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King’s Umbrella Hat Company

Messages
18,941
Location
Central California
This Etsy hat maker is offering some good hats


https://www.etsy.com/shop/KingsUmbrellaHatCo

Here’s hat number 1:

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I found a ne hatter on Etsy and took a chance based a just a couple photos (and the cheap price). I’m completely shocked at how much I like the hat. I want expecting much, but I’d be impressed at twice the price. They go by both Hares Haberdashery and King’s Umbrella Hat Co.
The first thing I noticed was how nice the felt was for being rabbit. It was expertly finished with a wonderful hand, but more than that it’s thin and easily molded. Really was not expecting this hundred percent rabbit for felt to be this nice. The felt does have a lot of spring back, and is not going to hold a shape without steam.

The sweatband is very supple, and somehow just a little nicer than most of what I’ve seen recently. It also has a decorative line of stitching like what Randall @Randall Renshaw does with his sweatbands. In addition, there is a sweat guard, or something similar sewn between the sweatband, and the felt. The liner is sewn in and well-fitted. Ribbon and binding are the exact same color and are well done. Were the binding end but together there is a small bulge in the ribbon, but there is no overlapping and you have to be pretty picky to care about it. The brim brake is decent, but could be just a little sharper. It doesn’t distract from the hat, but as so much of the rest of it is nearly flawless, It was one area where there might be room for slight improvement. I was so impressed that I’ve already contacted the Hatter to place an order for a beaver blend hat.

I need to mention the Hat box. It came in a heavy hat box weighing over three pounds. It is a wooden box covered in fabric. Additionally, it has metal camming closures at three locations around the perimeter to hold the lid in place. The hat box is quite spectacular. The inside lid of the hat box had a sleeve along with a paper certificate of authenticity. Check out the serial number!

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Last edited:
Messages
17,906
Location
Nederland
This Etsy hat maker is offering some good hats


https://www.etsy.com/shop/KingsUmbrellaHatCo

Here’s hat number 1:

View attachment 580040 View attachment 580041 View attachment 580042 View attachment 580043 View attachment 580044 View attachment 580045 View attachment 580046


I found a ne hatter on Etsy and took a chance based a just a couple photos (and the cheap price). I’m completely shocked at how much I like the hat. I want expecting much, but I’d be impressed at twice the price. They go by both Hares Haberdashery and King’s Umbrella Hat Co.
The first thing I noticed was how nice the felt was for being rabbit. It was expertly finished with a wonderful hand, but more than that it’s thin and easily molded. Really was not expecting this hundred percent rabbit for felt to be this nice. The felt does have a lot of spring back, and is not going to hold a shape without steam.

The sweatband is very supple, and somehow just a little nicer than most of what I’ve seen recently. It also has a decorative line of stitching like what Randall @Randall Renshaw does with his sweatbands. In addition, there is a sweat guard, or something similar sewn between the sweatband, and the felt. The liner is sewn in and well-fitted. Ribbon and binding are the exact same color and are well done. Were the binding end but together there is a small bulge in the ribbon, but there is no overlapping and you have to be pretty picky to care about it. The brim brake is decent, but could be just a little sharper. It doesn’t distract from the hat, but as so much of the rest of it is nearly flawless, It was one area where there might be room for slight improvement. I was so impressed that I’ve already contacted the Hatter to place an order for a beaver blend hat.

I need to mention the Hat box. It came in a heavy hat box weighing over three pounds. It is a wooden box covered in fabric. Additionally, it has metal camming closures at three locations around the perimeter to hold the lid in place. The hat box is quite spectacular. The inside lid of the hat box had a sleeve along with a paper certificate of authenticity. Check out the serial number!

View attachment 580048 View attachment 580049
Good write up, Brent. Can't seem to find the company on Etsy though and even Google doesn't seem to have a clue. Spooky!
 

The Lost Cowboy

One Too Many
Messages
1,099
Location
Northern Alabama
A bit more information has come my way about this hatter. I messaged them about the possibility of a hat and here is what I received back:

"Just a little background for you, we aren't a full custom hat shop yet. My husband, the hatter, makes amazing hats and we are just starting to turn this hobby into a business. We have a collection of, essentially, "barn-find" felts that we acquired at low cost from a retired hatter, we are certain that most are a beaver blend. They are limited in size/color/quantity and also do have some imperfections. We are able to sell these hats at low "introductory" prices as we work to build our tools & materials and establish clients. That being said, he would love to make you a hat and we happen to have one felt that may meet your specifications. We recently sold it's twin and the recipient was very happy with the quality of the felt. For a vintage style fedora with 5 3/4" crown and 2 3/8" brim, the price would $250, free shipping.

We would need to order a block in that size which generally can take a few weeks."
---end quotation---

Here is the felt they showed me (I asked specifically for bone), which I did claim for my hat. So that's the scoop on this operation.

2E48681B-D44E-4C02-A94D-45AB1943B8C8.jpeg
 
Messages
10,393
Location
vancouver, canada
This Etsy hat maker is offering some good hats


https://www.etsy.com/shop/KingsUmbrellaHatCo

Here’s hat number 1:

View attachment 580040 View attachment 580041 View attachment 580042 View attachment 580043 View attachment 580044 View attachment 580045 View attachment 580046


I found a ne hatter on Etsy and took a chance based a just a couple photos (and the cheap price). I’m completely shocked at how much I like the hat. I want expecting much, but I’d be impressed at twice the price. They go by both Hares Haberdashery and King’s Umbrella Hat Co.
The first thing I noticed was how nice the felt was for being rabbit. It was expertly finished with a wonderful hand, but more than that it’s thin and easily molded. Really was not expecting this hundred percent rabbit for felt to be this nice. The felt does have a lot of spring back, and is not going to hold a shape without steam.

The sweatband is very supple, and somehow just a little nicer than most of what I’ve seen recently. It also has a decorative line of stitching like what Randall @Randall Renshaw does with his sweatbands. In addition, there is a sweat guard, or something similar sewn between the sweatband, and the felt. The liner is sewn in and well-fitted. Ribbon and binding are the exact same color and are well done. Were the binding end but together there is a small bulge in the ribbon, but there is no overlapping and you have to be pretty picky to care about it. The brim brake is decent, but could be just a little sharper. It doesn’t distract from the hat, but as so much of the rest of it is nearly flawless, It was one area where there might be room for slight improvement. I was so impressed that I’ve already contacted the Hatter to place an order for a beaver blend hat.

I need to mention the Hat box. It came in a heavy hat box weighing over three pounds. It is a wooden box covered in fabric. Additionally, it has metal camming closures at three locations around the perimeter to hold the lid in place. The hat box is quite spectacular. The inside lid of the hat box had a sleeve along with a paper certificate of authenticity. Check out the serial number!

View attachment 580048 View attachment 580049
A bit more information has come my way about this hatter. I messaged them about the possibility of a hat and here is what I received back:

"Just a little background for you, we aren't a full custom hat shop yet. My husband, the hatter, makes amazing hats and we are just starting to turn this hobby into a business. We have a collection of, essentially, "barn-find" felts that we acquired at low cost from a retired hatter, we are certain that most are a beaver blend. They are limited in size/color/quantity and also do have some imperfections. We are able to sell these hats at low "introductory" prices as we work to build our tools & materials and establish clients. That being said, he would love to make you a hat and we happen to have one felt that may meet your specifications. We recently sold it's twin and the recipient was very happy with the quality of the felt. For a vintage style fedora with 5 3/4" crown and 2 3/8" brim, the price would $250, free shipping.

We would need to order a block in that size which generally can take a few weeks."
---end quotation---

Here is the felt they showed me (I asked specifically for bone), which I did claim for my hat. So that's the scoop on this operation.

View attachment 581192
Yes, I checked with them about a hat purchase. They are limited in their block selection and when I last checked they did not offer any long oval pattern blocking. The presentation is impressive.
 
Messages
10,393
Location
vancouver, canada
This Etsy hat maker is offering some good hats


https://www.etsy.com/shop/KingsUmbrellaHatCo

Here’s hat number 1:

View attachment 580040 View attachment 580041 View attachment 580042 View attachment 580043 View attachment 580044 View attachment 580045 View attachment 580046


I found a ne hatter on Etsy and took a chance based a just a couple photos (and the cheap price). I’m completely shocked at how much I like the hat. I want expecting much, but I’d be impressed at twice the price. They go by both Hares Haberdashery and King’s Umbrella Hat Co.
The first thing I noticed was how nice the felt was for being rabbit. It was expertly finished with a wonderful hand, but more than that it’s thin and easily molded. Really was not expecting this hundred percent rabbit for felt to be this nice. The felt does have a lot of spring back, and is not going to hold a shape without steam.

The sweatband is very supple, and somehow just a little nicer than most of what I’ve seen recently. It also has a decorative line of stitching like what Randall @Randall Renshaw does with his sweatbands. In addition, there is a sweat guard, or something similar sewn between the sweatband, and the felt. The liner is sewn in and well-fitted. Ribbon and binding are the exact same color and are well done. Were the binding end but together there is a small bulge in the ribbon, but there is no overlapping and you have to be pretty picky to care about it. The brim brake is decent, but could be just a little sharper. It doesn’t distract from the hat, but as so much of the rest of it is nearly flawless, It was one area where there might be room for slight improvement. I was so impressed that I’ve already contacted the Hatter to place an order for a beaver blend hat.

I need to mention the Hat box. It came in a heavy hat box weighing over three pounds. It is a wooden box covered in fabric. Additionally, it has metal camming closures at three locations around the perimeter to hold the lid in place. The hat box is quite spectacular. The inside lid of the hat box had a sleeve along with a paper certificate of authenticity. Check out the serial number!

View attachment 580048 View attachment 580049
The ETSY search engine is the worst. This hat company does not come up no matter what I type into the search box. The link you posted to them does not work. Can you try again to post the link?
 
Messages
18,941
Location
Central California
The ETSY search engine is the worst. This hat company does not come up no matter what I type into the search box. The link you posted to them does not work. Can you try again to post the link?


It works for me.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/KingsUmbrellaHatCo

They made my hats in long oval, but I had to wait a few extra weeks for them to source the block.
 

The Lost Cowboy

One Too Many
Messages
1,099
Location
Northern Alabama
More interaction with Alan for me today - he's the talent behind King's Umbrella.

He can do wide ribbon and bow treatments as well as the thin ribbons we've seen on this thread so far. He's doing a whippet-style wide-brim binding for me and he's also making it a dimensional brim.

This just in case anybody was wondering if he just does the one style. I was wondering that, which is why I asked him.

He did let me know that he uses the block 52 (it seems they are ordering the blocks as needed right now) but his exact phrase was "The #52 blocks I get are boxy I would say," which seems to mean that's the block he prefers or maybe even it's the only block he's working with right now. Personally, I'm good with that.
 
Last edited:
Messages
10,393
Location
vancouver, canada
Damn, when I click on it my screen 'blinks' and returns me to this page. I have tried every which way of spelling the name on the ETSY search and get nothing. Even tried to google search, still nothing.
Oh well, it is probably just as well. I don't need a new hat anyway!!!
Damn, when I click on it my screen 'blinks' and returns me to this page. I have tried every which way of spelling the name on the ETSY search and get nothing. Even tried to google search, still nothing.
I clicked to a new box to reply to you and then tried the link again and it worked.
 
Messages
10,393
Location
vancouver, canada
More interaction with Alan for me today - he's the talent behind King's Umbrella.

He can do wide ribbon and bow treatments as well as the thin ribbons we've seen on this thread so far. He's going to do a whippet-style wide-brim binding for me and he's also going to do a dimensional brim for me,

This just in case anybody was wondering if he just does the one style. I was wondering that, which is why I asked him.

He did let me know that he uses the block 52 (it seems they are ordering the blocks as needed right now) but his exact phrase was "The #52 blocks I get are boxy I would say," which seems to mean that's the block he prefers or maybe even it's the only block he's working with right now. Personally, I'm good with that.
If I had to use just the one block style the #52 is what I would choose. The vintage ones I have have just a slight bit of taper with very little dome on the top. A great all round block shape.
 

The Lost Cowboy

One Too Many
Messages
1,099
Location
Northern Alabama
Damn, when I click on it my screen 'blinks' and returns me to this page. I have tried every which way of spelling the name on the ETSY search and get nothing. Even tried to google search, still nothing.
I also can't find it if I search for it - and also no matter what search phrases I use. But the link Brent provided works for me every time. Here's another iteration of the URL that should lead to their "Shop Policies" section:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/KingsUmbr...321_062b3309459af7cc84503fa7f40830d1#policies
 
Messages
10,393
Location
vancouver, canada
I also can't find it if I search for it - and also no matter what I try. But the link Brent provided works for me every time. Here's another iteration that leads to their "Shop Policies" page:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/KingsUmbr...321_062b3309459af7cc84503fa7f40830d1#policies
ETSY search is so screwed up. The link finally worked for me. I found the page and now when I type the name in the search box it comes up. BUT I don't need the search box now.....I needed it before!!!!!
 

The Lost Cowboy

One Too Many
Messages
1,099
Location
Northern Alabama
ETSY search is so screwed up. The link finally worked for me. I found the page and now when I type the name in the search box it comes up. BUT I don't need the search box now.....I needed it before!!!!!
I still can't get the search function to work. At least Etsy lets me know when I have new messages. This hatter seems to prefer using the Etsy message service rather than private email.
 
Messages
10,393
Location
vancouver, canada
I still can't get the search function to work. At least Etsy lets me know when I have new messages. This hatter seems to prefer using the Etsy message service rather than private email.
I just tried it again and his site did not appear in the 'search' results when the one I tried 10 minutes ago did. How is that for screwed up!! I now have him in my favourites so I know where to find him now.
 

The Lost Cowboy

One Too Many
Messages
1,099
Location
Northern Alabama
I just tried it again and his site did not appear in the 'search' results when the one I tried 10 minutes ago did. How is that for screwed up!! I now have him in my favourites so I know where to find him now.
What a mess. I don’t use Etsy very often and I must admit it’s mostly because their search results are so screwy to navigate.
 

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