Review: Olney Boater

For Christmas, I bought my mother a boater. Here in NZ, Christmas is in the summer time.
(I miss the snow in Korea......)

So, I went and bought it from 'The Hat Place' via Ebay in Chester, England. They had the cheapest price and the shipping was very reasonable. As a frequent buyer/user of various shipping services, I went with the English vendor. So 40 pounds + 19.99 pounds with international tracking & express delivery was such a good deal.

I recommend 'The Hat Place' so good packing with custom made safe hat delivery box, a refund form and a thank you letter from the owner. Magnificent service.

Here are two main pictures.


Pros:
• Coburg Straw Braid has been used by Olney since the 70s and it is well-made. Well varnished as well.
• Nice hat, not rare so if broken or damaged easily can be replaced by buying a new one. (not like vintage one-of-a-kind ones)
• Rigid design, quite light as well
•Comfortable fit and looks nice

Cons
•Quality is a little worst than my low crown school boater, it looks like if it was mass-produced with no passion. (I can feel a more extra care for the school ones)
•Leather sweatband sewn in a hurry with no care. The alignment is not along the interior, one part is sewn in a little under the interior line. Which resulted a floppy and elevating sweatband.

But hey, this boater has all the things that a vintage boater would have. So I definitely recommend this boater!

Out of 10
Quality: 8
Design: 9.5
Services of vendor: 10
Life of hat (how long it will last): 10 (a lifetime)

Good on you Bertie! A very complete and detailed review. Interesting comments about the sewing of the sweat. Will file that English seller away for future reference. Very impressive young man!

Thank you Redfokker! I think you would look quite nice in the Guards Band Boater by Olney.

Thank you for your review.

As there are more than 15,000 thread topics in the hat forum, it is always a good idea to add a post like this to one of the already existing threads on the topic rather than starting another. The Boater Faction would be the best bet, but there is also a thread for Olney Hats.

+1

Useful review; jives with my own experience of my Olney boater (same model ,with thec black band) that I bought five or six years ago. I think they're about the only game in town now for a readily availabled true boater - at least here in the UK. Wonderful hats. I bought mine to wear at an event years ago, but now I wear it quited a lot in Summer. I especially like itg with black tie in the warmer months when I reach for the ivory jacket...

Edward said:

Useful review; jives with my own experience of my Olney boater (same model ,with thec black band) that I bought five or six years ago. I think they're about the only game in town now for a readily availabled true boater - at least here in the UK. Wonderful hats. I bought mine to wear at an event years ago, but now I wear it quited a lot in Summer. I especially like itg with black tie in the warmer months when I reach for the ivory jacket...

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Mmmmm, sounds nice. Well England's got a few more makers. Its just that Olney dominates the regime and is the cheapest and best in my opinion. We've got Lock & Co. on St James Street, 125 pounder Classic boater and Gamble & Gunn, 60~70 pounder depending on ribbon.