Re: Questions about Swaine Aideney's "Poet" Fedora

Posted by Greg from kenn0001-p1-021.cybertours.com on October 02, 2000 at 16:41:08:

In Reply to: Re: Questions about Swaine Aideney's "Poet" Fedora posted by West on October 02, 2000 at 03:28:41:

: Well the hat from HJ comes with a petersham ribbon which is the one that they had in the movies. From what I heard it doesn't look EXACTLY like the one on Indy gear, each looking different from the other. You need to be specific so you can get what you want from them. Be sure to make sure that they cut your brim without jagged spots on it, like some say their hats have. You may need to reshape, who knows. HJ is a great company and you'll be happy ordering from them from what I hear.

: West

I have bought two HJ hats and I found Richard Swales extremely pleasant to deal with. If you talk to him directly and order an Indy fedora based on the Poet hat, you shouldn't have a problem. Tell him what style crease you'd like, but you should still plan on some personal shaping once you get it, as you should expect with any mail-ordered hat. They'll put a snap brim and a slight curl in the rear if you wish and from there, you'll have to personalize how you like the brim. The pinch in front is also very personal. Some of course like the tight Raiders pinch and others prefer the LC rounded pinch. Either way, the HJ hat is VERY nice. I think those people who want the LC hat will be most pleased with the HJ hat. We also have to remember that as hats are subjected to moisture, rain, sweat, and heat, they shrink a little and the net effect is a smaller, rounded crown, and the Raiders hat had a slightly taller look to it. Remember that a brand new hat was probably worn in most of the film. Sand and dirt do not an old hat make. I find the HJ hats to be the most accurate hats-you will obviously find differences from hat to hat. My two hats were bought several years apart and they definitely look a little different, but when new, they looked dead-on accurate. My newest one has a LC crease and pinch, and is extremely accurate in appearance. The Peters Bros hats look good, but remember that no matter how good they LOOK, they weren't the hats used in the films. They will also eventually shrink and round off a bit as they get wet and shrink, unless you buy a wooden hat block and keep it on it after it gets wet. I've said it before and will say it again: It only matters what you are looking for: An accurate looking costume, or the authentic costume. I've always been after the authentic one. I think that if we work with folks like Peter at Wested leather and explain that we'd like the collar a little smaller on the Raiders jacket, and return to some of the Leather Concessionaires features, we could have the things we want without having to go to non-authentic sources. It's only natural that with more people making the items, they will have differences. We are talking about hand-made items, not mass-produced items. I have a Leather concessionaires jacket and when it finally wears out, I may just send it to Peter and ask him to reproduce it exactly. That should ensure that the collar is the same size, etc. Perhaps someone else can send a LC jacket back to him to revise his current patterns. I think he just stopped making them for a while and when he started Wested, the patterns were drawn from memory or something. Just a thought...

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: : Well the hat from HJ comes with a petersham ribbon which is the one that they had in the movies.  From what I heard it doesn't look EXACTLY like the one on Indy gear, each looking different from the other. You need to be specific so you can get what you want from them. Be sure to make sure that they cut your brim without jagged spots on it, like some say their hats have.  You may need to reshape, who knows.  HJ is a great company and you'll be happy ordering from them from what I hear.

: :                                 West

: I have bought two HJ hats and I found Richard Swales extremely pleasant to deal with.  If you talk to him directly and order an Indy fedora based on the Poet hat, you shouldn't have a problem.  Tell him what style crease you'd like, but you should still plan on some personal shaping once you get it, as you should expect with any mail-ordered hat.  They'll put a snap brim and a slight curl in the rear if you wish and from there, you'll have to personalize how you like the brim.  The pinch in front is also very personal.  Some of course like the tight Raiders pinch and others prefer the LC rounded pinch.  Either way, the HJ hat is VERY nice.  I think those people who want the LC hat will be most pleased with the HJ hat.  We also have to remember that as hats are subjected to moisture, rain, sweat, and heat, they shrink a little and the net effect is a smaller, rounded crown, and the Raiders hat had a slightly taller look to it.  Remember that a brand new hat was probably worn in most of the film.  Sand and dirt do not an old hat make.  I find the HJ hats to be the most accurate hats-you will obviously find differences from hat to hat.  My two hats were bought several years apart and they definitely look a little different, but when new, they looked dead-on accurate.  My newest one has a LC crease and pinch, and is extremely accurate in appearance.  The Peters Bros hats look good, but remember that no matter how good they LOOK, they weren't the hats used in the films.  They will also eventually shrink and round off a bit as they get wet and shrink, unless you buy a wooden hat block and keep it on it after it gets wet.  I've said it before and will say it again:  It only matters what you are looking for:  An accurate looking costume, or the authentic costume.  I've always been after the authentic one.  I think that if we work with folks like Peter at Wested leather and explain that we'd like the collar a little smaller on the Raiders jacket, and return to some of the Leather Concessionaires features, we could have the things we want without having to go to non-authentic sources.  It's only natural that with more people making the items, they will have differences.  We are talking about hand-made items, not mass-produced items.  I have a Leather concessionaires jacket and when it finally wears out, I may just send it to Peter and ask him to reproduce it exactly.  That should ensure that the collar is the same size, etc.  Perhaps someone else can send a LC jacket back to him to revise his current patterns.  I think he just stopped making them for a while and when he started Wested, the patterns were drawn from memory or something.  Just a thought...

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