavanagh was Frank Sinatra’s Favorite Hat Maker)

Cavanagh, Cavanagh Edge, Brown – 1950s

Champ, Kasmir Finish, Gray – 1950s

Churchill Twenty Five, Open Road-Style, Silverbelly – 1960s

Embassy Hats, Wool, Made between 1931 and 1935 Under FDR’s New Deal NRA

Demon Hanover by Hoyt Hats, Tan – 1940s

Demon Hanover by Hoyt Hats, Brown – 1940s

Extremely Rare Demon Hanover Hat Box – 1940s

Mr. Disney, Ahwahnee, Tan – 1950s

Dobbs, Game Bird, Brown – 1940s

J.C. Penny, Marathon, Dark Tan – 1950s

Knox, Brown/Gray, Twenty, Custom Edge – 1940s

Lee, Brown – 1930s

Lee, Lightweight, White – 1940s

Lee, Adventure, White – 1950s

Mallory, “Plastic Felt,” Tan – 1940s

Mallory, Ten, Brown – 1940s

Neufeld’s, White – 1940s

Resistol, Gray – 1940s

Schenley, Wide Brimmed Homburg, Black – 1930s

Wormser, Open Road-Style, White (With New Black Ribbon in 2nd Photo) – 1950s

For those interested modern, custom hat makers, one of the best hat makers in the world is in Chicago. Optimo hats is a great hat maker, though pricey. There are other great hat makers, too. Art Fawcett at VS Hats is also a great maker and so is Falcon Park Hattery.

A 1950s Lee Hats Storage Trunk

This is an interesting storage trunk sold by Lee Hats in the 1950s.

Here is a vintage advertisement for that trunk.

And now some Top Hats…

Made by C.A. Avery of New York – Stove Pipe-Style – Made in the 1860s (Just like Lincoln would have worn)

D. Magee & Co., England – 1880s

Standard Hatters, Rhode Island – 1920s

Drake Hotel – 1860s

Kaufman Hat Co, Collapsible Top Hat – 1940s

High Topper, Romeiser’s, Belleville, Illinois – 1890s

And Cowboy hats…

Gambler by Ace (All Wool) – 1990s

Beaver Hats, Western – 1990s

Bradford Hats, Western (All Wool) – 1990s

Charlie One-Horse – 1990s

Jack Daniel’s (All Wool) – 1990s

Preacher Hat (All Wool) – 1990s

White Stetson No. 1 Quality – 1930s – This hat was owned by Nathan Levy, Post Master, Visalia, CA who died in 1939

Stetson, Nutria Felt, Tan – 1950s

Flying Cloud, Soft Civilian Hat, Black – 1930s

Stetson, Nutria Felt, Brown – 1910s or 20s

Antique Military Headgear…

1870 U.S. Army Infantry Kepi

Model 1880 U.S. Army Infantry Dress Helmet – Made in 1900

Model 1889 U.S. Army Infantry Sun Helmet

Model 1902 U.S. Army Visor Cap

WWI U.S. Army Campaign Hat Made by Stetson – 1920s

____________
“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.

For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.

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