Need recommendation for straw fedora

[Yohanes]

After collecting felts I decide to expand to straw fedora. Felt looks good but certainly becomes quite hot - especially where I live, Indonesia, a tropical country where it's mostly hot and humid! You can easily sweat here.

So I'd need your recommendation folks. I can't afford the superfine panama definitely, my budget is only 40-60 at the most. I can't decide which straw either, whether it's toquilla, Shantung, Toyo, or Milan. Don't know which one is better.

I want to keep my head cool from the warm weather. So I suppose it should be unlined?

Should I go for modern straw or vintage? AFAIK vintage straw is harder to find than straw. Further, I'm 7 3/8 - already a hard size to find at bargain price.

I'm not a dressy person either, so I feel rather awkward if I have to wear white hat... I feel like a neon sign if I have to wear white hat... what color do you suggest for straw?

Not sure about model though, but so far most of my fedora brims are less than 2"... but sure I can try wider brims. The only wide brims I have are not that wide either, 2 1/2 (my ugly duckling litefelt) and 2 1/4 (my black Adam) except an outback hat.

That's why I need your recommendations... also where to buy. In case it should be modern, any specific recommended store in OFAS?

Thanks in advance.

 

[duggap]

I still think you should contact PanamaBob and see what he can get you for the price. He handles a lot of the Cuenca hats which are relatively good and not too costly.

 

[HungaryTom]

Yohanes,

If you look for an everyday straw fedora that is protecting you from sweating and the sun the natural straw color is the best> the pale color reflects the sunrays instead of absorbing them. The off white peroxyde bleaching is aggressive - nascent oxygen kills all germs and a lots of fibres so the life expectation of the hat will be shorter.

If the hat is a utility gear and not museum quality masterpiece (rather for the eyes not to touch lol ) than I think any natural fiber hat is OK.

Sharpetoys has an excellent compilation of different plant species used for hat weaving. http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=7631&highlight=shantung
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=18565&highlight=raffia

If you are in Indonesia Shantung and Toyo are closer geographically, BTW arent there any natural straw hats in Indonesia?

Toquilla seems to be good but in the coarse grades (100-150 weaves) you can get hats from any fiber plant. Milan is wheat straw - I dont know whether it is the durum wheat or ordinary wheat they use as raw materials.

Regards:

Tom

 

[Yohanes]

The only straw hat (brimmed hat) I saw in Indonesia doesn't resemble fedora style at all.. I wish there is...

 

[Prairie Shade]

Tropics?

You want a looser weave to allow air flow. Since no straw hat is good in the rain, it doesnt matter. A Milan weave from Millers would be a good solution and the way I would go but I dont know about the logistics regarding your situation. Shipping could be prohibitive. Panamas are SHARP looking hats but not the coolest!! Just the neatest.

 

[Twitch]

Setting Panamas aside for a moment I also think the straw color is nice and neutral. It certainly says "casual." I kinda like Milan weave but it's up to the wearer to decide. In Southern California I see lotsa different hats in the summer and it's pretty obvious no one put too much thought into tiny details.

I'd say try some different ones bought cheap from Ebay or similarly inexpensive outlet to see what YOU like best.

 

[HungaryTom]

Logistics

- Shipping could be prohibitive. - Panamas are SHARP looking hats but not the coolest!! Just the neatest.

I second Prairie Shade: international shipment of goods between US-Hungary costs me 30 USD (and customs fees were not even not included ).

You told 40-60 USD budget- there is not much left for the actual hat.
This is why I suggested 'local' hats' from Asia - I really don't know how the straw hat situation in Indonesia is.

I did purchase a low grade Cuenca locally as an everyday straw - it was +40 Celsius last summer!

Tom

 

[Yohanes]

Well, USD 30 indeed is the average shipping cost from USD - Indonesia, too. That's why my bidding power in OFAS is weak - items I won mostly because they are still undetected from most bidders.

I've checked panamabob and .. I think the price is still beyond my range...I may try other site such as aztexhats.. they have several affordable straw

In OFAS there's also a store called ultrafinopanamhats.. anyone ever bought from them? How's their items, especially the ones within 40-60 range?

 

[Panamabob]

If anyone talks to Aztex, remind her to pay me. She owes me a lot of money for straws and it is snowballing down to the weavers. If you think my hats take some time, how about a bill that is 9 months old for last year's straws?

 

[NonEntity]

Shipping & Handling

Yes, your prime constraint in procruring a straw fedora outside Indonesia is going to be the price of shipping, no doubt about it.

To avoid shipping, if you, friends, or relatives travel outside your country, you could do your advance shopping by catalogue, Internet, and phone before departing, then scoop up the hat in person while abroad. Sticking the on on the head while striding through customs with a smile enables one to skirt duties, too.

You know Indonesia much better than I, but there MUST be some shop within the country that offers a decent straw fedora, though if imported, its shipping would be built into the price of the hat and passed on to you. Have you combed Djakarta?

Perhaps shipping on a hat from a vendor in Australia, Singapore, Honk Kong, Saigon, or Manila would be less, as they are closer. David Morgan (www.davidmorgan.com, 425-485-2132) which is in Bothell, a suburb of Seattle, Washington state here in the U.S. offers the $62.00 Panama Bushwalker. DM's domestic shipping is only $7.00; maybe its international shipping is similarly inexpensive.

It was 10 years ago, but I got a surprisingly good straw fedora on the cheap from Eddie Bauer's catalogue, which has Internet, as well. It's made of the very pliable yet springy natural-color toquilla fiber in a--I don't know the technical term--relatively tight herringbone weave like you'd find in a wool tweed sport jacket, has a just-under 3-inch brim and a 3/4-inch simple woven cotton khaki ribbon.

The kind of headband it has I would strongly recommend in any straw hat worn in a hot, humid climate like yours. It's difficult to describe but is some sort of spongey, 1/8-inch-thick synthetic that wicks perspiration away and dries almost immediately. It has a bit of elastic in it that helps keep it from blowing off, too. My head sweats profusely, but I'm very comfortable in this hat. It's the headband--not the looseness of the weave--that has the most to do with a straw hat's comfort. Weaves that are open enough to let light pass through confer far less protection from the sun, as well.

Anyway, the $45.00 hat was reduced to $20, so I made a phone order and purchased it, feeling good about the deal. A month or so later, in January, I was at an Eddie Bauer store in Houston, TX, and saw the exact same hat on clearance for $7.00--now that's a deal!

The lesson from this is that many vendors in the northern hemisphere discount their straw hats in the dead of our winter season, which is your summer, so there are deals to be found in the top half of the globe this time of year. Of course, that brings us back to shipping, but you might find a hat marked down so low to more than offset that significant price component.

Final word: There is probably more junk in the straw hat category than any other, so caveat emptor.

 

[Aerol]

Another option?

Here's a link to a Panama hat specialist in the UK. I know nothing about them or their hats, but perhaps postage from the UK to Indonesia will be lower.

http://www.panamas.co.uk/homepage.htm

 

[Havana]

I strongly recommend Sunbody palm leaf fedoras. They are very reasonably priced, durable and can be worn in any weather. You can also easily shape them as you like. You can even get open crowned models.

https://ssl.webwize.com/Sunbody/category.cfm?Category=6&CFID=2263209&CFTOKEN=20049355

 

[NonEntity]

Plastic Cover

As pointed out previously, when a straw hat gets a soaking, it's pretty much ruined. Weather forcasting not being an exact science, you never know when it's going to come a downpour, so that's a risk you take when going out with your straw hat on.

To protect mine, I got one of those plastic covers with elastic around the edge to hold it in place. So it's there when I need it, I just folded it up tightly and keep it taped in a nook in the bottom of the crown. Yes, it makes the hat completely unbreathable and hot, but that's better than surrendering my hat to the elements.

I noticed cops wore them over their hats in the rain, so I went to a law enforcement equipment supply place and picked up one for a couple bucks.