Show us your flat brim hats . . . .

Curious where you are from the have heard than called "Navajo brim"?

Truth is the Californios and Spaniards prior (starting in 1519) were making and wearing flat hats (friar's/padre's hat) for centuries and no doubt introduced them to the Navajo. There were both felt and straw versions from day one.



Using hats of the American cowboys are still influenced by the land they work and it's weather, and often as not today, the style of horsemanship they practice. "Texas Tacos", "Montana Peak" and Californio "Vaquero" hats are common today.

As a old Great Basin cowman told me some time ago, "I ain't never seen a flat hat around here till 20 years ago." Still, flat hats aren't common even on modern California ranches. And Texas? Well it is Texas. Always a black sheep in there with them Tacos hats What is a "Taco hat? If your ears can get sun burnt, you are wearing a silly ass Taco hat! Make sure you're always headed into the wind pard!

 

The term Navajo brim is prominent in the Navajo reservation & lands of New Mexico, Arizona, & the canyon lands of southern Utah. It refers to the complete hat with the tall crown, & not just the brim. Not talking about the low crown flat brims worn by the vaqueros, Texas Tacos, etc.

If you will search Navajo brim you will see common quotes such as this example:

"The Iconic Navajo Brim hat has spanned through the ages as a reminder of generations past."

https://www.thundervoicehatco.com/

 

Me think white man see Billy Jack one too many time, so will buy any story about injun, hat boutique want to write Easy to make good money selling Amish hats as Navajo fry bread.

 

Navajo was also used as a model name, it's one of the hats I came across when trying to guess the model of my VS refurbed Stetson.



Here's another Tommy Grimes ad from the Miller Stockman thread:

 

I'm starting on another Urban Nights for a female client this week. This one is a definite flat brim...

 

PLENTY of references and images for "Navajo Brims" flat brim, high crown hats (of course MANY have been "corrected" to referencing "Native American Hats")....they were and are VERY POPULAR with the Navajo peoples.





ALL of these images are Navajo by the way!!!! And MANY, MANY more where they came from. Navajo County has a LOT of historic images on file!!!
AND here is a cool article as well!!!!
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/lehi-sanchez-navajo-hats-art-1.5032499
on the Navajo hat maker shown in the first image!!!!

 

I love this pic of Curly & his son Hosteen. After Curly died in the late 1970's I got interested & read most of his life's writings. Love their hats & of course the Stache!

 

sure i grew up on lawn-guy-land but my dad brought us up on the water and in the woods.
hence i've always payed close attention to mother nature and kept an eye out for ... feathers. i've brought my son up the same ... we've got quite a collection. ff to this afternoon, searching the web for a consensus on how to attach a feather to a hat band when i learned that it is quite illegal to even possess feathers from most indigenous US bird species. what a drag.
especially here as this hawk feather was clearly lost from a bird that was molting. i do have some beautiful turkey feathers but they're huge!

 

Love that open crown, flat brim hat! The band sets it off nicely and a feather would be ... well ... a feather in your cap. Do you have a link to the list of forbidden feathers? I knew about Bald Eagles, but that's about it.

 

bob, most of them! turkey's are ok ..
the band came off that O'Farrell that came in recently. dimensions provided from seller indicated hat would be huge. in fact it's prolly around a 7!? hat's hand is really wonderful .. i wonder if it'd be worth considering re-blocking hat to a larger size? there sure is plenty of real estate.
best,
mike

 

https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/feathers-and-the-law.php

 

Here’s an old Stetson I gave to my fiancée, I reblocked the crown and flattened down the brim. She made the hat band.

 

This thread made me break them out of storage. Both need a good brushing.



The Darker one is a Scout model from Smithbilt hats. The second is a RCMP model from Biltmore hats. Love the flat brim, this is what cowboys used to wear in Alberta. RCMP took the style from them. Only problem for me is my long oval head shape. Unless I really work at it, the brim always tries to bow down in the front and back. Being a scout leader was my excuse for buying them. I should try and remember to break them out every Canada day.
The top photo is an example of a typical cowboy look. Here is a little of his biography.
http://earlegray.com/last-saddleback-preachers/
Johnny

 

Nice examples, Johnny.

 

Enjoyed the hats as well as the history, Johnny. I seem to ponder over every NPS hat that shows up in my size.

 

@johnnycanuck inspired "Buck" to show off his circa 1974 US National Park Service Stetson.



He likes to wear his like OHP Trooper Callicoat on "Live PD".

 

That’s the 7x right? Would love to see more pics of it

 

Yessir it’s a 7x!

 

Stetson telescoping crown. That's a faux leather band.

 

@Moviehats

Going back thru this thread just now this is a great pic! You got it going!
Worthy of mounting & framing.