WTB: Al Capone Fedora

[Stanley Doble]

Your request rings a faint bell. The Capone hat was a distinctive one, and was worn by other members of the Capone mob. In fact if you were not a Capone associate you DID NOT wear that style of hat in Chicago, not if you were smart.

I don't remember the name of the hat but it was a distinct style well known in Chicago at the time ( 1925-32). Its name has to be in some history someplace but I don't know where.

.......................Later.........................

A quick web search turned up several hatters selling Capone fedoras. Here is one for $69.95.

http://www.thehatco.com/Al_Capone_Dress_Fedora.html

 

[Flw Sock]

Stanley, thanks a lot for your help. I do have a further question about both the fedora you found, as well as one I found.

I love the hat that you have linked, but I need sweatband to be black.

I found a member on the forum (Benny Holiday) and he has a very similar hat to the one I'm looking for (at least it looks like it). A thread by him can be found here http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...ho-shirts-quot-and-quot-waistband-shirts-quot
(so you can get a picture of his hat). Is there anyway I would be able to get the fold that Al had out of his hat with a hat like Benny's?

 

[Mulceber]

I love the hat that you have linked, but I need sweatband to be black.

Not to nitpick, but in point of fact, that's the ribbon you're talking about. The sweatband is inside the hat and is the piece of material (usually leather) that your forehead is in contact with.

To be honest, I think what you're hoping for is a pipe dream. Finding a hat that looks like Capone's fedora for $30 would be possible, given the multitude of really cheap hats out there. But they won't hold up, no matter how much care you show them. They're meant to be costume pieces and simply will not hold up. That leaves ebay. If you got really lucky, you could find a good quality vintage hat that looks like Capone's for $30...except your hat size is very large by today's standard and would have been considered enormous in the golden era - so pretty much no vintage hats that would look like Capone's, would be $30 and would be your size.

Your best bet is to either give up, get a costume piece that won't hold up, or hold out, save money and get a more expensive hat that will hold up. And if it makes you feel any better, you won't regret going with that last option. -M

 

[Flw Sock]

I can spend more than $30, I put $30 there so I wouldn't get recommendations for hats that are like $300. I would be willing to spend a little bit more for a good hat. I would seriously consider the one he linked above if the "ribbon" was black..

 

[Stanley Doble]

There have been threads about reshaping hats, blocking hats, etc. It is also possible to replace the ribbon. I'm no expert but if you do a search I'm sure you can find plenty of info.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Reshaping and changing ribbons trying to make a inexpensive hat look like a borsalino fedora is spending a lot of time on something an
expensive hat will never be. my al capone museum
As a Broso owner I can tell you it would not be possible to have an inexpensive hat replace it.

 

[Chief000731]

+1 How True Hatter impossible to to replace a Borsalino with an inexpensive hat... Just my opinion. Chief.

Reshaping and changing ribbons trying to make a inexpensive hat look like a borsalino fedora is spending a lot of time on something an
expensive hat will never be. my al capone museum
As a Broso owner I can tell you it would not be possible to have an inexpensive hat replace it.