black or brown sweat band

[budward]

Okay so the collective wisdom that (I think) I've gathered from the Lounge is brown means old (or at least older) and black means more recent for sweat bands. I've recently seen some offerings at that place we all know where there are some black sweats in hats represented to be plenty aged ('40s). I might chalk that up to the sometimes questionable representations re age, except that one had the old style "open road" logo on a black sweat.

So, question is, does a black hat band always signify a newer (at least not as old as '50s or earlier) hat? Might it be that some earlier Stetsons and maybe others had black sweats?

Bud

 

[Prairie Shade]

Not an unfair question

I have long been of the same opinion. However, not necessarily so. I have some nice vintage hats with brown, tan, or whatever you want to call it, sweatbands. I also have seen some newer stetsons with brown hat bands. I have a nice 60's Stetson with a black band that is a nice hat. I'm sure there will be someone with a better idea of that subject than I am.[huh]

 

[Andykev]

Black out or brown out?

The color of the sweatband, on ALL of my vingage hats are brown. And the leather is very nice. I noticed that the later hats have (not all) black sweatbands. Why? Color preference? Or does black hide inferior finishing? Or the dye lots are cheaper.

I ALWAYS ask for brown in my hats.

 

[Matt Deckard]

The black bands became more and more regular in the 60's hats. Borsalino has always been one to play with colors and you sometimes find red or even white sweatbands in their high end models. Some top hat makers prefered white as well.

Brown though was the most common. Some hatters today put black in black or grey hats, though when I get a hat custom I always ask for brown, that reddish brown like you see on the chili colored shoes Allen Edmonds sells. It's my favorite classic color.

 

[GentlemanFarmer]

Black sweatband

I just received a black OR that has a very, very dark brown (under a bright lamp) sweatband. It was advertised as from the 1950's . The body is not "cardboardish" and the crown is fairly soft. The hat appears to have been worn alot as the gold on the imprinted logos of "Open Road" and the Stetson logo (4X) is partially worn away. There was an added logo, probably the store's name, that's just a ghost. I can just make out a couple very faint script letters. The liner logo has lost all it's gold and only has the black and red. It has the imfamous "checkered" liner. The liner was quite yellowed, but cleaned up remarkably with a couple of Woolite soaks. It was not attached inside the crown by thread, though there was something that might have been dabs of some type of a really soft whitish glue that just peeled off the liner after the Woolite soaks. It didn't appear to be from a glue-gun, but what do I know? The brass Stetson hat pin is very tarnished. It is remarkably clean and just needed a good brushing. There were no overt signs of wear and no moth bites. I'm convinced that with a little time and steam I'll get her shaped up like I like it - a cowboy fedora. I don't think I was taken on the hat, but I'm thinking it may be older (or at least has more "on-the- head" time than my sand-colored OR that has the medium brown sweatband, checkered liner and not as much "head time".

Any thoughts?

Thanks guys. I promise I'll get the photos up after some shaping.

 

[Twitch]

All my bands are brown too. So even if I wondered if 1 or 2 could be 60s maybe they're older.[huh]