I may be the only one who disagree...

[DR Ulloa]

...but it seems like all you need to have a totally rad, awesome Raiders fedora anymore is to have it durtied up. Guess no one cares about block shape, felt, or ribbon anymore. This isn't a knock at any hat makers here. If your making a hat, I tip mine to you. I just think there is more to the Raiders hat than dust and sand.

Dave

[Gorak]

Where did this come from? Someone say something to you that stirred this up? I think we most all agree that, to get that elusive UNIQUE Raiders hat, it is a perfect blend of theatrics(dust, swoop, swagger), specs(straight sided, muffin top, camel humps, flying V bow, etc, etc), materials(rabbit, beaver, petersham, etc) and choosing the right size for yourself in terms of crown height, brim size, etc. Most of all this is taken by the horns by all our wonderful hatmakers, profesional and non-professional.
Am I to assume that you are referring to the general publics perception?

[beaverlid]

This thread is about to become interesting!

[DR Ulloa]

Yeah, I'm talking about the general perspective. No one said anything to me. Truth be told, I'm not sure I really care about this stuff anymore. I was just wondering because I've seen some awful looking hats covered in dirt that everyone says looks awesome and some great ones that are clean that aren't given the light of day. Don't know why it irks me, but it does.

Dave

[RCSignals]

You obviously have some specific hats in mind. Could you point out which ones you see as "awful looking hats covered in dirt" so we can all be on the same reference point?

[Mike]

Um. Lets not. I can see this getting ugly real quick.

[Kentucky Blues]

Well, while I'm sure I actually agree with you, DR Ulloa, I think there are some other ideas floating around that account for at least some of this. For one, I think at least some people tend to look at all four movie hats as one hat, or as the Raiders hat, or otherwise fit their hat (which may or may not specifically resemble ANY movie hat) into a Raiders description or distress in a streets of cairo fashion. On the other hand, I also believe some people are just too nice to say "you could've done better" when the see an awful looking hat covered in dirt that the owner is proud of. And the reason I say that I'm sure I actually agree with you is that I fall into the "just too nice" category... I'm pretty sure you and I would agree on what is an awful hat and what is pretty screen accurate, but when I see the former with a claim to be the latter, I just hold my tongue

-KB

[Kentucky Blues]

Um. Lets not. I can see this getting ugly real quick.

I agree... lets not point out specific people's hats... I'm assuming there's a reason why DR Ulloa didn't point out any in the first place, which would be respect.

-KB

[Mountaineer]

Should this place become the "Hot or Not" of Indy equipment? I for one would like to not have it be that way. I mean, this is, after all a question of taste/perspective/budget, right?

I'm not really wanting to "grade" the hats, jackets, and what-have-you others may post because I don't want to feel graded myself.

I came here and I'm still here because I wanted information on the equipment, the making of the movies, what have you. I also wanted to know which vendors offered good deals for the money. I appreciate the constant tinkering the vendors do to perfect their wares because we talk about those things so dang much.

While this site was having its fits yesterday I was on a few other sites where more than one person basically called out COW and that exact "well it's not correct unless it has this type stitching" attitude. It can come off as snobbery, as much as one may not want it too, but it had pushed those people away. My being part of a community that is perceived as being like that is something I don't well abide.

So if someone thinks their cheapish hat looks the part for them and they are happy, then I'm OK with that. Hence, Rodney King.

Sorry, it's been a long week that's now thankfully over, but I still need an adult beverage.

[Forrest For the Trees]

Ummm, well there are several folks making some pretty awesome looking hats, in my opinion, and many of them are offering hats that are distressed and "soiled" to look like hats from specific scenes in Raiders. Now, I am not one for any kind of pre-distressing, but it seems to be an art around here. I guess I am missing something, because those hats look like Raiders hats to me.

[nicktheguy]

Clean fedoras, dirty fedoras.....they're all good! They're all fedoras!!!!

[RCSignals]

I agree nick

I personally wouldn't order my hat 'dirty' but some people seem to want a hat matching a certain scene or look. That's not bad in itself, just not for everyone.

While I respect DR Ulloa for not mentioning specific hat makers he does infer specific hats, and it would be nice to be on the same page. He obviously thought it important enough to post about it.

[Kentucky Blues]

Well, maybe he's just posting a general opinion that he thinks some of us are not putting as much effort, or giving recognition to those who aren't putting forth as much effort, into hat shaping, and maybe suggesting that we try a bit harder like we did in the old days. But not mentioning names as to not hurt anyones feelings.

-KB

[binkmeisterRick]

It's also best to not start throwing names as it will turn into an instant bash thread, and this is not the kind of hat bashing where folks play nice, if you know what I mean. Isn't the jacket section crazy enough?

That said, we have hat makers of every level here, some who have been at this for a while, and others who are new at it. Come to think of it, ALL our hat makers are new at it, if you look at how long they've been at it. Combine all the years together, including Steve Delk, and you won't come close to the amount of time some of the true old timers have been doing this. The beauty of it is that we never used to have this large of an Indy hat selection, and the fact that a significant number of people are taking a crack at it has kept every hat maker looking to improve their hats, thus giving the remainder of us a pretty nice selection to choose from, regardless of budget.

That also means you'll have folks who like or dislike a given hat for any number of reasons. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times; if the owner of a given hat is happy with that hat, that is all that matters, regardless of the amount of yaysayers and naysayers on the boards.

[Michaelson]

I've posted it for years...if you want to toss fullers earth on a paperbag and call it your Indy hat, fine with me.

This is a hobby, folks. Let's not let it become something beyond that.

Enjoy it anyway it makes you happy, full blown high end custom blocked fedora or dirt covered fleamarket find. It's all the same if it's the best you can do at the time, and I'll sure tip MY hat to you for your efforts, and your williness to share an image with us of your creation.

Now before somebody tosses gas on these glowing embers, as 'we' can feel the heat starting to rise, this one has probably gone as far as it needs to go.

As Mike likes to say, 'nothing more to see here....move along....'

Regards! Michaelson