Best felt fedora?

M Brown said:

The best Felt Fedora entirely depends on one's definition of "best" and the budget to go with it.
In the $850 (and up) range you cannot beat a Rand or O'Farrell in 100% Beaver
In the $150 range Akubra makes a very decent hat...all Rabbit fur.
and in between there are countless options.

Stetson still makes a very nice fedora...take a look at their Stratoliner...$175-$220 depending on where you buy and which specific one you choose. Then there's the option of taking a Stetson Open Road and wearing it with the front brim turned down. Just make sure you opt for the 6x or royal deluxe if you want to go that route. The lower x models are a bit stiff.

I have a 100% Beaver O'Farrell Fedora and it's a hat that will last well beyond my lifetime, beyond my son's, and far into my grand son's. I expect someone will still be wearing it seventy five to a hundred years from now.

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deadlyhandsome said:

I have a Montecristi Custom Hat Works of New Mexico that has the finest beaver fur felt I’ve handed on a western hat (source of the felt is unknown).

The finest dress weight (current production) I’ve seen is the pure beaver Stetson used on the New York LE. I have two of the New York LE hats and the phantom gray has decidedly better felt than the tobacco colored hat. Both are top tier, but the gray is just better. I’d but both of them above way above Winchester’s beaver felt and above the one Optimo (presumably FEPSA beaver), that I’ve handled.

Stetson has a new 2020 Fall City line of hats that includes some new offerings in pure beaver. I’m sorely tempted.



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belfastboy said:

It seems as though the Western hat makers can charge so much more than a Fedora custom maker. O'Farrell is at $850 for a Winchester Beaver hat and it is hard to fathom how it could be that much better than something that Art at VS (or any other of the many Master Hatters making fedoras)would have produced for less than half that amount. Greeley Hat Works is similarly priced. It is interesting what the different markets will bear in terms of price points for arguably the exact same item.

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deadlyhandsome said:

Agreed! VS, Phoenix, or Northwest would charge an additional small fee for a western hat, but the big names in western hats charge some crazy money.

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belfastboy said:

It seems as though the Western hat makers can charge so much more than a Fedora custom maker. O'Farrell is at $850 for a Winchester Beaver hat and it is hard to fathom how it could be that much better than something that Art at VS (or any other of the many Master Hatters making fedoras)would have produced for less than half that amount. Greeley Hat Works is similarly priced. It is interesting what the different markets will bear in terms of price points for arguably the exact same item.

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Héctor Fernández said:

You forgot to add they also think stingy brim hats have no room in hat collecting, go figure, but it is laughable.

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belfastboy said:

If only they came open crown. What is the price point for these?

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Frunobulax said:

Yes, because those folks whose opinions you do not share deserved to be laughed at.

I don't like 'em, I don't like the way they look on me, and there isn't any room for them in my collection.

Laugh away.

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Bamaboots said:

An innocuous comment, Jim, similar to Joao’s “nice, but not for me” or “not enough brim” for anything under 3”. Maybe annoying to some but never personally taken.

Yet, it went from that to it being an attack on stingy brims and those who wear them and actually ostracizing them. That is what’s laughable and another of the many things that drive me further from this place every day. I don’t like stingy brims, either but I’ve sold or given every one of them away because I knew they would be worn by the folks they went to. Guess I should have burned them since I don’t like them.

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deadlyhandsome said:

I’m also concerned that the crowns won’t be tall enough. (edited to reflect that my earlier post about them having “soft” felt was incorrect).

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Bamaboots said:

...another of the many things that drive me further from this place every day.

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Louis Mountbatten said:

I always find it odd that people assume that a strong opinion MUST mean that the person who holds said idea hates everyone who doesn't hold that idea. Yes, I hate stingy brims. Yes, I hate woolies. I would never have them in my collection and find buying them a waste of money. Yes, I get annoyed at all those people who go nuts at the danged Indiana Jones hat. HOWEVER, that does not mean I discount, hate, or look down on anyone who like those things. Strong opinions are good. But they don't necessarily translate to hostility toward people who hold opposing strong opinions. I have my strong opinions, others have theirs, but we can all still get along just fine, regardless. Can't we?

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Frunobulax said:

I'm not so keen on Westerns either,

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Bamaboots said:

I don’t know, you sport some nice dress Westerns.

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deadlyhandsome said:

I have a Montecristi Custom Hat Works of New Mexico that has the finest beaver fur felt I’ve handed on a western hat (source of the felt is unknown).

The finest dress weight (current production) I’ve seen is the pure beaver Stetson used on the New York LE. I have two of the New York LE hats and the phantom gray has decidedly better felt than the tobacco colored hat. Both are top tier, but the gray is just better. I’d but both of them above way above Winchester’s beaver felt and above the one Optimo (presumably FEPSA beaver), that I’ve handled.

Stetson has a new 2020 Fall City line of hats that includes some new offerings in pure beaver. I’m sorely tempted.



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