Fortune and Glory - AB

[kiltie]

I have a few questions about these hats:

Can anyone tell me when the Fortune and Glory Adventurebilts were last offered ( when the F&G sweatbands last ran )?

Were they available only in rabbit, or was there a beaver model as well?

Anyone care to post some pics of the old Fortune and Glory Adventurebilts?

Thanks!

[Michaelson]

I was thinking it was in Spring of 2007, as they pulled it and the headpiece image from the liner in order to keep from getting 'sideways' with LFL, and just as they were entering the CS work. I BELIEVE that was the timeline.

Regards! Michaelson

[airforceindy]

I remember when Steve was talking about that... wasn't it a copyright thing? We all know Lucas will sell ANYTHING, but he also jealously guards rights to EVERYTHING. Couldn't recall if he kicked up a stink about the headpiece as a logo...

-AFI

[jlee562]

I remember when Steve was talking about that... wasn't it a copyright thing? We all know Lucas will sell ANYTHING, but he also jealously guards rights to EVERYTHING. Couldn't recall if he kicked up a stink about the headpiece as a logo...

-AFI

Lucas isn't actually that bad though.....I mean, if he really wanted to I'm sure he could shut down the whole 501st thing.

[Fedora]

I had the fortune and glory on the original sweats that I used. I did not like the sweats and changed suppliers, and changed the die at the same time and ditched the fortune and glory deal. No reason, at least no pressure from Lucas Inc to do so. I went with a classic HJ type font at the same time. I still have a few of the original sweats around here somewhere, if I did not rob the reeds from them at some point in time for the HJs that I used to redo the sweats on. The HJ reed was like 7 pound test line, not stiff enough to flare the sweats,(what a joke to even use that type of reed) so I used alot of the reeds from the discontinued sweat. Fedora

[kiltie]

Thanks, Michaelson and Fedora. I read the main page right after I posted, but the history is a little vague ( in the interest of the casual reader, I'm sure ).
There are a couple of reasons I asked, but consider one of them:
There's another thread running right now about the SoC style hat. Fedora wrote a considerable entry in that thread with some historical tidbits. Having some degree of modesty, I'm sure Steve would be disinclined to chronicle his own history, but the Adventurebilt Hat Company is, in fact, a part of history now. I don't just say that as some wingnut fan, but just take a look over at some of the other sites where "hat folk" gather: Fedora Lounge, Fedora Chronicles, etc... Think what you will of the sites themselves, but there is a lot of information to be sorted. A lot of history. History that is being lost with every year that passes. Worse, there is the infection of half truths, misinformation, and occassionally the outright lie.
Somewhere down the road, as unlikely as it may seem now, there'll be people discussing hats ( in whatever format people are discussing these things in the future [ telepathy...esp..] ) as they do now, and someone will bring up Adventurebilt. There'll be talk of the Fortune and Glory line, the Ra liner, the Pyramid liner, dating the hats, etc...
It'd be nice to see something truly definative. Maybe someone to interview Steve Delk and Marc Kitter for the consumate Adventurebilt history so that there's never another "Baron's Debacle" or conjecture in the future. Something that's not "fanned out", but is truthful about the good, bad, and ugly.
There's so much inference and conjecture in this hobby - where are the original Raiders jacket patterns, why this prototype and that mock-up, what about this "lost block" and felt and etc, etc, etc.... A lot of inference and conjecture in vintage hats - relating this liner to that era, when did they stop using that felt, whatever happened to Disney, and so on. It'd be cool to see Adventurebilt lay down a template that other hatters could follow and keep the soppositions out of the history. The main page is a good start, but while it's still relatively fresh on peoples minds, it'd be cool to know what block shapes were available when, when certain sweatband materials were changed, etc... Something really beefy.
I dunno - I'm sort of rambling here, but I get awfully tired of "I think blah blah blah..." I don't want to think - I VANT TO KNOW!!!!

[jlee562]

Somebody should start an AB Wiki page...Steve and Marc, and AB for that matter, are mentioned on the Indiana Jones page already.

[theinterchange]

The HJ reed was like 7 pound test line, not stiff enough to flare the sweats,(what a joke to even use that type of reed) so I used alot of the reeds from the discontinued sweat. Fedora

So the reeds basically use monofilament fishing line? What pound test do your current sweats use?

Randy

[Fedora]

So the reeds basically use monofilament fishing line? What pound test do your current sweats use?

Randy

Yes, on the HJs they do. Quite useless to use this sort of reed. Normally reeds are stiff, like the line on weed eaters. They have to be stiff in order to flare out the tape on the sweat that holds the reed. Akubra even uses wire! Which works great, by the way.

The fishing line aptly describes the HJ reeds, as well as the Christy reed. It was put there just to have a reed, but it is the wrong type of material for reeds. That is why none of the HJs have a true reeded sweatband, just an ersatz one. A facsimile.

On the history of AB, 99 per cent of the story is here on COW in various posts, some buried. I have tried to tell everyone all of the details, in bits and pieces. Perhaps there ought to be just a thread with a sticky containing the questions that folks want answered, so everyone gets the true story now, while it is fairly fresh in our memories)Marc and mine) There have been a few new revelations of HOW we actually got the gig, that has not been talked about much. The original story that I was told, did not contain ALL of the facts, or so I have been told. I found out a year later what Marc said was the true story of exactly how Peter mentioned us to Bernie. And it involved a member here, who wanted to remain in the background. Who was at Peters about the time this call was taken from Bernie. Apparently when asked where he could find that d### hat, Peter did not give us, right away, but was prompted by this fan to mention us. I later on made a post thanking this fan, but don't know what section I posted it in. So without that fan being around at this time, we probably would have not gotten the contract to make the last film hats.

At the time that we got this deal, I was using the antique roan color for my hats, but Marc was using a darker brown in his roo hide sweats. So, I changed to the choc. brown from my supplier for the CS hats and that is what I use now in the CS hats. So the film changed my color of sweats, to match Marc's since we would both place sweats in the film. I still use the antique roan in my Raider fedoras though.

So maybe if someone wants to start a thread about the fine details, and get answers to questions that you don't have, do it! We did not have this when the other films came out. So, a great opportunity to get the answers from your questions, as best as we can retell it. Some of the little things are quicky getting forgot by me, as time goes by. Most of the business of the hats were conducted not by email, but by phone conversations, first by both Marc and I, and then later on, Bernie just used me, due to the time differences(only 2 hours for me, but much more for Marc) So, I know more, although I shared all conversations with Marc at the time. Fedora

[theinterchange]

Thanks Steve! I was going to guess you use a weed trimmer sized reed. I've read the stories about Akubra's wire reeds poking through. Mine fortunately, hasn't.


Randy