What's a Dobbs?

Ok...

Well, I don't exactly have the history of Dobbs filed away in the old noggin, however, I think you and I own the same hat, well you know what I mean, the same style. I have one just like the one you have. It even has the former owners name written in the lining, "Bud". It's a nice little hat, I call it the Road to Perdition, what's his face evil photographer fedora, lol. Sorry the names escaped me at the moment.

Dobbs is the name of a US made hat company. Like Stetson they are owned by RHE Hatco of Garland Tx. Dobbs are now marketed from Garland Tx while Stetson is marketed from St Joseph Mo. Not sure how much is currently produced in the US.

Rich

Bogie1943, I seem to remember Jude Law's character wearing a bowler...I can't remember his name either, now.

Sounds great! BogieMcFly, perhaps could be a stingy brim number from the 50s or so? On some people that smaller brim just looks great--the Japanese men like this as well. Do you have a pic?

Matt Deckard or James Powers can give you a serious history of Dobbs.

Enjoy!

Dancing in Satan's fire,
G

BogieMcFly said:

For Christmas I got from a friend a short brimmed (like 1.5") fedora. It's dark brown, with a black looking ribbon (about 2" wide). The liner is a rich brown. Inside, the crest reads:

Dobbs
Fifth Avenue New York
"New York's Leading Hatters"

Then on the sweatband, it reads
Woodruffs Men's Store
Alhambra ------ Calif. J C

Any history on Dobbs?

In Christ,
Shane

PS. I pinched it loosely, and gave it a C-Crown, if anybody's interested.

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Ok, at GC's urging I am probably going to bore you to death.
In 1908 ad man Robert A. Holmes created the Dobbs line with H. DeWit Dobbs. So there is the starting point of the company. They were very successful because they made a high quality hat at a fair price. John Cavanagh joined their group in 1928. This created Cavanagh-Dobbs, Inc. In 1932 Hat Corporation of America bought out Cavanagh Dobbs and placed John Cavanagh in the presidency of the group. From there consolidation with the major hat brands just kept happening. In 1965 Resistol bought HCA. Resistol had acquired the labels of Kevin McAndrew, Bradford, Churchill, Champ, Knox, Dobbs and Cavanagh by that time. In 1979 Levi Strauss became the owner of all these hat labels! By 1985 the Levi Strauss sold to ADJ Caps. Now it is all Hatco.
Now that the history lesson is over, I would say that the hat you described was made by HCA in about 1963 or thereabouts. That was when that brim size and style was popular. Check out the old James Bond movies with Sean Connery in them. You might just find him wearing a hat like yours in the movie. I would have to see that hat to be sure. I am guessing it has a black sweatband and the liner looks something like this picture:



I think that about covers it. If you get a chance, post a picture of your hat. I would love to see it.

Regards to all,

J

Wow - thanks everybody for the replies, and James, that was great. lol

Yeah, my sweatband is like that, and the inside does look like that, only instead of white with black and gold, it's copper with gold. I'll try and get some pictures up. The liner is really dirty - I don't think it's ever been cleaned... but probalby not worn too much either, as the bow at the back of the sweatband is perfectly 100% clean looking. Though that may not mean much.

Now, if you're talking about Bond wearing these hats:



Mine does look a little different. But yes, at the same time, similar. The brim and crown are a little smaller.

I'll get back here with some pics.

In Christ,
Shane

You found an interesting picture of Bond there. His ribbon is probably narrower than yours and the crown on it looks to be open and not blocked at all in the second photo. Maybe it was the result of an international spy.
Glad I could help shed some light on a vintage Dobbs. They were nice hats. Your hat is something you can wear for quite a long time come rain or snow---no worries. It won't shrink and the color won't run. Does it have a Guild Edge too?

Regards,

J

Guild Edge? I'm pretty new to non-Indy fedoras... I do have an Akubra Regular, but as we all know, the edge on those is nothing special.

I've been looking through some threads, and it looks similar to what we're calling a Cavanagh Edge. I remember seeing a guide to face shapes vs. hat shapes, but I can't find it. It was like drawings or something to that effect. I can't figure out which fits me better, smaller brimmed or wider brimmed. I'm a thin teen, but I love my Akubra.

Here's me in my Akubra
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Vanquish738/03d77e1b.jpg

I think it looks really wide from some angles, like this one:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Vanquish738/Gear.gif
That was before I took off another 1/8" from the brim.

In Christ,
Shane

You are right. The Cavanagh edge is the same as a Guild Edge. It is just that Dobbs had its own name for the edge they had to pay Cavanagh royalties to use. They didn't want to use his name too. It is also the same as Stetson's Mode Edge and later Selv Edge. It should say Guild Edge on the sweatband but that wears off fairly easily. That feature cost more because it required a lot more work in the production of the hat body.
I think either size brim would be fine on you. I prefer the wide brims but that is just me. Hats went through various brim lengths over the last 100 years so it just depends what you like and feel comfortable with.

Regards to all,

J

jamespowers said:

In 1979 Levi Strauss became the owner of all these hat labels! By 1985 the Levi Strauss sold to ADJ Caps.
J

Click to expand...

JP, you always surprise me! Nicely done. I had no idea that Levi Strauss had bought the hat labels. did they spin off Hatco, or was that another company or gorup of investors that bought out the hat labels?

G

Yeah, I suppose I am a fountain of useless knowledge.
The story after Levi Strauss owned all those hat brands is actually even stranger. Strauss never really took an interest or fully understood the production of hats. Their idea of production was stamping out jeans in a process that could be done anywhere with minimal skill. They kept the hat division separate. It had its own management who just continued doing what they did before.
In 1985 they finally sold to ADJ Caps (Irving Joel) of Richmond Virginia. He loved hats and had already garnered the Adam hats label when he bought Texas Miller. Joel was a slick businessman. He bought all those hat labels from Strauss for $55,000,000. In 1993 he sold it for about two and a half times that amount! Here is where the group of investors comes in.
Hicks and Muse put the Hat Brands package together which included Dobbs, Resistol, lease of the Stetson label and a limited contract with Biltmore Hats of Canada. It gets even more interesting when you consider they added Lone Star Beer, A & W Rootbeer and later Montana Silversmith and Charley One Horse Hats! I am not sure what their current Hatco package contains now. Hat Brands became Hatco.
American businesses change their focus so frequently that I start to lose where one begins and another starts.

Regards to all,

J

jamespowers said:

Yeah, I suppose I am a fountain of useless knowledge.
The story after Levi Strauss owned all those hat brands is actually even stranger. Strauss never really took an interest or fully understood the production of hats. Their idea of production was stamping out jeans in a process that could be done anywhere with minimal skill. They kept the hat division separate. It had its own management who just continued doing what they did before.
In 1985 they finally sold to ADJ Caps (Irving Joel) of Richmond Virginia. He loved hats and had already garnered the Adam hats label when he bought Texas Miller. Joel was a slick businessman. He bought all those hat labels from Strauss for $55,000,000. In 1993 he sold it for about two and a half times that amount! Here is where the group of investors comes in.
Hicks and Muse put the Hat Brands package together which included Dobbs, Resistol, lease of the Stetson label and a limited contract with Biltmore Hats of Canada. It gets even more interesting when you consider they added Lone Star Beer, A & W Rootbeer and later Montana Silversmith and Charley One Horse Hats! I am not sure what their current Hatco package contains now. Hat Brands became Hatco.
American businesses change their focus so frequently that I start to lose where one begins and another starts.

Regards to all,

J

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Dobbs history bump