gcollins
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 270
- Location
- Shanghai, China
Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you the very first production of Art Fawcett's Collegiate.
Felt is a moss colored beaver blend of anonymous origin with a phenomenal matching vintage dark olive ribbon. The felt on this is pounced well and feels very vintage-like, and in totality is the softest wearing hat I own (I don't own too many vintage that fit me well though).
This is the first hat I've had with a 2-3/8 brim. The crown is just a hair shy of 4-3/4" at the front.
I'm a huge stickler for a nice perfect clean block, tightish pinch,, deep dimples that throw shadows from directional light. That 40's untapered front and sides is fine fine fine. The Collegiate welts are uniform and straight--this cannot be easy to do for any fine hatter. His slope from front to back in silhouette is more than notable--close to best in class, from what I've seen and like. Optimo needs this kind of blocking. Check out how you can see the top collegiate welt through the pinches in the front. Cool touch.
Bow work? Very good with hidden stitches on the double bow. He likes to do the center of the bow narrower than the classic bow, but I like the way it works here. He will have to be careful not to take away from the uniformity of look in the ribbon. But Art seems to have an eye for this kind of variation. Stitching? I give Art a B+, a very good score from someone who examines closely the symmetry and eveness of stitching.
Fit? We're working on that, given some difficulties of dealing with size over e-mail. I'll update the final fit, when we complete some work here.
The sweats and liners of Art's are good, given the difficulty of finding great sources of supply for these for low volume custom hatwork. Very soft sweat in burgundy, but Art will someday soon have even better sweats. The liner has his new logo, a bonus--it is however a sticker that will not last long. This will change as his suppliers get on board.
Art can make a hat that's not only a great deal at current pricing (compare with Optimo's $400), but is really well made and with an eye toward perfect work and innovations.
In all the hat is well made, has character, and doesn't bore me a bit: even with the narrower brim, it is rakish, and perhaps a bit sporty; I gravitate toward toward the rakish, a bit like Art himself.
Is this the perfect hat? Time will tell as the pilgrimage continues. But my assessment of Art's work on this hat is his excellence outside of the hat and overall craftsmanship. By the way, I am comparing only great hats, not hats at Art's custom price points. That alone says enough. Get one while you can. Prices will likely increase as his reputation grows.
Regards,
G
Felt is a moss colored beaver blend of anonymous origin with a phenomenal matching vintage dark olive ribbon. The felt on this is pounced well and feels very vintage-like, and in totality is the softest wearing hat I own (I don't own too many vintage that fit me well though).
This is the first hat I've had with a 2-3/8 brim. The crown is just a hair shy of 4-3/4" at the front.
I'm a huge stickler for a nice perfect clean block, tightish pinch,, deep dimples that throw shadows from directional light. That 40's untapered front and sides is fine fine fine. The Collegiate welts are uniform and straight--this cannot be easy to do for any fine hatter. His slope from front to back in silhouette is more than notable--close to best in class, from what I've seen and like. Optimo needs this kind of blocking. Check out how you can see the top collegiate welt through the pinches in the front. Cool touch.
Bow work? Very good with hidden stitches on the double bow. He likes to do the center of the bow narrower than the classic bow, but I like the way it works here. He will have to be careful not to take away from the uniformity of look in the ribbon. But Art seems to have an eye for this kind of variation. Stitching? I give Art a B+, a very good score from someone who examines closely the symmetry and eveness of stitching.
Fit? We're working on that, given some difficulties of dealing with size over e-mail. I'll update the final fit, when we complete some work here.
The sweats and liners of Art's are good, given the difficulty of finding great sources of supply for these for low volume custom hatwork. Very soft sweat in burgundy, but Art will someday soon have even better sweats. The liner has his new logo, a bonus--it is however a sticker that will not last long. This will change as his suppliers get on board.
Art can make a hat that's not only a great deal at current pricing (compare with Optimo's $400), but is really well made and with an eye toward perfect work and innovations.
In all the hat is well made, has character, and doesn't bore me a bit: even with the narrower brim, it is rakish, and perhaps a bit sporty; I gravitate toward toward the rakish, a bit like Art himself.
Is this the perfect hat? Time will tell as the pilgrimage continues. But my assessment of Art's work on this hat is his excellence outside of the hat and overall craftsmanship. By the way, I am comparing only great hats, not hats at Art's custom price points. That alone says enough. Get one while you can. Prices will likely increase as his reputation grows.
Regards,
G
