The Hatco Outlet Store in Garland, TX

Frunobulax said:

Well, just got back from the outlet. Made a stop there prior to getting over to Ft. Worth to my hotel. Unlike WHW, I had some luck. This was my second trip; last year I was a bit overwhelmed and, since they had stacks of discount hats I walked out with several. This year I am much pickier. If I couldn't find something of Royal Deluxe Quality, preferably open crown, I wasn't going to bite. And of course I was hoping for a Strat. They had some Strats in my size but, alas, none of the higher, open crown quality. For those of you big-headed guys, there were a few in 7 1/2 and 7 5/8, but no 7 1/4. What I found were two Racines and an Absinthe. The Absinthe was pretty nice looking, and I liked the Sage color, but it was not up to par and was obvious why it was in the outlet. The thing that killed it for me was a lower quality sweatband than the sheepskin. There was one other, that was marked as a prototype, but it was a mess. The sweat said Excellent, the liner said Royal, and the felt wasn't as nice as the newer open crowns.

To make a long story short, here is a pic of my Racine - looks just like Javadave's!

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The felt quality is on par with my new Stetsonian, and is very soft. I gave it a good once-over and didn't see too much off about it. The felt is consistent, the sweat's nice, I'm sure I'll find something eventually. But for $129, I'm happy. Most nicer quality hats were in the $129 range. I saw some Dobbs in the $75 - $100, and a few Knox, marked for Levine Hat Company. As previously noted (I think by Javadave), the felt on these are nice, but the sweatbands are awful. I think they were going for $50-$60.

I had it shipped home, so it should arrive about the same time I get back on Friday.

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Bob Roberts said:

Thx for the update. No Stetsonians...?

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Frunobulax said:

Dude, if they had one in my size, I'd have bought it. If they'd had two, I'd have called you!


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jlee562 said:

So, my brother, two of my close friends, and myself traveled to Dallas this past weekend for Wrestlemania (yes, really!). Of course this necessitated a quick stop at the Garland outlet.

We made out like bandits!

We happened upon a sale, apparently. Straw and felt fedoras were 30% off the tagged price, or 50% off if you bought two or more. Ergo, hats for everyone!

My brother picked out two straws (a Milan and a shangtung Panama), one of my friends picked up a Dobbs 'Venetian Milan,' and the other picked out a soft wool bowler. I picked up a nice Stetson Globetrotter. It looks like the vent grommets are missing from this one, which is why it ended up at the outlet I'm guessing, but it's otherwise a nice hat, free of some of the flaws of the other hats on the floor. And at 50% off, who could resist?

There's a lot of interesting offerings. Some of those hats must have been sitting there for years, based on the look of the paper tags. They did have a few Boss Raw Edge reissues, but alas, not in my size (apparently 7 is their most popular size). No other open crown fedoras, sadly. I did see the Whippet Panama ( if anyone is 7 1/8, they have one for you!), which was quite nice, and almost bought a Brewster Panama.

The 'defects' in the hat range from slight to "what the heck?" Some ribbons were poorly tacked (even by Hatco standards), some had funky sweatbands. But the staff is VERY nice. They offered to check the back for things in my size, were ready to steam and shape, and let me pick out a feather. They also would have given us hatboxes, but we didn't want to fly with them. Definitely a fun experience.

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hatsRme said:

Ok, so I'm a little behind.... HOW was the WrestleMania, Jared?! Sounds like a most memorable ride!

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jlee562 said:

Oh Dallas was a blast! They broke their own Wrestlemania attendance record with over 100k people in ATT stadium.

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Bob Roberts said:

Let's see your Outlet hats and hear your deals.

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Hurricane Jack said:

I got a Stetson Chinchila 1000X Diamanté & matching hatband with 14K gold buckle set & 26 genuine real diamonds, included with hand tooled leather travel case all for $39.95 & they even paid the shipping! The sweat wasn't hole punched or nothin'! It was only missing the COA.

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Bob Roberts said:

Lol. I call BS!

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Bob Roberts said:

Let's see your Outlet hats and hear your deals.

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Hurricane Jack said:

Last yr I posted here some insider information told to me at the Outlet & that prompted 2-3 phone calls. Almost got someone fired. As far as I'm concerned, what happens at the Outlet stays at the Outlet.

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