Club Obi Wan

Can anyone do a comparison of the uptowner vs downtowner?

Best I can tell:
Felt: DT=100%fur felt UT-100% Rabbit
Styling: DT=prebashed and not easy to change UT=easier to style yourself and even get unbashed
Stiffness: DT=stiffer coarser UT=softer smoother
Durability ?
Liner ?
Headband ?

If any of these are incorrect, please correct me, and if you want to fill in anymore info....

Thanks,
Pete

Well, it will take a while to determine durability as neither has been out that long. But I too am interested in the sweatband (and the bow work for me as well).

nicktheguy wrote:That hat is beautiful -- If Todd does another one he should call it the "around towner"

There you go Todd! A grey travel hat made like this new one called the "Around Towner"

RKG

So, could this new uptowner hat be more or less a "state side" version of the Akubra's....in quality I mean?

It looks and sounds like it's a good hat........I can't wait to see more reviews on it.

Got my UpTowner today!!!

I have been using a wool felt Disney world hat that I got years ago.
This hat is so far ahead of the old hat that I feel like a new adventurer.
It is very soft and flexible. The brim was a little wavy from the trip but was very easy to reshape and put back into place.
I am stunned at how much a nice hat adds to over all appearance.

Todd has a very good product here and I hate to do it... but its time to distress it and make it look old and well worn.
The best part is that if I mess it up...a new one is only a short trip from Todd in California.

RKG

Will do !!!

Plan to get started this weekend.

RkG

I had to send my uptowner back today. The bill buckled on me. Todd acknowledged the problem and accepted the return of the hat for remedy. Seems my hat did not have sufficient stiffener in the bill.
As always, Todd is a stand up guy and is going to make it right.

Mike

just ordered my uptowner , my downtowner had the size of 58 but the uptowner had only 57 guess that will have to do . hopefully get next week !!!!

Just how soft is it on a scale of one to ten? Ten being really soft.

alphared6 wrote:The bill buckled on me. Todd acknowledged the problem and accepted the return of the hat for remedy. Seems my hat did not have sufficient stiffener in the bill.
Mike

What does a buckled bill look like?

I am still in the try out phase with mine and haven't found any problems except I got mine a little big because I heard that rabbit seems to shrink a little.
I was planning to try and age mine for the SOC look which is a little broken and battered anyway.

RKG

By buckled I mean one side was "wavy" when looked at from the side. Head on it looked sort of crumpled.

Mine had some wave to the brim when I first took it out of the box but I reshaped it and set it on a stand and it seems to have held it shape.
Like I said I plan to give it a work out to distress it so we will see how it turns out.

I have a Penman on the way but by the schedule he is on it won't get finished till late Dec. or maybe Jan. And I have NO PLANS to distress a hand made beaver felt hat.

So this hat is to get me through the costume season and I want to have fun beating it up.

RKG

Pitfall Harry wrote:So, could this new uptowner hat be more or less a "state side" version of the Akubra's....in quality I mean?

Well..................whoever the manufacturer is, when they get 100+ years of experience behind their belt they might have the quality of an Akubra

just recieved my uptowner and it looks sweeeeeetttt!!!!! the hat is a lot softer than the downtowner (which was stiffer like the dorfaman hats ) but this hat looks nice , the crown is smaller which is nice to , the inside of the hat does not have the coyles logo in it and does not have anything written on the band like the downtowner had , but it looks very sturdy
here are some pics of the two hats side by side
the "up" is on the left and the "down" is on the right






and me wearing the uptowner

Indyclone,

Glad you like the hat! I wanted to mention that we have been reblocking the Downtowners to bring the shape much closer to the Uptowners. You have one of the first ones that was not reblocked. If you wish to have us rework it free of charge, just drop me a line.

Nice looking Uptowner! And you're not kidding about the stiffness of the Downtowner. Look at the brim keeping its shape on that side view! Looks like a big difference in crown height between the two, as well. Regarding the shape, is crown height something that you're working on being consistent between the Up and the Down, Todd, or are you offering different heights between the two? Just curious. It's nice to see an initial comparison shot between the two models, though.

Looks far better than the downtowner IMHO. Suits you better too. Mine is on its way!

Bink,

Yes, I'd like both hats to conform to the on screen Raiders hat specs. The factory who makes our Downtowners for us didn't quite capture what we wanted. They are now making us new molds based on a much more detailed "blueprint" which I've provided. In the meantime, we are steaming the crowns on our own blocks to reduce them to the size of the Uptowner, which to me, has very good Raiders proportions.

Yep, the downtowners are cowboy-hat stiff.

It's always an ongoing process to improve your products.

As soon as I get a chance, I will post pics of what the Downtowners that we are sending out now look like.

Puppetboy wrote:Indyclone,

Glad you like the hat! I wanted to mention that we have been reblocking the Downtowners to bring the shape much closer to the Uptowners. You have one of the first ones that was not reblocked. If you wish to have us rework it free of charge, just drop me a line.

tho my wife doesn't like the downtowners crown -- i think i will keep it just the way it is --- it looks awesome in pics and this hat she will like much better cause the crown is smaller --- todd you are the "man" when it come to indy items --- now i just need to get the boots and hopefully ( hint hint) pants

"All in good time, my pretty, all in good time..."

Puppetboy wrote:"All in good time, my pretty, all in good time..."

okay now to tighten the thumb screws abit and see what else we can get out of todd---

Oh...you have no idea...

elated !!!!!!! if my wife only knew how much a spent with todds not that it will bankrupt me cause the prices are so reasonable . i havent stopped wearing the hat since i got it and i have this huge smile on my face that won't go away . i know now that my 13 yr old son will want one but i think his head may still be a bit smaill for the smallest size you have ---i will have to measure it --- the softness of the hat and the curl of the brim are spot on . like i said before todd , you are the best!!!!

Puppetboy wrote:Oh...you have no idea...

A Todd's Standard in goat?

Pants?

How about hats? In the hat section, that is.

What about hats made out of pants?

Randy

Sorry.

I've been kind of off the board for a number of weeks due to vacation and then work schedule - when did Todd's stop selling HJs? And why? I don't blame them, they were very expensive and the quality of the felt was very questionable for the price, IMO. Just curious if that was the reason or if there were others. This new offering, the Uptowner, looks great! Thanks, Todd, for giving us gearheads another great hat option! It appears to indeed be very nice quality, and Indy-accuracy, for a great price. If this had been around when I first joined the board last fall, it might have been my first hat purchase. I almost bought one of Todd's HJs, but after I got on this board and read about the problems with HJ felt quality I backed off and instead got an Akubra, then a Henry, then a Garrison, then...

I was wondering, too - what is the intended difference between the Downtowner and Uptowner? Obviously, the crown height and color are different in the one posted above, but since Todd said he was trying to match their crown size and style, I'm assuming there is something meant to separate them? Color? Is one supposed to represent the hat from one film, and the other from another film, perhaps? I am thinking of the Argentine Indy hats, the "Explorador '36" and the "Explorador '57", which are supposed to represent the Raiders hat and the Crystal Skull hat, respectively.

Shame he doesn't do sizes above 60....(at least that's all the website goes up to)...

Any reason why not??

I think he's just out of stock- I got the last 61 uptowner he had

I actually think I might like some aspects of the downtowner a little better, it does look a bit like an "exaggerated Indy", but the uptowner has more of the snazzy, quality fedora look to me, while the downtowner has more of the quirky Indy look to it.

I can kinda see what you mean bigrex, but I'm not sure how much I would like a 'cowboy hat-stiff' Indy hat?

im pleased with both hats --- i like the way the downtowner feels ---i thinks it looks more like the streets of cario look, it would probably look more like if i added fullers to it but i think i will just keep it clean and let time break it in.


now just to let you know i did get my downtowner in june so it has been out and about for a few months not as long as i would have liked , the brim is still pretty stiff i won't lie, but thats kinda what i like about that cause i don't have to worry about re-working that aspect of the hat , were on the uptownner i have to tweak the brim every so often , that maybe cause last year when i bought a dorfman i was used to the brim being stiff also. like on the other thread for the uptowner and downtowner , todds has offered me to fix my downtowner to look closer to the uptowners crown height , i was planning on leaving it as is but now thinking should i get it done?

Boy, one weekend away and look at all the posts!

How about hats? In the hat section, that is.

Huh? I didn't catch that. I'm a little slow, so you might have to explain that for me.

What about hats made out of pants?

Who told you?

what is the intended difference between the Downtowner and Uptowner?

The Downtowner is more affordable, pre-styled in the quirky Raiders look and does not need to be fussed with. The Uptowner is higher quality felt, can be fussed with, and can be a very dressy hat. The Downtowner is not a dressy hat.

Shame he doesn't do sizes above 60....(at least that's all the website goes up to)...Any reason why not??

I only had 12 Uptowners just to try them out. I will have 61 back in stock in a month or so.

todds has offered me to fix my downtowner to look closer to the uptowners crown height , i was planning on leaving it as is but now thinking should i get it done?

I think you'll like it.

Puppetboy wrote:

How about hats? In the hat section, that is.

Huh? I didn't catch that. I'm a little slow, so you might have to explain that for me.

It was just a subtle hint to help keep the topic hat related (this is the hat section, after all) instead of turning a hat thread into a pants thread.

Ahhh! Hey you guys! Stop talking about pants!

Just a question: what forum do they post comments about hats made out of pa.... you know what?

well i love me uptowner and i plan to wear it til im dead or eaten bysnakes or bugs or rats , ah you know get where i'm going----

Ilke very much the downtowner with the high crown, the streets of cairo bash ist great.

Puppetboy wrote:Ahhh! Hey you guys! Stop talking about pants!

Just a question: what forum do they post comments about hats made out of pa.... you know what?

I'm sorry Todd. I'll be good boy now and wait patiently.

IndianaBogart wrote:I can kinda see what you mean bigrex, but I'm not sure how much I would like a 'cowboy hat-stiff' Indy hat?

Yeah, a stiff hat would take some getting used to, luckily it seems to be styled reasonably well in the first place. I think I'll watch and see if they ever get that thing in a size 55 or 56, looks worth the $99 bucks for a fairly reasonable streets of Cairo look to it, which seems to be kind of lacking in some of the more expensive options across all vendor selections, unless you have an above average knack for bashing, distressing, and reblocking. At least there is plenty of hat to work with and it's not one of those dinky, low crowned, tapered jobs.

I have the downtowner and absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it (maybe more SA band). I bought mine just over a month ago and have worn it every day. I ran into Todd a couple weeks ago and told him I couldn't stop with my OCD and tweaking it over the stove. He told me to be careful because playing with it too much could deactivate the stiffener. It had become a little soft and was still SUPER SUPER nice, but since I train horses and am use to stiffer hats, I bought some Bickmore Kahls hat stiffener and it's good and solid, just like new.

TODD, you're the man. I plan to stop in pretty soon to pick up a couple more things before the halloween rush. Maybe you can help me with the band?

thanks,
mike

PLEASE MORE PICS.......

i may be up to my limit on the photos so the links may show up

indy clone do you have more pics from the downtowner?

love the look of that darker ribbon.

my downtowner ------- but i think this thread was mostly for the uptowner so see the other links on the downtowner where i have some more pics up viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42036

My uptowner - and some strange little chap behind me...

I finally got my Uptowner aged and dirty enough... here are the after pics... sorry no before but we all know what a new one looks like now.
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv14 ... 1photo.jpg
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv14 ... 2photo.jpg