Please Advise

[Guinness]

Hi Everyone,

I just purchased this 8 year old Stetson 4X Beaver felt hat and am thinking about sending it to Optimo for a complete makeover into a fedora. I need your help, because I am very new to hat wearing, to decide about the style to make it into. For reference, I just got an Akubra Stylemaster and really do like it, and if I do say so myself, it doesn't look half bad on me. The color of the Stetson is black, so I'm thinking about a contrasting hat band and edge trim, maybe a plum or burgundy color. What do you think about that? Would also like to have the lining to be in the same color, if possible. Also, how would you recommend the crown be treated? Taking my photo into consideration, what advice would you give this newbie about this project? Thanks everyone for your help.

PS
Please be gentle about the mug shot. HA HA

 

[trailrunner]

Hi Everyone,

I just purchased this 8 year old Stetson 4X Beaver felt hat and am thinking about sending it to Optimo for a complete makeover into a fedora. I need your help, because I am very new to hat wearing, to decide about the style to make it into. For reference, I just got an Akubra Stylemaster and really do like it, and if I do say so myself, it doesn't look half bad on me. The color of the Stetson is black, so I'm thinking about a contrasting hat band and edge trim, maybe a plum or burgundy color. What do you think about that? Would also like to have the lining to be in the same color, if possible. Also, how would you recommend the crown be treated? Taking my photo into consideration, what advice would you give this newbie about this project? Thanks everyone for your help.

PS
Please be gentle about the mug shot. HA HA

Sorry Guinness, I can not see your mug shot. I would like to see that hat!

 

[Lefty]

Your photo isn't working for me, but a rebuild from Optimo will be expensive - and likely cost more than that hat is worth. You'd be better off finding a hat in a style that your prefer on ebay. You could even find a black fedora with a different color ribbon and sent it to Optimo to be re-ribboned. I believe the charge for that is around $20 (plus the $20-$40 you'll spend on shipping).

 

[Guinness]

Sorry, didn't work first time.

 

[Inusuit]

Agree with Lefty...

Nice Stetson, but in my opinion not a great candidate for transition to a fedora. I've had only one experience trying a hat redo. I asked a custom hatter to just change the bash on a modern 3X Resistol cowboy hat. In spite of his best efforts, remnants of the old bash kept returning. He finally got it to hold shape, but it would have been an expensive proposition had I not been able to return the hat to him in person each time. Also helped that I had purchased a fairly expensive custom western hat from him. I think modern western hats tend to be very stiff, and as my hatter put it, "They must have bashed that hat with a 50-ton press!"

Patience, Ebay,and the Fedora classifieds are your best bet.

Regards,

Inusuit

 

[Carlisle Blues]

I would buy another hat.

 

[gtdean48]

Sell that hat on ebay & buy another Akubra like a CEO or Fedora. If it were a vintage 4X Stetson, I could see transforming but not a modern one. I've taken the cattleman bash out of 2 modern 4X Open Roads & still can see the traces of it. JMHO....

 

[Bob Smalser]

Depends on what you want. If color is important and you can find the same in a fedora, then I don't see any harm in another 60-80 dollar investment as a good custom hat will run you 2-300.

But you may not like the result for an entirely different reason. Western hats with wide brims are made from much thicker and heavier felt than their narrow-brimmed fedora counterparts, and in the less expensive grades of felt are stiff as cardboard. Something has to hold all that brim up in the rain, eh? You may spend your money and wind up with a relatively heavy, uncomfortable hat.

The cutoff between heavy and light felt hat bodies seems to be a 2 3/4 - 3" brim.

 

[tonyb]

It's all good advice so far, Guinness. Unless this hat has some special value to you, you'd probably have more dough into a conversion than it would be worth.

But it can be done. It would involve a cleaning and blocking (ka-ching), a brim-reduction surgery (ring them bells again), a new band and bow (likewise), and probably a new sweatband (ditto). Add the cost of shipping both ways and, well, you have the equivalent (or more) of the price of a nice vintage fedora, or a decent enough new hat. And it wouldn't cost a tremendous amount more to find yourself under a new custom.

It might be a real nice lid, though, after all of that. Can't say that I'm all that familiar with the quality of the felt used in that hat of yours, but if it's decent stuff, well, heck, I've spent more and had less to show for it. If it's not such good felt ... I'm reminded of that old adage about silk purses and sows' ears.

 

[Guinness]

Cost

Thanks everyone for all the good advice that has been given. I have checked with Optimo and it will cost about $100.00 to $125.00 to convert. I haven't received the hat yet, but I was hoping since it's a 4X beaver, that the felt might be worth using. Thanks again everybody.