Hat customizing Taboos

[D. Hats]

I know that it is not frowned upon to change a crown on an Open Road from a western motif to a traditional fedora style, but would it be acceptable to change the grosgrain ribbon on a Open Road from the narrow ~1/4" wide to a much wider one resembling what's found on the Whippets and other vintage fedoras? I'm finding myself compelled to change the ribbon on one of my hats, but I'm wondering if there's a concensus amongst fedora traditionalist that this would ruin the hat.... Obviously, as my wife often states, "you're going to do what you want anyway", but still I'm wondering what / if there is any protocal on this subject.

 

[Matt Deckard]

I wouldn't cahnge a homburg to a fedora or a fedora to a homburg, though changing the ribbon on a hat's crown doens't seem like such a big deal to me. Whatever you think looks best.

 

[Feraud]

..would it be acceptable to change the grosgrain ribbon on a Open Road from the narrow ~1/4" wide to a much wider one resembling what's found on the Whippets and other vintage fedoras?

I recall seeing someone from the Lounge do just that. It looked really great!
I have an Open Road and have looked at it and thought about doing the same thing. You are probably not in bad company if you decide to do it.

 

[fedoralover]

It was Dusty Rhodes 10x Stetson, he had Art put a wider ribbon on it. In the end it's your hat, you paid for it, do as you will.

fedoralover

 

[D. Hats]

Joseph...

My inspiration to change my Open Road is from your reblocked Open Road that you've shared with us here... I'd like to do the same, but in addition, change the ribbon. But only if I can find a shade of color that matches the bound edge... I really don't want a mismatch between the two...

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Have a look see

It was Dusty Rhodes 10x Stetson, he had Art put a wider ribbon on it. In the end it's your hat, you paid for it, do as you will.

fedoralover

Yep, here it is, before and after shots http://public.fotki.com/formerblueangel/stetson_10x/
Dusty

 

[feltfan]

Yep, here it is, before and after shots http://public.fotki.com/formerblueangel/stetson_10x/
Dusty

What a transformation! What a great looking hat!
That matching ribbon is killer.

Three questions, if you don't mind:

- What's the brim size on that hat?
- Assuming you've held a Stetson 100, how would
you compare it to your hat? In pictures they look
a lot alike. Maybe I'm just reopening the "# of Xs"
discussion, which is not what I'm getting at...
- I assume it started out stiff like a cowboy hat.
If so, how stiff was it after Art was done?

Thanks and thanks again for sharing the hat.

 

[tonyb]

Go ahead and change the ribbon AND the edge binding, if you wanna. I've seen many old ORs and similarly styled hats (Dobbs Westward, for instance) with decent enough bodies but decidedly discolored bindings. The cleaning processes I've tried don't seem to do much to change that dingy look, which I suspect is caused by long-term exposure to the elements (bright sunlight, rain, etc.) and other environmental factors (smoke, maybe?). So it appears that the discoloration is irreversible. If someone knows otherwise, well, I'm all ears.
Dusty's example clearly shows that you can indeed take all the cowboy stylings out of an OR and come out with a thoroughly citified hat.

 

[John in Covina]

Go ahead and change the ribbon AND the edge binding, if you wanna. I've seen many old ORs and similarly styled hats (Dobbs Westward, for instance) with decent enough bodies but decidedly discolored bindings. The cleaning processes I've tried don't seem to do much to change that dingy look, which I suspect is caused by long-term exposure to the elements (bright sunlight, rain, etc.) and other environmental factors (smoke, maybe?). So it appears that the discoloration is irreversible. If someone knows otherwise, well, I'm all ears. Dusty's example clearly shows that you can indeed take all the cowboy stylings out of an OR and come out with a thoroughly citified hat.

*****
I think that these hats were worn by the outdoors type, so sun and weathering would probably take their toll. I was astonished by the hat Art worked on where he turned the body of felt inside out to return closest to the original coloration. that was a masterfull touch.

I relished the story that was posted about how the geology majors at one university were all Open Road wearers as a badge of distinction and the condition of the 4 years of work to obtain a degree showed in the condition of the hat another portion that was a badge of honor. WHich also reminds me of the Army Air Corp Crush cap, that the condition of the crush was an indication of the time and number of missions you'd been on.

 

[MK]

.

A hat customizing taboo would be to put a big Coors logo on it.

Changing the ribbon is fine.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

Do it!

I'm thinking about that very same modification. The Open Road is nice, and I think it begs for different configurations of trim.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

OK Here it goes

What a transformation! What a great looking hat!
That matching ribbon is killer.

Three questions, if you don't mind:

- What's the brim size on that hat?
- Assuming you've held a Stetson 100, how would
you compare it to your hat? In pictures they look
a lot alike. Maybe I'm just reopening the "# of Xs"
discussion, which is not what I'm getting at...
- I assume it started out stiff like a cowboy hat.
If so, how stiff was it after Art was done?

Thanks and thanks again for sharing the hat.

Art told me the exact size but I don't recall. it is VERY close to 3 Inches.
Never held a Stetson 100, this is a 10X. It's nice and soft, and floppier than you think. It's not as nice as my Borsilino but it's the second softest hat I own. I have a 3 X that feels pretty good too. Art dated this hat to the 50's so it's not very stiff. WHen I got it opened crowned, I even put a Indy Bash in the crown ever so briefly just to see how it would look. I decided to let Art play with it instead and there you have it, another work of "Art!" :cheers1:
D