Akubra Campdraft

You guys are the best. I will tame this hat best I can.
The price is great compared to what Ive paid for a new Herbert Johnson (sold it) borsalino torton (sold it to)
But I paid $143 for this hat and then theres the shipping fee so just under $200.

Heres a photo I took when I woke up and looked over the hat again.

Now I'm curious....

How many Loungers have picked up an Akubra post-2014 and the switch to imported fur?

we have experiences like Al's, which seem to be the archetypal Akubra (shrinking sweat, but holds up for the long haul). But we've also recently seen a pretty decently misshapen Fed IV, and now D00R's Campdraft experience. Notwithstanding manufacturing tolerances between natural fibers, production runs, and the occasional bad run of hats, it's worth seeing if there's a pattern.

deadlyhandsome said:

For me, it’s all about managing my expectations. I’d never expect a $100 Akubra to compare to a Borsalino. I’m a fan of economy custom hats, but I also understand that they won’t compare to VS, Gannon, etc.

Akubras are hell for stout so you don’t have to worry about damaging them with reasonable handling. I have three Campdrafts and two of them were just as you describe. They had hard felt that required water, steam, and muscle to shape. I’d give it some time and work and rework the shape and the felt should soften a bit. I doubt it will ever be a soft hat, but they are very serviceable. My Silverbelly came very soft and malleable, but all my others are close to what you described.

I know the disappointment of getting a hat and realizing it was not what you had hoped. I’d say keep it and use it hard, make it your rain hat, and enjoy a hat you don’t have to baby.

I was thinking about ordering another Campdraft (Moonstone) but in the end I spent just a bit more and ordered a custom Agnoulita and specified a soft crown and a stiffer brim. At this point I personally can’t see ordering another felt Akubra, but I’m glad I have mine...wore one today as a matter of fact.


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I own 2 CD's and 3 other Akubra hats and I echo your sentiments. They have a great place in my collection but tempering expectations around a $100 hat is paramount. For that kind of money I have no worries about getting it soaked, rumpled and used.

jlee562 said:

Now I'm curious....

How many Loungers have picked up an Akubra post-2014 and the switch to imported fur?

we have experiences like Al's, which seem to be the archetypal Akubra (shrinking sweat, but holds up for the long haul). But we've also recently seen a pretty decently misshapen Fed IV, and now D00R's Campdraft experience. Notwithstanding manufacturing tolerances between natural fibers, production runs, and the occasional bad run of hats, it's worth seeing if there's a pattern.

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Excellent thought! I got my Moonstone Fed IV in September of 2015, but it's my only Heritage Grade Akubra so I have nothing to compare it to. However, I got my Bluegrass Green Campdraft in July of 2015; Imperial Grade like my two other Campdrafts. It might have been a little softer than my other Campdrafts when I received it, but I attribute that to the amount of stiffener used on the individual hat body because my Taupe Fawn Campdraft was ridiculously stiff when I got it, even by Akubra's standards. Otherwise, and keep in mind I'm far from being an expert, I haven't noticed a difference in the quality of the felt or the workmanship. It feels the same as my other two, the crown and brim shaped as easily as my other two, and it fits the same as my other two. Assuming the hat was made after the switch to imported fur, in my amateur opinion/experience there isn't an immediately noticeable difference.

Wait, what? Feel like I've walked in halfway through a movie. Imported fur from where, and why? I was not aware of this.

Hat Masterson said:

Wait, what? Feel like I've walked in halfway through a movie. Imported fur from where, and why? I was not aware of this.

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Some years ago (2014 according to Jared, and that sounds correct to me) Akubra announced they were having difficulties obtaining enough rabbit and hare fur locally to sustain their hat production, and were going to have to import fur from other countries for the first time in the company's history. At the time Akubra devotees anticipated a change in quality and/or increased prices as a result, but I'm not sure we've seen either.

Wasn't it something to do with China all the Australian fur, or something like that?

Zombie_61 said:

Excellent thought! I got my Moonstone Fed IV in September of 2015, but it's my only Heritage Grade Akubra so I have nothing to compare it to. However, I got my Bluegrass Green Campdraft in July of 2015; Imperial Grade like my two other Campdrafts. It might have been a little softer than my other Campdrafts when I received it, but I attribute that to the amount of stiffener used on the individual hat body because my Taupe Fawn Campdraft was ridiculously stiff when I got it, even by Akubra's standards. Otherwise, and keep in mind I'm far from being an expert, I haven't noticed a difference in the quality of the felt or the workmanship. It feels the same as my other two, the crown and brim shaped as easily as my other two, and it fits the same as my other two. Assuming the hat was made after the switch to imported fur, in my amateur opinion/experience there isn't an immediately noticeable difference.

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+1 on the taupe fawn being stiffer than stiff.


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Here's an article.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-...ra-to-look-offshore-for-raw-materials/5474918

chicken1616 said:

Here's an article.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-...ra-to-look-offshore-for-raw-materials/5474918

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It sounds like the felt is coming from Tonak and they are not an inferior brand. If Akubra is specifying lower quality felts to save money that’s one thing, but it sounds as if they have been supplementing their supply for quite a while. I don’t think that Tonak felts is the problem. You can get a very soft, very nice hat from a Tonak rabbit fur felt.


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chicken1616 said:

Here's an article.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-...ra-to-look-offshore-for-raw-materials/5474918

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Yup, that's the article I had in mind.

I mean, Hatco pumps out their fair share of clunkers too...The original premiere strat I received was apparently part of a batch made with the wrong grade of felt (royal bodies for the blocked in crease version were used in place the royal deluxe felt for the open crown version). And we recently had someone post a wonky silverbelly strat. So on one level...maybe that's just the nature of hat production today.

deadlyhandsome said:

It sounds like the felt is coming from Tonak and they are not an inferior brand. If Akubra is specifying lower quality felts to save money that’s one thing, but it sounds as if they have been supplementing their supply for quite a while. I don’t think that Tonak felts is the problem. You can get a very soft, very nice hat from a Tonak rabbit fur felt.


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Well, they're importing the fur as far as I understand. I believe Akubra still makes their own felt.

I saw Belgium, France, and Ukraine mentioned in other articles, but it looks like mainly Ukraine. Or at least it was when most of the articles were written in 2014-2015.

jlee562 said:

Yup, that's the article I had in mind.

I mean, Hatco pumps out their fair share of clunkers too...The original premiere strat I received was apparently part of a batch made with the wrong grade of felt (royal bodies for the blocked in crease version were used in place the royal deluxe felt for the open crown version). And we recently had someone post a wonky silverbelly strat. So on one level...maybe that's just the nature of hat production today.



Well, they're importing the fur as far as I understand. I believe Akubra still makes their own felt.

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I guess I leaped before I looked. If it’s just the fur and not a felted hat body then I don’t see why there would be a decline in quality. European Rabbit makes nice felt. In any case, the report was from 2014 but it sounded like they had been supplementing their fur supply from Europe for a while before then.

jlee562 said:

Now I'm curious....

How many Loungers have picked up an Akubra post-2014 and the switch to imported fur?

we have experiences like Al's, which seem to be the archetypal Akubra (shrinking sweat, but holds up for the long haul). But we've also recently seen a pretty decently misshapen Fed IV, and now D00R's Campdraft experience. Notwithstanding manufacturing tolerances between natural fibers, production runs, and the occasional bad run of hats, it's worth seeing if there's a pattern.

Click to expand...

I bought an Akubra from David Morgan this past May with the Heritage quality felt. I have little to no experience with fur previous to this. That being said, I am fairly pleased with the quality of the felt. It wasn't nearly as stiff as I expected it to be out of the box. It still had some stiffness to it, but not nearly as much as some of the westerns I have handled. It also has seemed to soften up some, but not much seeing as I've only owned it for a few months. The other day I decided to add some pinch to it using a kettle for steam. It took a couple of tries for it to hold the shape, but I am pleased with the result. The sweat formed nicely to my head with minimal shrinkage, although I have yet to wear it while sweating profusely. I've opted for a ball cap if it's been to warm, since I don't have a "hot weather" hat to wear yet. I have a couple of wool felts that I would compare to cardboard long before I would this one. Pretty soon I plan on being in the market for a Fed IV and am debating between the two qualities of felt from Akubra. The Imperial grade comes at a very nice price, but seeing as I already have the Heritage, I may stick with what I am familiar with.

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Zoukatron said:

Wasn't it something to do with China all the Australian fur, or something like that?

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As I understand it, wildlife ecologists released something called the Calicivirus in the 1990s in order to control the wild rabbit and hare population in Australia and New Zealand. But it worked so well (an estimated 90% reduction in rabbit numbers) that the end result was not enough rabbits and hares to go around for the fur and meat trades, both of which had already been in decline.

With regards to China, according to a couple of online articles written at the time Akubra received an order for 50 hats from an importer in Tibet. They expected to fill the order, and that would be that. But Tibet and China became their biggest importers, buying approximately 12,000 hats in 2014.

Just A Hat Rack said:

I bought an Akubra from David Morgan this past May with the Heritage quality felt. I have little to no experience with fur previous to this. That being said, I am fairly pleased with the quality of the felt. It wasn't nearly as stiff as I expected it to be out of the box. It still had some stiffness to it, but not nearly as much as some of the westerns I have handled. It also has seemed to soften up some, but not much seeing as I've only owned it for a few months. The other day I decided to add some pinch to it using a kettle for steam. It took a couple of tries for it to hold the shape, but I am pleased with the result. The sweat formed nicely to my head with minimal shrinkage, although I have yet to wear it while sweating profusely...Pretty soon I plan on being in the market for a Fed IV and am debating between the two qualities of felt from Akubra. The Imperial grade comes at a very nice price, but seeing as I already have the Heritage, I may stick with what I am familiar with.

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Akubra uses different types of leather for the sweatbands on their Imperial Grade and Heritage Grade hats, and the Heritage Grade leather shrinks a lot less than the Imperial Grade leather. To us customers (assuming we've ordered and received the correct size), this means a Heritage Grade hat should be only slightly loose when new, but an Imperial Grade hat should be quite a bit looser. Either way, after the "shrink to fit" period they should approximate the proper size.

With regards to the felt, the felt on my Heritage Grade Fed IV is no thicker than the felts on my Imperial Grade Feds, but it somehow feels more substantial. Not thicker, not stiffer, but...more resilient. It certainly resisted my attempts at shaping the crown and brim far more than my Imperial Grade Akubras did. Whether or not that substance/resilience is worth the extra money is up to the wearer. My Imperial Grade Akubras suit me just fine, so I probably wouldn't splurge on another Heritage Grade unless it was the only way to get a color I wanted...but that's just me.

So apparently since 2015, Akubras have been made from imported European rabbit fur. Akubra shuttered their fur processing facility in the same year. The same article notes that Akubras have not been purely Australian fur since the 90's.

Perhaps significant, perhaps not. I recall that Steve has often commented on the importance of European makers being able to control the end to end process from pelt to hat. The devil is in the details, as 'European rabbit fur' - broadly stated - can end up in really nice hats (Optimos up until they switched to all beaver) and just okay hats (modern Borsos).

Now I'm really interested in comparing an older "all-Australian" (for lack of a better term) Akubra vs a more recent one.

Just A Hat Rack said:

I bought an Akubra from David Morgan this past May with the Heritage quality felt. I have little to no experience with fur previous to this. That being said, I am fairly pleased with the quality of the felt. It wasn't nearly as stiff as I expected it to be out of the box. It still had some stiffness to it, but not nearly as much as some of the westerns I have handled. It also has seemed to soften up some, but not much seeing as I've only owned it for a few months. The other day I decided to add some pinch to it using a kettle for steam. It took a couple of tries for it to hold the shape, but I am pleased with the result. The sweat formed nicely to my head with minimal shrinkage, although I have yet to wear it while sweating profusely.

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Well, we've had discussions on this in the past. Check out the open Crown Stetson thread, for example. Stiffness isn't indicative of quality, especially in modern felts. Ideally, an open crown hat isn't going to have too much stiffener in the crown. Too much often causes spidering of the felt (more info in the previous link). This could be the "rumpling" D00R is referring to, though that might also be uneven spots in the felt.

Enlightening thread. Thanks for sparking it Jared.

Anyway. The felt is crap but whatever I will beat the crap out of it and see how it holds up. I emailed everythingsustralian they didnt respond to my felt quality question or how to treat it just a long winded message about it being an open crown hat.
What I can say about the felt is when I pinch the crown, on the top of the hats head it leaves a sharp crease in the felt. Thats why to me it seems like cardboard because it reacts like cardboard.
Maybe its the stiffiner that makes the felt rumple and crease?
This hat is hard to lower the crown to. Its hard to make a tear drop shape. I like it with the round head shape at the top of a fedora and the tear drop shape around it. This felt fights against me to get that look. Its like they made a vintage style hat with felt and treatment that isn’t meant for a vintage look. Just my opinion on that. Every bash reacts with such hard shapes. When I try to lower the crown it leans forward when I look at the hat on the side. Ehhh.

Here are some new photos.
I dunno if its my iphones awful lens making the hat seem super tall on me. I shot the photos wide ways not tall ways to fix it but go figure... It doesnt look that super tall in person at least I dont think it does by looking at it on a table or in the mirror. Still a tall crown for sure. Photos are just making it look more ridiculous.
The hats a size 57 but is a bit big on me.
I wear a 7 1/8 - 7 1/4 but ordered what usually fits me fine instead of ordering bigger.
Ive been wearing it the past two days now to get it to shrink.
I don’t hate the hat. Im just on the fence about quality, size, feel and how it takes bashes.
The sweatband is way more confortable than my modern day borsalino, the alessandria has such a jagged feeling flat all around the hat sweatband that it sucks to wear but the felt is great quality but the akubra has a nice well done sweatband thats comfortable to wear but maybe cause its lose on my head. I dunno why they imprinted campdraft right in the middlle of the sweatband, if it were to tight couldnt that leave an impression saying campdraft on the customers head? Intentional maybe hah.
The color is great though it has a grayish green tint. My alessandria has a dark grayish blue tint.