Field Tested - Sergei's Optimo Indy Brown Pics

[Sergei]

II thought I post the below pictures as a thought of combining a vacation with some field testing of equipment, mainly the Optimo. Most of you (& myself) have only seen pictures of Optimos in dignified 'city" settings. I took the chance and the results paid off as the pictures testify below.

As a background, I just recently came back from a 4 day vacation that I spent in the local mountains here in Southern California (San Jacinto Mountain - Peak Elevation 10,500 feet). The last 3 days of the vacation, I wore my Optimo Indy Brown to give it a nice thorough "field test". I didn't camp out, but rather, we rented a rustic cabin at about 5500 ft. One day, I really put the Optimo through a challenge where I started at 8500 ft and bagged the peak which was at 10,500. For those of you that backpack or hike, 2,000 feet up and 2,000 feet down can be a challenge. Most of the climb was within tree line with a 500 foot scramble up boulders above the tree line.

The Optimo performed quite well. I was nervous to take such an expensive hat through this grind, worrying mostly about pine sap, cob webs, trail dust, an occasional gust of wind, cigar ashes, etc. nevertheless the Optimo performed well as seen by the pictures below. The picture session was done on my last day on the mountain, where I took a lazy hike to a peaklet. The Optimo was carefully dusted off with my hat brush. I did take care of the Optimo during the extensive hikes, in making sure that my sweat off my head was minimized during the hike by frequent wiping of my forehead. In addition, special "felt shims" were place into the inside of the sweat band (to simulate my extremely round oval head, into a "long" oval) that absorbed any extraneous sweat. In addition, I placed a thin swatch of "paper" towel, into the sweatband to create a barrier as well. It worked. I did minimize the "salt" from the sweat appearing on the ribbon.

Bottom Line: Even though I did not run into any rain, the Optimo did perform well on trail.

Also take a look at the brims. No, stiffner what so ever. Every bash, swoop, curl was done naturally with no water, steam, stiffner, etc. I do put my Optimo on top of Western Straw hat (well that's my block), to "TRAIN" the curl and swoop. It works, you need to train it, train it, train it... I'm not done on the brims. I had the same issue with every Indy hat I have owned. It takes a month or two to train the brims so that they have the "memory".


Very happy camper!





Now this is the sheen, I am talking about. Look how it glistens off the light.




Next: I will be posting more pictures on you fellas that have the special problem I have, "round oval" head.

Solution: "Felt shims" on the front and back to simulate long oval. The foam inserts ( ala Akubra) don't cut it. This was devised as a special creation from Optimo

Hat Specs:
- 5 3/4" crown shell
- 7 1/2 size, increase 1/16" larger to accomodate front/back shims to make Long Oval
- 3 inch front & back
- 2 3/4" sides
- 1 5/8" Black Ribbon
- White Liner
- Burgundy Leather Band


Take Care...

-Sergei

[Sergei]

Part II (this version of the board does limit how many pictures you can post, unlike the old FL and COW. Hmmm....)








My favorite trail smokes, "La Gloria Cubana, Wavell"

[Sergei]

Part III (I hope you fix this MK. )

[Sergei]

Part IV (...)

Look at the clean lines. No taper!!!

[Zohar]

I like that hat a lot. Glad I was able to pick one up

[Chamorro]

Sergei,

Have you noticed any problems with a misshapened brim? Mine started distorting after about a week so I sent it back to get resized. My brim had more waves in it than the opening sequence to "Hawaii Five-O."

[Sergei]

Originally posted by Chamorro
Sergei,

Have you noticed any problems with a misshapened brim? Mine started distorting after about a week so I sent it back to get resized. My brim had more waves in it than the opening sequence to "Hawaii Five-O."

I haven't noticed it on mine (looking at it now - but the above pictures don't show it either). Did the waves occur after you had the shims put in? Was it tight? You have me curious.

-S

[Zohar]

I've only noticed waves when my Dad, who is a long oval, puts the hat on. I'm a definite round oval, and don't have any waves.

My Phantom Blue's brim is tougher to style than the Indy Brown. It's thicker than the Phantom Blue.

[fedoralover]

Sergei, that really is a beautiful looking hat. I like the wider ribbon. The crown really shows the thin felt to me as you can see how the side bashes get those little crunches in the corners. A thicker felt just won't do that. The original Raiders fedora would do exactly that.

fedoralover

[Matt Deckard]

Chamorro--

Have you noticed any problems with a misshapened brim? Mine started distorting after about a week so I sent it back to get resized. My brim had more waves in it than the opening sequence to "Hawaii Five-O."

I think alot of it has to do with the dimentional brim combined with it being a light weight felt. My PB Borsalino did the same thing when I first got it. I was worried but with wear it faded into the background.

When I got my first summerweight Optimo I noticed there were extra spots where the brim broke to go up or down. (Thinner but denser felt made it more noticable than PB)
I suspect with less material on the side than on the front and back (dimenional cut) it makes the brim more likely to do this. I worked on the brim for a week or so, primarily doing a tight tortilla roll where the brim transitions from front to back. both my Chocolate brown and Indy Brown look fine now. I hope your hats come back to your likings, I know how I feel when somethign is not just right.

just for info\/
My friend bauregard has a really old black Borsalino that is 30's... the felt feels like Optimo summerweight felt, it has a bound edge and has a wobbly brim... it is dead stock and has yet to be broken in, but it acts like the Optimos but with age feels a llittle drier.

[Chamorro]

Well, I got it back today and I am happy with it so far. I also got the new white satin liner (jury's still out on that one) and a brown sweatband (which goes perfectly with this hat). Gives it that vintage look.

[Zohar]

It looks great on you.
Do you have a shot of the new liner and sweatband?

I got a white silk liner, with burgundy sweatband.

[Chamorro]

I'm out of daylight right now but I'll try to get a pic on tomorrow. Artificial light just doesn't cut it, IMO.

[happyfilmluvguy]

That's a great hat and it looks great on you!

[ITG]

Talk about resurecting an old thread. So Sergei-dude, where are you?

[Razzman]

Great hat Sergei. I definately like the hat color and ribbon combo. It is a fine looking hat. Congratulations.

[Fletch]

You're gonna hate me Sergei, but I think you look a little like "Roman" in the Citicard commercial, only with a way cooler hat. So I hope you found your mountain expedition wery, wery, WERY REWARDING!