Akubra Overload

[monbla256]

It was fantastic to see all the Scottish clan and band stuff that Akubra makes. can it be bought here in the States?

 

[Neophyte]

It was fantastic to see all the Scottish clan and band stuff that Akubra makes. can it be bought here in the States?

lol lol lol lol lol

 

[VitaminG]

I was taking the time to thouroghly read through the new Akubra website and found this little gem of info. A listing of the 10 most popular and best selling hats as of March 2010. Mostly "Outback" and "Western" styles and the much loved CD was absent from this list ! No info as to where the figures came from ( domestic vs overall world sales) but it was interesting to see what was #1, the Cattleman !! Having just bought one I can understand Here's the list

Top 10 Sellers
March 3rd, 2010 Our top 10 selling hats at present are….. • Cattleman
• Snowy River
• Coober Pedy
• Territory
• The Arena
• Bronco
• Rough Rider
• Tablelands
• Traveller
• Coolabah

not surprising really considering domestic is still their largest market & most of those sales would be for western stye hats

 

[EggHead]

FYI: DM has Stockman on sale - $96.

 

[Jedwbpm]

When is the best time to order an Akubra hat? It seems everyone has limited colors and a 3 month wait. Who has the best prices when shipping is figured in? I want to get a new hat for Christmas an everyday hat that I can wear out side doing yard work and then out shopping, on vacation in VT or Maine. What hat would you recommend?


Jeff

 

[EggHead]

Jeff, from my internet explorations, if you can get an Akubra for a total of less than $110 (price + shipping + tax),then it's a good deal. That is, if you think that $110 is a good price to pay for a yard-work hat. I would pay (and do) this price for walkabout in park, commuting on bus/train, city walk, medium priced restaurant, shopping, if I walk to store, visiting friends.

 

[monbla256]

When is the best time to order an Akubra hat? It seems everyone has limited colors and a 3 month wait. Who has the best prices when shipping is figured in? I want to get a new hat for Christmas an everyday hat that I can wear out side doing yard work and then out shopping, on vacation in VT or Maine. What hat would you recommend?


Jeff

My personal do all hat which I wear probably 85% of the time is an Akubra Bushman which is a model exclusive to David Morgan up in Seattle. I have two, one over 30 yo now, my newest is 3.5 yo now. It comes as an open crown, 3.25" bound brim and it does only come in one color, a very nice Olive Brown called Nullabor Tan which goes with just about ALL other colors. I wear it out to the stables to work horses, put on a pair of good khakis and jacket and wear it out to dinner as well. The other nice thing is that it is in stock at DM and costs only $128.00 which includes shipping and you will get it in UNDER a week! Here's a pic of mine:

 

[Neophyte]

When is the best time to order an Akubra hat? It seems everyone has limited colors and a 3 month wait. Who has the best prices when shipping is figured in? I want to get a new hat for Christmas an everyday hat that I can wear out side doing yard work and then out shopping, on vacation in VT or Maine. What hat would you recommend?


Jeff

The top 3 Akubra retailers that you'll hear about on the Lounge are probably:

(a) HatsDirect---prices and shipping are a little higher, but they tend to only list colors that are immediately available.
(b) EverythingAustralian--- lower prices and shipping than HatsDirect, same excellent service, but don't carry a lot of colors.
(c)DavidMorgan and/or Noggintops---the major US stores that sell Akubra hats. Excellent service from both, in-country shipping, but prices are a bit steeper.

As for the lack of colors, one must keep in mind that Akubras are primarily bush hats.

As for what time is the best time to order an Akubra hat...the answer is ANY TIME!

 

[frussell]

Jedwbpm - I've had nothing but good luck with Hatsdirect. Email them and ask if what you want is on hand. Sometimes they've got stuff that's not on the website. For example, a week or so ago, I decided I'd like a black Fed IV Deluxe in size 63, which is definitely not an option on the site. I emailed Jenny, and got a reply saying they just happened to have one. It's in my closet now, and EXACTLY what I was looking for. Their customer service is second to none, and their shipping time is as fast as it can be from Australia to the U.S. Plus, unless it's a custom job, I can't imagine ever waiting three months for any hat, but that's just me. Give them an email. Frank

 

[Jedwbpm]

Are the bushman and the campdraft basically the same hat?
The when to buy question is I know that Akubra makes hats on rotation. Is it a style rotation ie. January we will make Stylemasters, February we will make Federations ect. or do they do it by color? Do we know there schedule so that if say one wants a Squatter we know that July is the best time to buy for full selection on sizes and colors? Just wondering.

Jeff

 

[monbla256]

Akubra does not state their production schedule that I know of. You would have to contact one of the Australian retailers to get that info. The Campdraft is an Australia/Europe only hat and as such you would have to contact an Australian retailer about it. The Bushman, which is basically the same hat as the Campdraft, just a wider brim and some say a shorter crown, is ONLY available from DM in Seattle. E-mail the Aussie retailers noted here on the Forum and David Morgan in the US ( Noggin Tops is a US retailer that buys from DM who is the SOLE US distributor of Akubra so usually has the same offerings as DM from what I have seen) and they will be able to answer your questions better BTW, DM normally has ALL the hats in thier catalog in stock most of the time. Depends on your size and how popular a hat and color is though. Again, the retailer can give you the answers to your questions the best

 

[VitaminG]

I don't know how they batch their general production but I do know that it took 3 months when I ordered my Stylemaster in moonstone. I didn't have to wait for the next 'moonstone batch run' to come around to get the hat. My guy just put in the order (actually called Akubra while I stood there) and told me he'd let me know when it came in.

So I imagine it would depend on how much stock Akubra keep on premises, which colours are moving, and what their different stockists are requesting.

ps. I had to order because of my massive melon. The local retailer actually had a batch of moonstone SMs in stock, but not in my size. Plus I wanted a ***y dark band on mine instead of the matched band on the ones in-store

 

[BinkieBaumont]

Just like VitaminG i recently received my moonstone stylemaster after a wait of 3 months, I was hoping to get it before the Melbourne cup, but alas no!

 

[James71]

Funny you should mention the moonstone stylemaster Binkie. I wandered into the hattery in Katoomba this afternoon and came out with a moonstone stylemaster. Im really into grey hats at the moment.

Damn impulse buys.....

 

[Gromulus]

Funny you should mention the moonstone stylemaster Binkie. I wandered into the hattery in Katoomba this afternoon and came out with a moonstone stylemaster. Im really into grey hats at the moment.

Damn impulse buys.....

Impulse buy my a--" James! You have been looking and talking about that one for awhile! Looking good, as always. I really like my Moonstone Stylemaster as well - my wife's favorite hat.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Keep in mind that Akubra closes their factory for a full month this time of year - both for the holidays, and because the summer heat makes working with steam all day very rough. So this is actually a bad time to order any non-stock color.

Generally, if you're ordering non-stock, it will take three months or less to get it made up, as Akubra cycles through the majority of their colors/styles on a three-month schedule. You can get lucky, ordering something that's coming up for production in the next few weeks, or you may have to wait a full three months. But it can actually be even longer if you order in early December...

 

[Theodor Adorno]

Akubra & cricket ...

Apologies to our Antipodean friends for mentioning the cricket but ...

Being a hataholic, it's been really distracting watching the Ashes because every time the camera pans to the crowd I'm fascinated by trying to spot all the different Akubras people are wearing.

One question I had was that, given temperatures of 37C and upwards in Adelaide, I'm surprised by the number of what look to be dark felt akubras and even some leather drover-style hats. Commonsense would tell me that the dark colours would really absorb the heat rather than reflect it?

Can any Auzzies (or others) explain why the dark hats are still worn in these conditions?

many thanks!

Paul.

 

[Panda Moanium]

Funny you should mention the moonstone stylemaster Binkie. I wandered into the hattery in Katoomba this afternoon and came out with a moonstone stylemaster. Im really into grey hats at the moment.

Damn impulse buys.....

Very nice James, I've been dilly-dallying for a while but this has convinced me to place an order now for a Moonstone Stylemaster. Question is do I order one in fawn as well - if I placed an order this week could hopefully have two very nice presents to self in time for Christmas. Yeah, what the hell, lets go for it!

Love the colour as it shows in the photo - would you say that is a fairly accurate representation?

 

[James71]

It looks pretty spot on to me looking at it from iPhone.

 

[Panda Moanium]

Perfect so! Thanks.