Club Obi Wan

Fedora wrote:You have topped you know who, by leaps and bounds. I am so proud of what you are doing with the AB name!!! I will make and sell a great Indy fedora, and you will make and sell the highest quality hat.......period. We now have a regular and Deluxe AB. It will just depend upon how much a fan wants to spend. I like it!! Fedora

Hey Marc
Fantastic work. I don't think you can get a better compliment from anybody than the one you just got from Steve.

This is truely amazing.

Cheers
Ace

Thank you, thank you, thank you all. You'll never know what this means to me.

Say, will any of us Americans who own more than one AB be able to order that liner, so we could have one hat with each liner?

-Sorry, but no. These are exclusive for the AB-Deluxe line, as well as the sweatbands. BUT: Steve and I will hopefully (keep your fingers crossed) be able to sell THE ribbon, for those who need some new or want to exchange the current. I'm onto it...

Regards,

Marc

I just got off the phone with my sweatband supplier and it seems like I can have it all (he didn't want to give me a price though ).

Anyway, since I'm gonna have the dies for the sweatbands custom made, please give your input on what you'd like to see on the sweatband.

Currently I'm considering this:

The Adventurebilt Hat Co.
Deluxe
Handmade from pure beaver fur felt

or:

The Adventurebilt Deluxe
Handmade
Pure beaver fur felt

Of course the texts would be centered...

But as with the liners, you're ideas are most welcome and will gladly be taken into consideration.

Thanks in advance,

Marc

The second one.

Yeah, same with me.... But do you have some completely different ideas / missing something / wrong "sound" (see liners proto)....?

Regards,

Marc

Hmm, you could put an AB logo or the text Made in Germany in the sweatband à la the Akubras. Initials would be nice too.

Adventurebilt Hat Company
100% Handcrafted
Pure Beaver Felt

Less is more!

I'm with Sharpetoys on this one.
Short, concise and having a classic simplicity.

Just my 2 cents.
Kilgour Trout

SHARPETOYS has a good point. I think you should add a made in Deutschland in there somewhere though.

Will us US gearheads be able to order a hat form you? Nothing I'd live more than to have a hat from both you and Steve!

Great Idea! That would "for lack of better words" be "Really Cool".
And that's hard to say for an Over 40 eh.

From an North American perspective It gives it an added prestige, not unlike words like, BMW, Porsche, etc. Or in this case BHW? (Bavarian Hat Works)

Kilgour Trout

I'm partial to

The Adventurebilt Deluxe
Handmade
Pure beaver fur felt

I'm with SHARPETOYS, too. That's short enough and says it all.

Oh, and think about that "Made in Germany". It's an intersting idea.

Made in Germany, huh? - Hmmm.... dunno, if I really want to be compared with traditional German hatmaking.... rather not... Quality hats and Germany just don't go together (with one exception of course ). What people call hats over here, would be something that we (the gearheads) would cut to inlays for our Aldens, to keep our feet warm during winter time

@VP: I like the idea with the AB logo on the sweatband, but in that size it wouldn't be recognizable anymore I extra called up my sweatband supplier...

I like Sharpies ideas as well, but would like to have a "Deluxe" on it yet. As for the 100% handcrafted... my felter uses machines to make the bodies, my liner maker uses machines to make the liners and my sweatband maker uses machines to make the sweatbands... it would cost a few grands to have it 100% handcrafted and I don't want to make false claims. Anyway, does "Handcrafted" sound better then "Handmade" in your ears (remember that English isn't my mother tongue )? - Please advice. Thanks!

@Sharpetoys: why is "Pure beaver felt" better then "Pure beaver fur felt"? - Just curious...

Will us US gearheads be able to order a hat form you? Nothing I'd live more than to have a hat from both you and Steve!

Why of course you will! It's the same as with the Federation and the Federation Deluxe: one company, two hat lines.

Thanks for the input gents,

Marc

How about Hand Made by German Craftsmen?

That would be Handmade by (a) German craftman"

Hmm...

The Adventurebilt Deluxe
Handmade by German craftmanship
Pure beaver felt

....starting to fill out half the sweatband and I'm afraid that the simplicity would suffer from this...

Regards,

Marc

To cover up the origin, and keep it Indy´sk.. how about : "Made in the former Unholy Land"

Great to see things comes to part, Marc!

Best regards

JAN

Ps. I am still working on the clothing-business - don´t worry

JAN wrote:To cover up the origin, and keep it Indy´sk.. how about : "Made in the former Unholy Land"

That's a great idea, just write it in Deutsch.

JAN wrote:To cover up the origin, and keep it Indy´sk.. how about : "Made in the former Unholy Land"

How about, "Made by a pilgrim" )

Cheers
Ace

To keep it short:

Adventurebuilt Deluxe
Handcrafted from
pure beaver fur felt

How about, "Made by a pilgrim"

...nahhhh. You know me better than that

To keep it short: .....

Now THAT's a nice one! Only missing the "The" as it is on the liner and it was used on at least some hats back in the days...

The Adventurebilt Deluxe
Handcrafted
from pure beaver felt

What do you think? - Short and simple? Good so?

Regards,

Marc

I like it.

This is better:

The Adventurebilt Deluxe
Handcrafted
by a pure beaver - feel

...sorry nearly-weekend-crazyness

Best regards

JAN

I like that one Marc. It rolls off the tongue good.

Adventurebilt Hat Company
Deluxe Handcrafted
Pure Beaver Felt

@Sharpetoys: why is "Pure beaver felt" better then "Pure beaver fur felt"? - Just curious...

To me it just sounds better.

Ok, it's not perfect, but I wanted to share nontheless. As you can see, some parts turned out better on the grey one, while other parts clearly became better on this prototype. This is due to the amount of stiffner cooked into the felt. While the grey body has absolutely none, zero, nada, the brown body has just WAY too much of it. Both is not desired or otherwise at least one of the prototypes would be dead on

Next step will be to find the right amount of stiffner and I'm about to order new bodies today with different amounts of stiffner to find out.

Please find below some pics of a brown prototype and PLEASE realize, that due to the fact, that my digicam ***** BIG time, the colors just don't do the hat any justice. The background on the crest is burgundy and NOT pink. The color of the felt is a rich Raiders brown and NOT this dark.









Please note: the felt is from Portugal and in the desired thickness (too much stiffner was added here though - as described above). The liner is of course from the AB Deluxe line. The sweatband does NOT repressent what I'll be using. It was a free of charge sample from one of the four sweatbandmakers I contacted. The ribbon was dyed by hand, I hope to get THE ribbon later this week (I'll keep you posted). The bow tie in the back of the sweatband does also NOT repressent what I'll be using.

As always, please let me know what you think.

Regards,

Marc

Marc, you can send that prototype to me! It looks great! You European nfolk are in for a treat! I like how the pictures make the ribbon look multicoloured.

bink

Again, I love the liner. Incredible.
The crown looks good. The top dent doesn't look deep enough in the back. Make sure you can get it a little deeper. Not missing it by much, though.

Hey, Marc, if that brown prototype is a 7 1/4, I would be proud to wear it on my head. It looks great!! The liner is also a winner; verrrrrrrrrrrry sweet!!

Agreed. The liner is really well done.

Amazing work Marc! That is a beautiful hat! If a prototype is that good I can't wait to see the final product.

Can't wait to see one without the excess stiffener. That will really make it look great. Fedora

Yeah, it's a 7 1/4", but since I'm not entirely happy with the overall result, I won't send it out - not even as a gift. You see, one day somebody would come up your place, take the hat and say: man, that's one stiff hat. And than think that all AB's would be this way. And that would hurt the name...

Regards,

Marc

I just got in two rolls of the most expensive ribbon I was ever offered (Steve this will knock you off your feet )

This is as close as you can get to 39mm!!!! We have often discussed, wheather the Raiders ribbon was 1 1/2" or 1 5/8" but after whiping this around my 7 1/4" brown prototype I believe it was neither of both and here's why:

1 1/2" would be 38,1mm - too narrow...
1 5/8" would be 41,275mm - too wide...

This 39mm ribbon is just between and it looks DEAD ON! It doesn't get any closer IMHO. (Of course for you with the big noggins, we'll have a 1 3/4" made to get the look right ). If you take a look at the monkey bar hat, where he talks to Belloque... that's what it looks like and it only took a bloody millimeter extra...

The color is an extremely dark brown, almost like coffee without milk and while it is clearly a dark brown, it looks like a flattish / dull black under certain light conditions. I like this phenomenon, as it is what the original Raiders Fedora's ribbon had too.

The bad news: this stuff is EXTREMELY expensive compared to ANY other ribbon I've ever seen. The good news: both Steve and I will soon be able to offer this ribbon for an acceptable price per yard for the fans.

I also got another envelope with bow samples, as I wasn't happy with the little sweatband bows I was offered so far. So I get them custom made - min. 1000 pieces, so in case anybody ever should feel like buying a couple of dozen small white bows, by all means, let me know

Then I called up my felter and they're about to make new sample bodies with different amounts of stiffner cooked into the felt...

I think that's all for today...

Regards,

Marc

Marc, go for it, as the 39 mm measurement has ALWAYS been stated from the beginning as being the correct ribbon width...it was just never available, and THAT'S why folks settled for the 1 1/2 to 1 5/8 ribbons.

Looking forward to seeing the final result!!

High regards! Michaelson

Mein Gott, this hat has got to be one of the most anticipated releases of 05/06... Keep up the excellent work Marc!

Jiminy Crickets!!! The exact width ribbon??? Now I know we will have something that you only saw on the original Raiders fedora!!! Marc, please forgive me being so stingy with my vintage ribbon!!!!!! Fedora

....well, no, actually getting the Plymouth painted is the most anticipated....er...oh....you were talking about HATS? Never mind....

Regards! Michaelson

Marc, please forgive me being so stingy with my vintage ribbon!!!!!!

Bwahahahahahaaa!!!! Rotflmao!!!!

Buddy, that's what forced me to find the original

Will call you up later...

@Mark: can't wait to see the ol' Plymouth back in mint condition though

Regards,

Marc

You and me both, old friend!

Regards! Michaelson

Have you considered putting some personalized info such as the owners name or initials on the sweatband?

jeboat

Not currently to be honest. I really like to have the name dyes into the sweatband with golden letters, but the machine for that purpose is 5000$ and that would CERTAINLY rise the price...

Regards,

Marc

Marc, please accept my apologies for not replying sooner.

Some people are proud to be British because of the Royal Family. Me? I'm proud because of Herbert Johnson, Wested leather and the fact that the Indy trilogy was partially filmed in Elstreee Studios.

Now, added to that, I am proud because there is an European divison dedicated to making the Adventurebuit and the fact that the sweatband and ribbons are from England, not to mention that the block is being replicated in my country also.

Sorry guys. I'll shut up now.

No offence taken Canyon. It's a free board and you post whenever you want to. You don't even know me in person, since I didn't make it to the European summit in London last year

You're right regarding HJ and Wested, but regarding my sources... Well, it's not all from good ol' England. I have CONTACTED suppliers in England, yes, but don't read too much between the lines due to that. I get my stuff together from all over the planet, depending on who can fulfill my picky needs

I'm a big fan of traditional English craftmanship (Saville Row, Alfred Dunhill, Brigg.... just to name a few) and in fact I even considered to call my part of the company "Adventurebilt ltd." to make it sound more English, but I just can't limit my sources to what can be found "over there", just to make it more English.

Regards,

Marc

Marc wrote:... Alfred Dunhill ...

HA! I knew, you got to mention someone of THAT business!

I agree, that logo looks great!

Here's a little update...

I got the 1000 little white tie bows for the back of the sweatbands last thurstday:



(click picture to enlarge)

I also talked to my sweatband supplier and he hopes to get the sweatbands done before Christmas, but couldn't promis so.

AND the new bodies with the different amounts of stiffner should arrive next week and THAT is a milestone to me, as the final color, weigth, thickness and stiffness of the felt should be set in stone after these bodies have been made into hats!

Regards,

Marc

Hey all,

the final testing rawbodies arrived today and I'm in pain for not blocking them, due to the trip to Denmark I'll make tomorrow or on Friday.

Words just can't do this felt any justice and it shouldn't be a surprise, that even the bodies that hardly have any stiffner inside, still seem to have a certain "body" just due to the density of this felt.

I'm taking the entire bunch with me, so I have something to keep myself busy over season days

Picture will follow later.

EDIT: Here they are...



click for larger picture

As you can see, I get these rawbodies quite un-tapered to start with (in opposite to the witch hat ), which again shoul be of great help to keep the final hat that way

Oh, and the sweatbands are on their way as well...

Regards,

Marc

click for larger picture

-I'm off to Denmark and make some hats

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Regards,

Marc

Very, very classy Marc. I really love it. No other hatter would pay what you are paying for that sweatband. Heck, your sweat is costing you more than what many hatters pay for the felt body!! This is the truth folks. I know what he is paying for these custom made sweats, and I cannot afford them!! Fedora

I finished out this body during the season days and I'm ALMOST 100% satisfied.

Even though the color looks completely washed out, due to my digicam you should be able to see the shape I'd like to show.


click for larger picture


click for larger picture

If you want to see the true color, look at the last picture on the right column here: http://www.regular-guy.com/fedora.html

I'll finish out one last rawbody with a notch less stiffner than this one has, just to be perfectly sure, what works best and than I'm ready. Various block sizes will be ordered this month.

Let me know what you think.

Regards,

Marc