After pondering what D.L. said in that interview that we have talked about, it suddenly occurred to me that no one, outside of the costume designer for ROTLA, has ever owned, bought from HJ, a real deal Raiders fedora.
We bought and we bought from HJ, hoping to get the elusive Raiders fedora from them, while never knowing that the Raiders fedora was a custom made hat, made to D.L.'s specs, and according to her, HJ did not even offer this hat, at the time.
Then we have folks that buy the Christy, or the HJ, with the conviction that they are indeed getting a Raiders fedora, when they are actually getting another totally different hat! Any resemblence thereof is the same resemblence that one would get from a variety of different brands, that had a similiar but not totally accurate block shape. But, the magical name of HJ on the sweat, somehow compels them to think, that at least this is what Indy wore. That was his brand. Yes, and no. We are comparing apples to oranges really. Consider this.
The Raiders fedora we know today was a custom made, or bespoke fedora, made to D.L.'s specs, or her vision of what she wanted to put on Harrison, and no doubt, she put alot of thought into it. At the time, this Raiders fedora did not exist, from HJ. She took a broad brimmed Aussie hat, with the upturned brim, and use this as a piece of clay to arrive at what she wanted.
There were no Poets sitting on the shelf at HJ, and she was probably not even aware that the Poet existed, at one time in HJs history. She designed this hat!!! It is hers. And, it was NOT the Poet. To be a Poet would be a huge coincidence, and the odds are against it. Now, no doubt Swales gave them the Poet when hats for the next film were requested, and we can tell from the bows and the sweat stitching at the brim break that these were pure factory hats, made by whomever they were using at the time. But they changed factories several times in the last 12 years. So even what they sell today is not what they sold to the folks for the TOD and TLC films.
Which brings me to a very important point. Once she got her order in of the Raiders fedora, HJ no longer sold this particular hat. Why? Because it was a custom made hat! And HJ sells factory hats. The TOD and TLC hat were both factory made hats. And this is the hat that was sold to the Indy fans, seeking a Raiders fedora.
So unless you could pull Swales from retirement, or the grave, to custom make, or bespoke a Raiders fedora, identical to what he made for D.L., owning a HJ Raiders fedora is impossible. And, there is little doubt that Swales would even recall what he did in regards to specs for the Raiders fedora. Because he only made one run of Raider fedoras. When the next films came up, he sold them the Poet, a factory made hat, that supposedly HJ had offered at one time in their history, before hats died.
The revelation that came from Deborah, to me, finally explains it all. It makes perfectly good sense, finally!!!
And this revelation also tells us that if you want a Raiders HJ, FORGET ABOUT IT!!! It will never happen. This was a one time run of hats, never to be repeated. And somehow, that is comforting to me, but only because it finally stops me from wondering 'HOW" the Raiders fedora was so different from what followed. We now know the truth.
I also think it is happily ironic that the first film hat was custom made, and the last film hat was also custom made, although they are not identical hats. But unlike the Raiders fedora, you can actually buy the same custom hat used in the last film. And what other Indy hat can you say this of? Certainly not the TOD or TLC hats. You can't even buy those anymore. They are gone. The felt is not the same type of felt. It is not sold to you by the same company, because HJ is no longer HJ, but a part of S.A.B. Mr. Swales is gone. It is a name only, now, with no links to the past. No more than a modern Stetson is a Stetson made prior to 1970.
To me, it is high time we let HJ die, as they have nothing to do with any of Indy's previous hats. Nothing. For the folks that bought from Mr. Swales, with his shabby dimensional cuts, hang on to those hats!! You have a piece of history in your hands. And if you bought them in the late 80's and early 90's, you actually have the same felt used in TLC hat. And the same ribbon. If you have one with the pentagon crest, you even have the same crest as used in TLC, or at least the crest we see on the LC film.
To me, this is liberating in a manner of speaking. I no longer find the name "HJ" as mystical as I did years ago. But only because I know the HJ of today is not the same HJ of the 3 films era. To me, Swales was HJ, and the last link to the Indy fedora. But, he is gone, retired or dead. Not sure.
In the end, perhaps it is best that a Raider HJ was never available from HJ, once D.L. got her order of custom hats. This will always make the Raider fedora even more mystical, for lack of a better word. It can never be owned. And to me, that makes me happy in an odd sort of way. But only because it keeps this hat unobtainable, and no man will ever sport a real Raiders HJ. We don't deserve it, in a funny sort of way. It will be the one hat that ONLY Indy would ever wear. Somehow I see poetic justice in that fact.
The truth of the matter is this. If you want to own a genuine Indy fedora, a hat that was used in one of the films, the only place you can get one is from AB. Now, not advertising, just stating facts. It may not be your favorite Indy fedora, but at least it is the real deal, and the only real deal Indy fedora that is available today. The Raiders fedora was NEVER available from HJ, but you could buy a LC fedora from Swales at one time, but that time is past. And as I said above, even if you are after a LC HJ, you should have bought it when Swales was still working. Even the LC hat is no longer available. You can get a bad copy, with a factory cut brim, but it is only a copy, and it doesn't even have the same felt, or sweat, or liner for that matter. In essence, you really can only own one real Indy fedora today. I would be less than honest if I said this did not please me to some extent. But what does not please me, is I am not a young man anymore. So, the days are numbered. But it does give me some pleasure to know that years from now, when I am dead and gone, I will still be spoken of. Just like Swales.
This blows my mind to even think about it, that one of the many Indy fans actually got the opportunity to make Indy's last hat. In the grand scheme of things it is meaningless, but as long as there are Indy fans, I will be remembered. And hopefully not as the guy who ruined Indy's hat!!! But personally, for me, I am the luckiest guy in the world, and always have been. Once this thread dies, you guys won't see much of me around here. Part is the work load, and part of it is I am tired of talking, as many of you are tired of listening. I am starting to feel my almost 58 years of life, and my health is not as good as I would wish it to be. But, I will keep on making hats, and it looks like I may have to go past my original hatmaking retirement projection, due to money lost in investments when Wall St. plummetted and mutual funds tanked. My nest egg. Should have gotten out before this plunge occurred. So, it looks like I will still be making at least some hats past the age of 60, but only for as long as I have to do so. Who knows, perhaps my lost money in the market will rebound quickly, but seriously, I don't see that happening. I know other older folks here are in my same boat. You save and you save for old age and you lose more than half of your savings. The only sure thing is death and taxes. Fedora
![8-[]](./images/smilies/Magnoli.gif "Magnoli"){kind=small}
. I really like that you don't just know how to make hats, but you know about hats. That's what makes you, you! I just want to say, that I'll surely be front of the line if you do start up a rabbit line soon 
