In February, I committed the cardinal sin of Indygear fans. I lost my fedora. There was nothing cool or heroic about it. No leaving it in a tomb as the door came crashing down. No dropping it in the wake of a giant boulder chasing me. No I left it in my backseat and a friend unwittingly and unknowingly knocked it out when I gave him a ride home from school. I was completely heartbroken, and I felt like I had lost an old friend. It was a chinchy Stetson Temple which has been much maligned on these pages, but it was a "good enough" that I hated to lose.
So I did what anyone on these pages would or should do when they need advice, I PMed Michaelson. I told him of my folly, explained to him that I am a starving college kid in desparate need of a lid. Sadly my, ahem, limited income made purchasing an Adventurebuilt hat a bit hard to swallow, as beautiful as they are. Michaelson, in true fashion, walked me through the merits of the various options, and almost as an afterthought mentioned that he had purchased a Camptown Model 1936 Fieldmaster from our good friend JerseyJones. Frankly, I had not heard that Jersey was selling his hats. I knew that he had made a few prototypes, but that was the extent of my knowledge. Michaelson cited the many benefits of this particular lid including its lower price, admirably high-quality beaver felt that had maybe a whisper of rabbit fur in for good measure, the ventilated sweat band, which garnered Michaelson's highest praises. I poked around for a bit researching the other options he had mentioned, and then decided to stop fooling around and get to the serious business of buying a lid. Many, many thanks Michaelson.
I called JerseyJones up, told him Michaelson had sent me and told him I wanted one of his lids. It took a while, but that lid finally arrived this morning.
I'm delaying the actual review for a moment because I cannot say enough how helpful and personally involved Jersey was in getting me the exact hat I wanted. When I first called him, we chatted for quite some time about where I would be wearing it, what I wanted it to be able to handle and finally how much I wanted one of his hats. He was so helpful that he called me personally to let me know that he was perhaps going to have to shut his hatting operations down at least for a while. My hat was safe, but future ones were up in the air. I was devastated because I knew no one else would have the pleasure of working with Mr. Jersey. A true loss. Needless to say, I was elated to hear that he would be continuing his operations due to renewed interest. Those newest customers will not be disappointed.
Now, without further ado, my review of the Camptown Model 1936 Fieldmaster:
Right out of the box, this hat is extremely comfortable. The felt itself is quite thick, about 1/8 of an inch at the brim's edge, and fairly stiff. But when you set it on, it rides very well. The only drawback to the felt's thickness, if you can call it that, is that it takes some work to shape it. I like the front of my brim to droop down fairly low, and it's taking some work to get it there, but all I can say to that is it's a "high class problem." A thick high-quality felt is nothing to complain about.
The rear of the hat has a slight curl on either side put there by Jersey to ease the shaping of the back of the hat. I'm not touching that at all. The slight roll to the rear quadrants looks darn slick, and I'm quite pleased with it.
The crown is TALL, much taller than my old Temple. But again, it's not necessarily a bad thing. I am a tall guy, about 6'3," so any fedora makes me look like a giant. After the initial shock of the increase in height, I really began to like the way the hat looks on. It just took a little getting used to. I am becoming a bigger fan of this hat by the minute.
In the crown, I requested a Raiders-esque pinch, and Jersey did quite well. It's not too tight, and it leaves a little room for me to tighten it if I so choose. Jersey told me he was going to do that when I ordered it because the hat would grow with me and my pinching habits would give it my own unique shape. Good thinking, my friend.
The ribbon is a dark chocolate color, and the bow is all hand shaped and stitched. It's not quite as dark as I would prefer, but that could just be me still getting used to the hat.
And as usual, Michaelson was right. The ventilated sweat band is genius. I'm currently living in Baton Rouge, LA, which is not known for having a cool arid climate. No, it's actually freaking hot 90% of the time, and the humidity usually hangs around 185%. The sweat band makes wearing a fedora a pleasant experience, even in a warm climate. Inside the band is a handwritten message from Mr. Jersey and the individual number. Mine is #15, so none of you can have it. Sorry.
The whole affair is delivered in a Camptown hat box that includes extra sizing tape -- I didn't need it but it's good to know it's there -- the extra pieces of felt he trimmed off as per my request, and detailed instructions on shaping and caring for the hat. The poor box got a bit battered by the &$@%ing Post Office, which once again saw the word "Fragile" and interpreted it to mean "Soccerball." I was a bit scared when I got it, fearing it would be pre-crushed, but it was packed so well that no tragedy ensued.
All in all, I give this hat glowing marks, and I would recommend it to any one of you. The service was great, the product even better, and I really have no complaints. I'm going to post some pictures in a little bit. I have to borrow a camera because I lost mine in a recent breakup. She got the camera, and I got the bill. It was a sweet deal.
Just one more reason getting the lid today was super exciting. The best part was that both my Hubertus knife and lid arrived the same day, so guess what movie I'm watching later. . .
Thank you very much JerseyJones and Michaelson. You guys have been great, and I appreciate it more than I can say.
Cheers,
Chaos
