But IS there any way I could still get one?
Ok, this is the way I am handling the liner deal. Since I have a couple thousand of the staff of ra liners still in stock, I have plenty to use up. What I have been doing is putting in the new liner(which costs me 3 times as much as the old liner) in the new price ABS, that is the 350 or 400 dollar ones. I sold alot of hats for 225 or 250 and these get the cheaper staff of ra liner. Or, if the hat is a Raiders fedora, it gets the staff of ra liner.
So, you will see both liners from me for quite some time. Eventually, I will use up the staff of ra liners and then only use the new one. But, as I said, I have plenty on hand because I bought up a large supply before designing a new liner.
Since the staff of ra liner was used in at least one film hat, it is actually accurate to the film, although you never saw it in the film.
Also, I can still get the plain white liner, the modern one I used in the stunt hats for the film. I have been thinking about buying a case of those and having this as an option if you buy a CS fedora. It is the exact same as my staff of ra liner in materials and the way it is made, since it comes from the same company. It is just plain with no logo on the tip. It is also the liner used in the wedding hat in the film. That wedding hat apparently was a size 23 made for a stunt man, either that or Bernie pulled out the old liner and put in a new one that I had sent him, as extras. But, it is the modern liner, and not the one used for Ford's hats that we made. As most know, we used two plain liners in the film. One for all of Ford's contractual hats, (the side seamed liner) and then the modern liner from my supplier for the stunt hats. And then of course, apparently a staff of ra liner from a sample hat got aged by western costume and was sent to Hawaii and was used in the film by accident.
The good thing is, a film accurate liner is still available, and will be as long as my supplier in Texas stays in business. My supplier is a small family business as most hatters know. And as with my other suppliers, I am a faithful customer to my original suppliers, as that is how I was taught to do business. But, with that said, I was considering changing sweatband suppliers when we got the Indy gig, and that put a halt to that consideration. But, it is rare when I do change, and it takes alot for me to do so.
I guess I will just play it by ear and see if there is a demand for that plain white liner for the CS fedoras. One thing is for sure, the embroidered liners, the new AB liner is a pricey liner, but it should be. The design is woven and not stamped. You used to see this on vintage Stetsons once upon a time. As well as other famous brands. It is a classy and expensive looking piece of work, and the reason I went with it at the time. When my hats went up in price, I wanted an expensive liner to put in them. The motiff is certainly Indyesque enough, with the Meso American pyramid, and uses the old HJ color scheme. Fedora