Recent content by AlterEgo

What's the scoop on leather hats being made these days? I had a brown cowhide one in the early 1970s: Heavy? Check. At least a pound. Thick? Check. Maybe as much as 3/16 inch. Quality? Well, it never fell apart, but when I was a kid, I had a toy gun holster made out of better...

2 inches or less is stingy; 2.5 or more is definitely not. It's that 2.0001 to 2.4999 that starts arguments! Funny story: I began wearing hats as a young kid but did not really learn all the terminology until I was thirty-something. When I was a college freshman, I bought a suede leather...

The Bushman is a great hat that can be bashed many ways. I intentionally don't steam my bashes in or make too sharp a crease so that I can change it up depending on my mood. It's like having ten hats in one! I love the Nullarbor tan color, quite rich, and goes with just about anything...

Update for Peacoat, Anyone Who Cares Thank you so much again for the info on my old peacoat you furnished back in Jan. '08 when my handle was NonEntity. Though purchased at a military surplus store in the early '70s, it's a Schott Bros. civilian version made on its WW II pattern. However...

That's what's known as an "Irish Walking Hat" or a "Bucket Hat," MB. They're made not of wool felt but woven wool, often in a tweed weave. Some of them are as nice as the better ivy and newsboy caps. In fact, many fine Irish and Scottish makers offer a few buckets in the exact same tweed as...

Most of the Imperial quality Akubras that David Morgan sells, like the Bushman, come with chin straps hooks already installed. I think DM does that as "incentive" to buy one of its kangaroo braid chin straps, which are superb. That's great if you want to attach a chin strap, because it makes...

Starting as a child in the early 1960s, I accompanied my dad and grandad when they shopped for hats. Memphis department stores Julius Lewis and Goldsmith's, as well as several other local men's habardasheries, all had extensive hat departments, and the experts who worked there really knew their...

I have the same issue, though I have a full head of hair and just prefer a cap that will stay on in a stiff wind. I only have one Jonathan Richards, an outstanding tweed ivy made in Ireland, but it has a deep back without the fullness that often accompanies that feature.

The man can sure play the guitar, though. He understands that less is more.

The Akubra Sydney/Fedora is the most comfortable out-of-the-box hat I've ever owned. The trade-off is that when handling it, it's almost impossible to keep from deforming the crown--no matter how it's bashed. It's so easy to put my preferred center crease with side dents back in that it's not...

I have handled only one Jaxonbilt hat--a 100% beaver just like the one Clint Eastwood wore in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," (sans the bullet hole) that a friend of mind bought some years ago. The style was spot-on, and it was one of the five nicest hats I've ever personally inspected--and...

Yep, that's the hat. Thanks for the pics, but these longer-range shots don't do the fedora justice, nor do they show how deep the top bash is. I'd say this hat has at least a six-inch crown (open, pre-bash). And I stand corrected about the interviewer, who is obviously not Osgood. I guess...

Did anyone here catch Charles Osgood's CBS Sunday Morning interview with Keith Richards this past Sunday? He was wearing a TERRIFIC hat--a very tall and straight-up open-crown dimensional raw-edge brim fedora in a nice beige color, with a wide, mid-brown hatband. Keith wore it well back on...

Dorfman-Pacific is the world's largest headwear compay, and within its marketing scheme, "Scala" is the brand under which it sells its better hats and caps. I say "within its marketing scheme" because, in the headwear universe, DP is positioned in the upper-low to upper-middle range of...

Welcome, Gromulus. Good decision; the Banjo Paterson is a great hat. The 2 3/4-inch brim, moderate crown height and taper, and basic bash--center crease with a pair of front dents--make it extremely versatile, and heritage fawn coordinates with virtually any color of clothing. The BP is...