I was in Melbourne yesterday for university. I arrived at Flinders Street station by train an hour early, as I had promised myself the opportunity of visiting City Hatters, conveniently located next to the historic station, to see if I could pick up a good hat brush. And what not a better way to visit a historic Melbourne hat shop than with an Akubra Federation on your head?
I got the hat as a 16th birthday present, but I've only worn it sporatically until about 2 months ago, when I finally plucked up the courage to wear it to campus, and the #### thing practically hasn't left my head since. (From what I gather on this board, though, that isn't nessecarily such a bad thing.
) I went into the shop (pretty small, let me tell you) and marveled at all the hats they had on their shelves. I even spotted a Akubra (didn't catch the model name) that at first glance would make for a "close-enough" Indy lid. Bit pricey, though.
One of the staff came over to me and I asked him if they had any hat brushes available. He said that they did not, and that the company that supplied them had "dissapeared" (wonder what he meant by that, eh?
), but that they were looking for a new supplier. He noted my hat, which by now I had taken off and was cradling in my hands, and said that any soft bristle brush can act as a good substitue for brushing a hat.Then came something unexpected. He offered to dust me hat down in the shop, there and then. Surprised, but not taken aback, I said thank you and gave him the hat, which he then proceeded to give a good dusting. I was a little worried for a few fleeting moments, as he was gripping the thing by the brim a little bit harder that I would think is wise.
After about a minute, he was finished, and he marvelled at my Federation. He said that he hadn't seen many of them around, and asked me where I got it. I told him I bought it from HatsDirect in 2004 (I left out the part about it being an Indy fedora, after reading about someone's "experience" with the staff at Herbert Johnson's). He seemed fascinated by it and asked if he could measure the brim, which I said he could and he did.
Both the attendent and his collegue told me that Akubra had stopped making the Federation recently
(SAY IT ISN'T SO, GUYS!!!). Given that my hat was bought in 2004, it could simply have been a reference to that particular model of Federation.Anyway, they (and another older gentleman, who was a customer) said it was a beautiful hat and that if I take care of it, the thing would last me a lifetime, and that it was a rarer make of hat. I asked him how much I owed him for the brush-up, but he said not to worry, no charge. I smiled, said thank you, and doffed my hat to him in goodbye and left.
The hat looks a bit more richer in colour now, and doesn't seem to have any noticable damage to it, despite the somewhat hard grip he had on it while brushing. The staff seemed friendly enough, an while I didn't get to buy a hat brush, I got it done for me for free, right in front of my eyes!
Any Australian gearheads here ever deal with City Hatters? Established in 1910, I believe.
(And no, I don't have any pics of my lid, as I neglected to take a 'before' picture. Rest assured, I'll put some up, so as to avoid being hit by any "colourful" smilies...
)
