my Fedora story...

This is my story of the fedora. I recall seeing both of my grampas wearing a fedora. I can't remember if they wore one on a daily basis, but i do think for one, my Dad's father did. I know there is a picture somewhere where my Mom's dad is sitting on a sofa with his leg crossed and he has a fedora on.

I always liked hats. I wore pilots style hats when I was a kid, then I started wearing newsboy caps. I also wore a newsboy style where the brim was sewn closed. I don't know the proper name, I think they are a flat newsboy. These were my favorite at the time. I had a black felt one which quickly became my favorite. I stopped wearing it when a gangbanger came and knocked it off my head and wanted to know what gang I belonged to. Well, I just decided to stop wearing it after that. I don't know wat happened to it, I strongly believe my mother threw it away. Maybe that was a good thing. Even though I was smart enough not to wear something which labeled me as a gangbanger.

As I got older I started wearing hats again. Mainly scull caps, baseball style caps and newsboy caps when dressed up.

Now I am in the phase of vintage fedoras. I really like the old style felt ones. I have found a few really nice ones on Ebay. I went a little crazy but what the hell, I think I deserve to treat myself every now and then. I researched them and their sellers the best I could and found that they all came from estate sales or second-hand stores. The folks who buy these are looking for specific things in a fedora to indicate they are vintage. You could go to a department store and buy a brand new hat which is styled after the original fedora, however, the materials and workmanship are no where near the quality of the vintage ones. One of the main things buyers in the know look for is the brand. Brands such as Stetson, Dobbs and Champ are just three of the good ones. Actually good is an understatement, these are great fedoras. I have been able to purchase mine in great condition. Only one of my fedoras which is a stingy brim trilby, shows the most wear in the inside headband. I conditioned it and it is better now. I did considered replacing it but it is fine the way it is. After all, it is vintage. The outside of this particular hat is in excellent condition. I am not sure but I think it is a beaver felt. It has a unique band on the outside which is made of braided feathers. The guy I bought it from said he has never seen a band as beautiful as this one. He told me he wanted to keep it for his own collection but his head size is much bigger than mine. I wear a 7 which is considered average.

I just bought black ones when I started to buy these. Don't know why. Then I branched out and got a couple of grey ones and a couple of brown ones. My brown Champ is like brand new. It has the original pin, feathers and wind trolley. The wind trolley is a cord sewn to the bow and then placed around the crown of the hat with a button attached. The button looks as if it is part of the bow. Once you bring the cord and button away from the hat by lifting it up from the right side of the hat, you can then place the button in your coat lapel. This was to prevent your fedora from getting lost if blown off by the wind. Pretty cool, don't you think. Only three of my fedoras have this wind trolley. It was an accessory which cost extra. I have read up on ways to install these to all my fedoras. Maybe I will. I thought of changing the outside band on a couple of my hats, then I decided against it. They are all in perfect condition and they are all original. This after all is what makes these hats vintage.

One of my brown hats, a Stetson Royal Deluxe, smells like pipe tobacco. I actually think this is really cool. I always liked the smell of pipe tobacco and I can picture a cool gent wearing this hat while smoking a pipe. You can't get any more vintage then that. At first I wasn't sure if I liked this hat because it has a grosgrain ribbon around the edge of the brim. But as I researched this I found that this hat actually dates back to the 1940's. Awesome! The lady I bought it from just knew it was old. She did not know much else of the value, lucky for me since this model of hat is selling for as much as $175. I got it for $25. A real steal.

Well, after all my shopping I have a total of 12 hats. Four of these are not great hats since they are not stamped with the name of quality brands. well, I take that back, one of them is, my white straw fedora, which is a safari panama hat from ecuador. The brand is Ultrafino. This hat is really cool. It was handmade. It is a summer weight hat. Now for my other hats:

Black Champ with wind trolley
Black stingy brim Champ
Black short brim champ
Black Royal Stetson
Grey Stetson with leather braided band
Grey champ with wind trolley pin
Brown Champ with pin and wind trolley
Brown Royal Stetson Deluxe with pin


Now for the others:
Lite grey, almost taupe felt suede with wide brim
White wool/felt with black band and wide brim, zoot style
Black wool/felt with white band and wide brim, zoot style

Some came with their original feathers but I purchased more feathers in different colors to adorn my hats.

I really feel great when I wear my hats, so I am going to continue to wear them and I will continue to look for those unique vintage buys. Can you just imagine the stories these hats could tell if they could talk. They are as old as I am or probably in the case of a couple of them, even older than I am.