THE SUNBODY ASSOCIATION

Can anyone tell if this is a Sunbody Fine Palm Derby? The Sunbody appears to have more taper to it.





Sunbody Fine Palm

 

One of the musicians in the 2nd South Carolina String Band wears it often.

 

I figured it to be a Derby with a wider brim since they are Palm Leaf. Maybe it's an open crown fedora style?

 

Not a bad idea. Once I've shaped a hat I seldom change it anyway. What always surprises me is when I see a $200+ straw with a cloth band. How much more could it cost for a strip of lamb? The Sunbody band I find less irritating than some of the others, but leather would be better. I wonder if Sunbody would provide one at an extra cost. Btw, I find the Peters Bros. leather bands on their hemps to be very nice and soft.

 

I wish Peters Bros would fix their website. It went from being a mess to being nothing. I’ve exchanged a few emails, but they just seemed sketchy. I know they lost their most skilled guy a while back.

 

I picked up a Sunbody hat for my daughter to wear on a 2 week hiking trek this summer. Village Hat Shop had a sale with free shipping, so $38 delivered was a very good price.

 

I got my first SunBody hat this weekend ordered through the factory. It is the Open Road model with 2 1/2” brim. I immediately realized I did not like the cowboy-styled curled up brim so I reshaped it to a modest fedora up around the sides and back and down in front. The cattleman creased crown also touched the top of my head so I pushed it up just a bit.

Reshaping is quite easy by following the instructions on the website. Just got it wet under a faucet or use a spray bottle of tap water. Once it gets soaked in a couple minutes it is very pliable. Whatever shape you make it just holds there.

I got it one size up as the recommend. My only complaint is the sweatband. It looks like a cotton denim fabric. The problem for me is that it is so smooth it does not hang on to the back of my head (hair) and slides down on my head. I installed some of the supplied foam under the sweatband. It makes it ride better but is pretty tight on my head.

Grommets are installed for side vents and in the brim for a stampede string. Now I am ready for sun, rain, and wind. This looks like a durable hat that can take some abuse; a good go to hat.

As delivered:


Adjusted:

 

Looks good, and I like it better how you shaped it.


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The nicest SunBody extant? Our own @Mustang Mike’s Hats did all the heavy lifting. I got what I asked for: wide brim homburg shaped palm complete with a leather sweatband! The leather means you can’t dunk it in water, but it’s still easy to shape with a spray bottle. Mike did mention that he’s not looking to sew in a leather sweatband in another palm hat; apparently it’s not an easy thing to do. The leather is also much thinner than the cloth sweats and the hat needs some shims to fit me...only the third hat I’ve had that was bigger than ideal for me.

A huge thanks to Mike for making the hat for me!


















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Thanks Brent! Yeah, the leather hatband was a bit of a "challenge", for lack of a more inappropriate NSFW reference.

Hope you wear it well!

(I DID toss in the shim material, right??)

 

I’m shimming it with felt I had left after a brim trim. Works great.

Thanks again my friend.


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Pics?

 

Haha! I took the photos and then deleted them before posting them. Wow, I’m losing it. I took a few quickies and added them to my original post. Thanks for catching it for me.


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I did a palm straw fedora for a guy this week and used some vintage geometric patterned ribbon I located in a little shop up in Morro Bay, CA. I loved the pattern on it and since a few of my locals (who all know each other) have requested palm straw fedoras for the summer, I've been trying to come up with something a little bit unique for each of them.

 

That one looks a lot better than most Sunbodies I've seen. Good job all around.

 

Finally got around to getting a pic of th e"His & Hers" Sunbody Fedoras. I think they work well on them!

 

Nice. I really like the ribbon treatment.


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Ditto!