My AdVintage arrived... and is immediately going back

[IndyFrench]

It looks like my lifelong quest for the perfect Raiders SOC has a little farther to go. I ordered a Masterpiece grade "Hero" Raiders SOC (without the fake dirt/dust) from Thomas several months ago. We went through the entire order process and I followed his instructions to the letter. A few months passed and the hat arrived to great anticipation.

Let me begin by saying this. It was the most beautiful, perfect Raiders hat I've EVER seen in over 30+ years of Indiana Jones hat wearing. But the moment I put it on, I immediately knew something was wrong. It was grabbing my head like a friendly vice - just snug enough a fit that it didn't go on with any struggle, but too tight to have possibly been the measurements we agreed on. An attempt at a short driving errand a few days later resulted in a deep red mark on my forehead and a headache at my temple for a few hours after removing the hat.

I've worn fedoras my entire life. I *know* I'm just under a size 60 (and please hold off on making fun of my head size for another time.) We'd agreed that 59.8 (598mm) was the proper size to allow for comfort and slight roominess to account for the leather sweatband shrinking naturally over time to 59.7, around where it's snug but not torture on my head.

I e-mailed Thomas and we exchanged a few messages. He wanted me to send the hat back to Germany where he would evaluate it and determine if he'd gotten the measurement wrong, which he stated "is unlikely." If the measurement turned out to be correct on his end, I'm not sure what my options would have been. I told him that wasn't an ideal solution, because if I'm going to be stuck with a hat I cannot wear, I don't want to send it around the world in 80 days on my dime twice over.

Hence, he told me to use a tape measure on one of my hat stretchers and size the stretcher to 598mm and see if it fit in the hat. Of course, it did not without a lot of coaxing/force and the result was a very torqued and janky-looking fedora. I'm now sending the hat back and Thomas has stated he will remake the entire hat again. I suspected that a number had gotten transposed in the making of the hat (589mm instead of the correct 598mm), so I set the stretcher to 589mm, and wouldn't you know it - the stretcher fit perfectly into the hat.

To paraphrase Harrison Ford in Last Crusade, "We're turning around. They're taking the hat back to Germany...." I'm bummed, admittedly, but there's nothing for it. As Ford also said once, "It's just another useless experience."

[IJJTM]

I'm sorry you had to deal with that, but hopefully, the new hat will be up to your size.

P.S. Why would anyone make fun of your head size? Isn't 59.7 an average size?

[j2m]

Sorry for the disappointment but I'm sure Thomas will make the new hat to the perfect size. I too recently purchased an Advantage LC in beaver. size 59.7 too actually (that is pretty average size it seems ) and it also felt quit snug when I put on the first time. I got a hat stretcher and stretched it a bit overnight after steaming the sweatband.
This did the trick and I fits perfect now. Every now and then, after wearing it, it seems to feel bit tight again, I then put the stretcher in again overnight.
Apart from that, Thomas' hats are amazing and I will definitely order from him again, but will add a few millimetres to my sizing next time.
And that's coming from someone who owns 2 Penmans, a Henry and now 2 Advintages. I should actually make a post of my hats one day...
Hope the wait for the new hat will not be too long

[Indiana Croft]

Well that’s a bummer.
I recently bought a Fedora from Thomas, and ya going back and fourth over the hat size is stressful enough.
Does sound like a #got transposed. I’m sure Thomas will make things right.

My only advice is if you can send an actual tape with your head size, like the type that Penman sends out and then you send to him. Either make your own, marking the mm or inches or find one. I tried when I couldn’t find mine from Penman, but I did find it, I sent it to Thomas and we decided a little bigger for when the sweat band shrinks.
Came in and was a little loose, but I know once I’ve worn the bajesus out of this summer it’ll be fine.
So good luck.

Croft.

[zeus36]

So the Metric system was your downfall..........