I'm thinking of a hat...

Stevew443 · Aug 11, 2012

Here is where I purchased my Panama. http://store.panamas.biz/
A Panama can be made in various styles, but it is a woven hat. My Panama happens to be a fedora style instead of one of the other styles. I do wear a felt fedora when the Panama is a bit too casual, like evening wear. I showed my casual summer hat in a previous post.

I just happen to love wearing hats. I also wear a beret when the occasion allows, a very casual bucket hat for yard work, and a very loosely woven very wide brimmed fedora style when mowing the yard and I need to have protection from the sun. People sometimes give me baseball caps, but I rarely wear them. I live in an area of the country where a baseball cap could almost be considered a "formal" hat. I have seen men dressed as well as they normally dress wearing a ball cap.

thatonesmine · Aug 12, 2012

Check out Robert Graham hat's, very individual styles to suit all tastes. Goes well with their shirts.

Charles U.K

lingawakad · Aug 12, 2012

I've heard nothing but good things about Brazil Tarp Hats from Real Deal Brazil. Made of old tarps, and there's a wire in the brim to help with shaping.

Isaac · Aug 12, 2012

If you decide to go with a custom hat, I can not say enough good things about Art Fawcett. He will send you a conformer to more or less make a hat just for you. I should be posting up a thread of all my hats here soon.

OldSaw · Aug 12, 2012

Topgumby said:
You've pretty much got the gist of it...a Panama is a fedora shaped hat made of strawlike material, but a good Panama is a finely woven work of art, and has little in common with a cheap straw hat that you'll find at Wallyworld. There are subtle and not so subtle differences in shapes within the Panama hat world, but you've got the basic idea.

Best Summer hat I've had is made of.... polypropylene! It's an Akubra Capricorn in the fawn color. It looks for all the world like a Milan straw hat, and it wears light and cool.

I wore mine at Disneyland and stuffed it under seats or in those crazy pouches they have in the cars on rides and it just shrugged off the abuse. I've worn it every day during two Summers, and it does yard work duty too. If it gets dirty, I hose it off and it's good to go again.

Tilley makes a fine hat, but around here it's almost a badge that I associate with an outlook on things that I don't want to be associated with, so I went with something different. The Akubra can do double duty as a "nice" hat and a outdoorsy hat, something most of the Tilley hats can't, IMHO.

Hmm, that's interesting. I always thought of the Tilley as the khakis of the hat world, kinda goes with everything, were as the boonie is more akin to blue jeans and all the fedora style hats are a little dressier.

What exactly is the Tilley hat association that you are afraid of?

closer · Aug 12, 2012

Topgumby said:
Tilley makes a fine hat, but around here it's almost a badge that I associate with an outlook on things that I don't want to be associated with

I'm not sure what this might be, but fwiw, I picked up a Tilley LTM3 last week from Eastern Mountain Sports. I'm still learning to adjust the straps for wind, but happy with it so far, through two rounds of golf. Its definitely light, and my head felt less warm compared to when I wear my usual ballcap cinched tight.

OldSaw · Aug 12, 2012

closer said:
I'm not sure what this might be, but fwiw, I picked up a Tilley LTM3 last week from Eastern Mountain Sports. I'm still learning to adjust the straps for wind, but happy with it so far, through two rounds of golf. Its definitely light, and my head felt less warm compared to when I wear my usual ballcap cinched tight.

I took my sister's kids to an amusement park yesterday and the Tilley stayed on during all the rides, including a roller coaster and the Scrambler. At the end of each ride I quickly take off the hat and let the strap drop back inside & out of sight and put it back on. I love the double strap for its intended purpose and use it in windy environments, such as sailing, but stow it away most all other times.

Topgumby · Aug 12, 2012

OldSaw said:
What exactly is the Tilley hat association that you are afraid of?

In Seattle, if there was a protest in front of a Starbucks because they were depleting environmental resources, and the guy leading it parked his brand new giant SUV a couple blocks away 'cause it wouldn't look right, I'd expect him to be wearing socks with sandals and a Tilley hat.

Completely unfair, and I'm sure they are fine hats, but it's just part of that uniform around here.

OldSaw · Aug 12, 2012

Topgumby said:
In Seattle, if there was a protest in front of a Starbucks because they were depleting environmental resources, and the guy leading it parked his brand new giant SUV a couple blocks away 'cause it wouldn't look right, I'd expect him to be wearing socks with sandals and a Tilley hat.

Completely unfair, and I'm sure they are fine hats, but it's just part of that uniform around here.

Ah yes, I see what you mean. Around here anyway, most of the other Tilley wearers who I see are "middle aged" (we're all going to make it past a hundred, right?) guys like myself, but some of them are much older, so I thought maybe it was an "old man" thing or something like that.

Topgumby · Aug 12, 2012

Old man? Indeed, quite the opposite, and I'm quite sure if I was in another part of the country the association wouldn't be there.

Anyway...back to the OP. I think a straw hat in a fedora type shape can look great with short sleeves and shorts.

A3M0N · Aug 12, 2012

Thanks fellas. I'm thinking I will try out a straw fedora I saw at Target (don't judge me

) and see if I like it. If I do indeed like the hat and will wear it often, I'll look into a nicer hat for the "winter" and next season. I'm not a big fashon guy, so I will probably wear the straw hat well into what we call winter down here.

For some reason, that Real Deal Brazil hat looks cool to me. Maybe later on...

ricardo9505 · Aug 12, 2012

have you considered the caribbean panama hat? classy and casual. white reflects the sun and very popular in my Caribbean family mbrs. and as always, a white handkerchief in your pocket,

Topgumby · Aug 12, 2012

Not a bad way to go at all. My first straw was a inexpensive golf hat. If the hat bug bites, you can indulge later.

Sled Dog · Aug 12, 2012

Topgumby said:
I think a straw hat in a fedora type shape can look great with short sleeves and shorts.

Kinda like this Tilley :001_smile

john parker · Aug 12, 2012

Sled Dog, can you tell me where this one is on the web, please? Found it once a couple months ago but wasn't smart enough to bookmark it so I could find it again!

Sled Dog said:
Kinda like this Tilley

Topgumby · Aug 12, 2012

Sled Dog said:
Kinda like this Tilley

Haha! Yes, while that rather nice shantung fedora is sold by Tilley, it's not the classic Tilley fabric hat I was referencing.

John, it's a $99 model S7 and it looks like they are out of large and XL until late August.

Here's a Stetson for about half the dough. In the $70 range, here's a Bailey.

Shantung is really a paper fiber...it's been used for hats for quite some time, but somehow paying a C-note for a "paper hat" doesn't sound quite right. Remember, this is coming from a guy who shelled out about that much for a "plastic hat". :lol:

john parker · Aug 12, 2012

Thanks, Topgumby!! I will look them over!

A3M0N · Aug 12, 2012

ricardo9505 said:
have you considered the caribbean panama hat? classy and casual. white reflects the sun and very popular in my Caribbean family mbrs. and as always, a white handkerchief in your pocket,

I like this. Where at and how much? For future reference.

cb91710 · Aug 12, 2012

Topgumby said:
Here's a Stetson for about half the dough.

I've got that Stetson and am not totally happy with it.

I like the traditional Fedora look with the back of the brim flipped up and the front down (Trilby).
When this one arrived, it was flipped up all the way around and looked kinda goofy... like I belonged in a musical.

After weeks of working it, I was able to get the entire brim to stay down, but it still wants to pop back up, and I can't raise the back without it also pulling the front up... and the brim is not even... never was, even before I started working it.
I bought it because of Stetson's reputation.

Isaac · Aug 12, 2012

cb91710 said:
I've got that Stetson and am not totally happy with it.

I like the traditional Fedora look with the back of the brim flipped up and the front down (Trilby).
When this one arrived, it was flipped up all the way around and looked kinda goofy... like I belonged in a musical.

After weeks of working it, I was able to get the entire brim to stay down, but it still wants to pop back up, and I can't raise the back without it also pulling the front up... and the brim is not even... never was, even before I started working it.
I bought it because of Stetson's reputation.

I have to say that while Stetson ha true brand name recognition, their products lack the quality of old. I sold Resistol and Stetson hats , both fall under HatCo., and well even their top of the line hats were really lacking. It is a nice way to introduce yourself to a different breed of hats, but do not spen too much on them.

This of course is just my opinion.

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I'm thinking of a hat...

Stevew443

thatonesmine

lingawakad

Isaac

B&B Tease-in-Residence

OldSaw

The wife's investment

closer

OldSaw

The wife's investment

Topgumby

OldSaw

The wife's investment

Topgumby

A3M0N

ricardo9505

Topgumby

Sled Dog

john parker

Topgumby

john parker

A3M0N

cb91710

Isaac

B&B Tease-in-Residence

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