Dorfman&Pacific..?

[MARQ]

I saw those Dorfmans way back when I started scouting the web for the gear and still can´t for the life of me understand how they can call these fedoras "official fedoras that were made famous by Indiana Jones" and ETC...you know.Some offerings like the Fedora in Star Wars Insider back in the day looked "nearly" desent but still.If they were working together with Lucasfilm,how come they didn´t get the essential part of the character right from the start!? I mean at least they should have had the original fedora as reference from Lucas´s headquarters.Personally I would prefer that when trying to replicate something do it WELL!! Or they should update them....fair´s fair,right! And IF anybody didn´t understand I mean to say that those should be SCREEN ACURATE....

[Michaelson]

They're after the 'non-Indy' market. The sell them by the truck load at places like Disneyland and through sales catalog to folks who don't care one way or the other about 'screen accuracy'. They just want something that has the LFL blessing on the tag.

So, if LFL can move a lot of product, that's what he does, and it's cheap!

So, there's a place for it. Not in OUR place, mind you, but a place.

Regard! Michaelson

[erikgunnlugson]

When I started to look for an Indy fedora those are what I found. I knew they were inaccurate and when I saw a friend of mine's who had one I nearly laughed. It got me to this forum and my Penman hat and my Todd's jacket. I am now addicted to this forum. I am on it everyday. I don't post much because others know more than me but it is great fun and I have read all the way back to 2008ish. In fact it is the only forum I am a member of.
So those Dorfman Pacific's also serve a purpose of bringing new members here and that's pretty cool.
E.

[BendingOak]

A few years ago I went around looking for a production hat to have sell to customers that didn't have the $$$$ for a custom hat. Around the $200 mark. I kept banging my head against the wall. I couldn't understand. My understanding has changed. I'm still banging my head against the wall but now I understand how factories work. It's almost impossible to go to any factory and take your project to them. They just don't operate that way. It's like shopping out of a catalog. This is the style we can make, this is the felt you can choice from, these are the trimmings to pick from. Of course my all time favorite is " how much money do you want to spend or what do you want the hat to retail for?

After understanding all this. Then I can understand how the DP looks and how and materials is the way they went. They first questioned asked most likely was what the price target going to be. That limited the choices.

[Michaelson]

Well said and explained.

Regard! M

[Charybdis]

Information is crucial. You must go into hobbies like costuming and like Indygear collecting knowing all that is out there to not make horrible mistakes.

I was actually thinking about going with a DP in the beginning when I first arrived, but boy how that changed! I had to go with the Fed IV due to budget, but I learned plenty by coming here!

As others have said, it's all about sales and the unsuspecting public who wants something cheap, quick and easy...

[jlee562]

In addition to John's excellent "behind the scenes" point above, I'd reiterate two points I've made before. The first is that they're not going to sell an open crown hat as a souvenir; further, there is no precreased block which matches the Raiders hat, and none that would be an SA look. This ties into John's point. They picked something they could easily manufacture. Second point, how many people on this board experience some initial hat anxiety? It takes some adjustment to wear tall crowned hats. We run across so many variants of the "my wife said it looked ridiculous" comments here. How many times a day do you think that would happen at Disneyland if they sold an SA hat? That's not good for moving merchandise. The modern proportions suit a larger variety of faces and seem more natural to a modern consumer than would a true 30's fedora. The apparent cognitive dissonance between the hat seen on screen and the Dorfman product seemingly does not hurt the bottom line.

[MARQ]

Nice turn-up! I understand the general public view,but somehow that´s feels like they´re miss leading people in purpose."See, this is what the hat is in the movie" but when one takes a real,hard,good look of the fedora comparing to the movie the disappointment is eminent.But I´m also glad that there are forums like COW and sellers like Todd´s who correct the faulty view...at least I hope they do.And dare I say educate people,from a certain point of view.Besides fedoras there´s Ebay sellers that offer Indy leather jackets but I ain´t goin there...

[Ridgerunner58]

The modern proportions suit a larger variety of faces and seem more natural to a modern consumer than would a true 30's fedora.

And the $40 price is acceptable to a customer base already atuned to paying $4.00 for a bottle of water, and $15.00 for a salad, whereas they would have to charge triple that for anything remotely "real."

At least they don't have ears . . . .

(Maybe I shouldn't have said that . . . . )

[BendingOak]

The modern proportions suit a larger variety of faces and seem more natural to a modern consumer than would a true 30's fedora.

And the $40 price is acceptable to a customer base already atuned to paying $4.00 for a bottle of water, and $15.00 for a salad, whereas they would have to charge triple that for anything remotely "real."

At least they don't have ears . . . .

(Maybe I shouldn't have said that . . . . )

[IndyRiv]

A few years ago I went around looking for a production hat to have sell to customers that didn't have the $$$$ for a custom hat. Around the $200 mark.

And with your search and desire helped to influence the creation and distribution of the AB Henry which was a reasonably priced hat that didn't skimp on quality. The best of both worlds - reasonable price/excellent quality. Sure they were mass-blocked by machine, but for a machine-blocked hat, you couldn't come any better.

So I'd say you accomplished in some way what you set out to John. And your willingness to carry the Henry here in the US gave us all who were either financially pinched or didn't need the tops tops of hats a chance to own such a nice hat and still look respectable.

Congratulations on a job well done!

[BendingOak]

Thanks but the credit should go to Mark and Steve. I couldn't find what I was looking for. The Henry from Adventurebilt is like no other factory made hat. Mark broke the rules. I don't know how he did it. He picked a block the hat but was lucky to find that block. He sent them the materials and went back and forth for a year or so to get them to make the hat the way he wanted it. Almost un-heard of in production hats anymore. Also he had them tweak the specs according to hat size. Again, not very common place. The AB boys really raised the bar with that one.

[WConly]

Thanks but the credit should go to Mark and Steve. I couldn't find what I was looking for. The Henry from Adventurebilt is like no other factory made hat. Mark broke the rules. I don't know how he did it. He picked a block the hat but was lucky to find that block. He sent them the materials and went back and forth for a year or so to get them to make the hat the way he wanted it. Almost un-heard of in production hats anymore. Also he had them tweak the specs according to hat size. Again, not very common place. The AB boys really raised the bar with that one.

Ain't it so ! W>

[MARQ]

Now that´s covered,Dorfman fedora looks "molded" can it be unbashed and bash to ones liking?,I´ve wondered about that,is the quality of the felt up to it? Meaning no shrinking and such?

[BendingOak]

Now that´s covered,Dorfman fedora looks "molded" can it be unbashed and bash to ones liking?,I´ve wondered about that,is the quality of the felt up to it? Meaning no shrinking and such?

No

[MARQ]

Short and sweet...OK