I require assistance in choosing a Fedora.

[GamaH]

Basically, the 7 1/8 can move forward and backward a little (about a cm) and if I turn my head rapidly, it shifts at about a 25degrees angle out of place to the opposite direction.

The sides fit.

 

[eto]

Hey Gama. What hat store did you go to. If it was JJhats Im surprised you weren't able to walk out with a new hat today. I would agree with the posts above, loose is better. My hat lays about a half inch above my ears. And actually the other days when it was raining I was walking about the city and the hat got wet. Got home and let It dry. When I put it back on it was more snug. So it true with these hats they will expand and contract some.

 

[GamaH]

Oh, I'm actually not stateside at the moment. I went to a Borsalino boutique in Verona to try on the hats and stuff. Unfortunately I don't speak even basic Italian, so as helpful as they tried to be, I don't think they really understood my questions. As to why I didn't buy anything, they didn't have a particular color I wanted for that hat (which I saw online), so now I know what I want, and generally how it looks, I'll probably buy it online once I get the whole sizing fiasco solved.

 

[John in Covina]

It may be hard to have one hat that goes well with a Tux and a suit it would depend on the suit.

If you are wearing a black tux and the suit is a different color that may change your needs.

 

[GamaH]

It may be hard to have one hat that goes well with a Tux and a suit it would depend on the suit.

If you are wearing a black tux and the suit is a different color that may change your needs.

Generally though, is a dark brown hat easy to match?

 

[Feraud]

Yes, very.

 

[GamaH]

Back to the thing about sizes. When you're measuring your head, how tightly are you supposed to pull the tape?

 

[Feraud]

You should pull the tape as tight as you would wear the hat.
If your head is not perfectly round the measured number is flawed as in the case of oval sized heads.

 

[GamaH]

Someone mentioned something about oval shaped head if it fits in the front and back, but loose at the sides.

In my case, the hat fits at the sides, but is loose in the front and back (hence the awkward tilting forward and backward when I nod or 25degree angle shifts when I shake my head).

 

[T Rick]

Someone mentioned something about oval shaped head if it fits in the front and back, but loose at the sides.

In my case, the hat fits at the sides, but is loose in the front and back (hence the awkward tilting forward and backward when I nod or 25degree angle shifts when I shake my head).

No worries there. The standard hat is a somewhat elongated oval. Some people's heads are a bit more oval, and for those, they make "Long Oval's" (and some hat's can also be re-blocked to a long oval by a good Hatter). In your case, sounds like you are more of a "round oval" (pretty much all human heads are oval to some degree I think).

Never heard of a hat made for round oval, but it would be simple at first to add some sizing felt or other material to the front and/or back of the underside of the sweatband.

Most hats though, will conform to your head in short order with wear, as long as the difference is not huge. I'd go with the larger size. I know my Akubra Camp Draft felt just slightly loose when I first put it on. One time wearing it with my hair still good and damp from the shower cured that. A good sweat is also said to accomplish this.

 

[GamaH]

How different is the fit of a Stetson Western(cowboy) hat to a Fedora? Because I already have a 7 1/8 Stetson; I could try putting some foam tape and see if it still is too loose. If it is then I know that 7 1/8 is too large for me and that it only fit the other time because I had this really long thick hair (I had a haircut a few days ago).

Would that work? Or is a western hat's fitting/sizing vastly different from a Fedora?

 

[Canadian Cowboy]

No worries there. The standard hat is a somewhat elongated oval. Some people's heads are a bit more oval, and for those, they make "Long Oval's" (and some hat's can also be re-blocked to a long oval by a good Hatter). In your case, sounds like you are more of a "round oval" (pretty much all human heads are oval to some degree I think).

Never heard of a hat made for round oval, but it would be simple at first to add some sizing felt or other material to the front and/or back of the underside of the sweatband.

Most hats though, will conform to your head in short order with wear, as long as the difference is not huge. I'd go with the larger size. I know my Akubra Camp Draft felt just slightly loose when I first put it on. One time wearing it with my hair still good and damp from the shower cured that. A good sweat is also said to accomplish this.

In the case with Cowboy hats today the most common is the regular oval (Stetson) long oval is (Resistol) and Round oval is (Bailey).
I just posted pics of a older Stetson Cowboy hat I just acquired and it is a round oval I posted some pics and one is clearing showing the round oval tag I am a round oval myself.
CC
CC

 

[GamaH]

Ok this is what my Stetson's shape is like...

And this is where there is quite a bit of space..

Edit: It's to scale btw. So the front is about 3/4 of a cm of space, and the back is about 1.2cm.

 

[jlee562]

It would seem you have a "round oval" head.

 

[GamaH]

After several more head measurements (with the help of someone else), it seems that my head size is closer to 7 than it is to 7 1/8.

Are hat sizes ever designed with people rounding down sizes in mind is it always rounding up?

 

[jlee562]

After several more head measurements (with the help of someone else), it seems that my head size is closer to 7 than it is to 7 1/8.

Are hat sizes ever designed with people rounding down sizes in mind is it always rounding up?

Well, Akubras, for example, are usually made slightly larger than the size indicates though they conform to your head over time. This is usually the case, although some hats stay more true to size than others. There are any number of variables. There are also solutions. Padding is used quite frequently, also, if you dampen the sweatband it put it over a lampshade, that will help shrink the hat some as well.

 

[danofarlington]

Are hat sizes ever designed with people rounding down sizes in mind is it always rounding up?

You are assuming more exactitude in the manufacture of hats than is actually delivered. I think hat sizes tend to vary a lot within any given marked size, depending on the individual hat, no matter which brand you're talking about.

 

[GamaH]

Yeah, I suppose. Maybe I shouldn't think about it so much.

A slightly important question would be this. What is the average crown height and brim length (such that it is measured against, anything higher = high, anything longer = long, etc)?

Is a 4.25 inch crown considered high, medium or low? What about a 2.5inch brim?

 

[jlee562]

Yeah, I suppose. Maybe I shouldn't think about it so much.

A slightly important question would be this. What is the average crown height and brim length (such that it is measured against, anything higher = high, anything longer = long, etc)?

Is a 4.25 inch crown considered high, medium or low? What about a 2.5inch brim?

Depends on who you ask.

Seriously.

Personally, I'd consider 2" or less a Stingy brim.

Crown height, if you're talking about the creased height, I would say 4.25" is "medium," but that's pretty subjective.

 

[danofarlington]

A slightly important question would be this. What is the average crown height and brim length (such that it is measured against, anything higher = high, anything longer = long, etc)?

Is a 4.25 inch crown considered high, medium or low? What about a 2.5inch brim?

I can't say the averages. I would call 4.25 crown low (near as low as it gets, which might be a 4). Crowns might more commonly be 5 or 5.5, with a 6 inch crown like what a cowboy hat has. A 2.5 inch brim is wide or on the borderline of wide, IMHO.