Club Obi Wan

Maybe this has been posted before but I just found it on their site and thought it was interesting to read. Notice they write "Spielburg" in the article )

Herbert Johnson Hats

Herbert Johnson has a tradition of exceptional quality, style and elegance. "Indiana Jones Agrees".

The establishment of Herbert Johnson was the consequence of a Royal caprice. In 1889, The Prince of Wales, leader of the smart set, and a gentleman of fastidious taste advised the young Johnson, then a mere apprentice, to set up his own venture. Encouraged by such a patron, Herbert Johnson found a partner and opened a store in Bond Street. From that day onwards Herbert Johnson has been proud to serve Royal houses at home and abroad.

The traditions of exceptional quality, impeccable craftsmanship and exquisite taste continue to be appreciated by the discerning to this day. In 1996 the establishments of Swaine Adeney Brigg and Herbert Johnson came together at our present location.

Our customers are a veritable Who’s Who of the Worlds statesmen, business leaders and society figures whom our legendary discretion forbids us to mention. Amongst the great entertainers we count as our customers the popular singers Sir Elton John, Jamiroquai, Pavarotti and Oasis.

We have over a century of experience here at your disposal and can cater for all your millinery needs be it formal headwear, luxury fur felt hats, tweed caps, summer hats, winter millinery, bridal or classic couture millinery.

The Indy Hat

Before Herbert Johnson moved to its present location sharing the store with Swaine Adeney it was situated at 13 Old Burlington Street. One rather uneventful afternoon two gentlemen came in and introduced themselves as Mr. Harrison Ford and Mr. Stephen Spielburg. Little did we envisage at this point that the following conversation involving hats was going to produce one of the most instantly recognizable iconic pieces of headwear of the decade.

Mr. Spielburg announced that he was on the brink of making an adventure film with Mr. Ford as the central figure and said that a hat was required as pivotal to the character and the plot. The Salesperson courteously asked if there was a particular period involved, and finding they did not want anything too specific, he suggested employing the oldest shape still being manufactured and carried in open stock. A tall crowned wide brim fur felt called ‘The Poet’, as it had been made continuously since the 1890’s and was “ageless”. As the character was to use it in different terrains a shade of brown called Sable was chosen.

To make the hat very distinctive, we shaped the brim into an ovoid to give protection to the eyes and neck, reducing the sides also helped with camera angles. The brim was pulled down to give an explorer/safari look, the original ribbon being changed from 50mm to 39mm to make the tall crown appear even taller. This we set about whilst the future Indiana Jones patiently waited for the hat’s return from the workroom. When the hat reappeared it had been totally transformed and they appeared pleased.

We carefully noted what we had been done and made a template as the original hat was to have a test run. It evidently worked as the following week we received an order for 45 units of assorted sizes, for Mr. Ford and the remainder for assorted stunt extras.

Since the huge success of the films, we have had the pleasure of making dozens of Indy’s for the aficionados of the films. Each one is carefully cut by hand using the original patterns. Each size is ever so slightly tailored to keep the hat in proportion to the wearer’s hat size and each one hand rubbed to give it its unique shape. Every hat to this day is given the same unique attention as was given to that first one on that eventful day.

http://www.swaineadeney.co.uk/bespoke_o ... adies_hats

Cheers
Ace

Nice propaganda - but since they did make the original, they can pretty much remember it however they want...

That is a re-write of the letter Richard Swales used to include with every Indy hat.

That is a re-write of the letter Richard Swales used to include with every Indy hat.
_________________

Exactly!!! Nothing new here. Just parroting what the original company did, and said. Wonder if anyone from the old HJ is still with the new company? Fedora

Dakota Ellison wrote:That is a re-write of the letter Richard Swales used to include with every Indy hat.

Indeed.

Whoa!

When did Herbert Johnson send out letters? I bought four hats from Swales over the years and never got a letter from him or the company.

~Ron

Late 90s til Swales retired, I think.

Why's the link under ladies hats?
That's a terrible photo of an 'Indy' hat on their site. Terrible.

That's a terrible photo of an 'Indy' hat on their site. Terrible.

Agreed. It could look so much better.

Neolithic wrote:Why's the link under ladies hats?
That's a terrible photo of an 'Indy' hat on their site. Terrible.

Ah, OK. I bought my last hat in '97 when Swales was talking about retiring. Such a shame that people don't like their hats anymore. Used to mean something when that hard box arrived from the UK.

~Ron

Call me a purist...but I have a herbert johnson from the 80's and I love mine. So does everyone who comes in and sees it. I always get the perverbial " Cool Hat " .... even from people who dont realize at first it's a "INDY" hat. This doesn't mean of course I dont want an AB or an Akubra...I'm sure I'm going to want one of those, or both....just take my wallet now please.

Indiana Lee wrote:Call me a purist...but I have a herbert johnson from the 80's and I love mine.

my dear purist welcome on board and could you show us pics of your 80's HJ? :D:D

Nothing wrong with being a purist!

Regards! Michaelson

Don't get me wrong. I think my HJ has the best Indy colour of any of my fedoras! It's a shame that they've moved away from what they once were...

Indiana Lee, - like what Erri said... can you post pics? )

Wonder who is making the HJs now? HJ does not make their own hats anymore.(outsourced) Now that would be some interesting info to me. I think this is how the original blocks got lost. They once made their own hats, with their own blocks. Then sometimes, perhaps at the buyout,(perhaps years before) they started outsourcing and of course, the factory probably did not have the exact Poet block, and used something they thought was close. This would explain the various felt and crown heights/shapes I have reblocked over the last several years.


In a nutshell this is what happened at HJ. IMHO. They used to make their own hats. According to a member at TFL, their hats really changed in the late 70's. My theory is when the Raiders hats were acquired, these hats were real HJs. Once this old stock was gone, they outsourced their hats, with the pentagon crest being the first outsourced hats. The original crested HJs(the blue and gold animal crest) were used in the Raiders fedora. We see the pentagon crest in the LC hat, and I think this was the outsourced fedora, with the traditional HJ crest never reappearing again. Then, the source for hat was changed again, this time to Borsalino. The oval crest in the later HJs featured this Borsalino-esque crest. The reason is they were made by Borsalino, and sold under the HJ label.

The gist of this is I would only be interested in owning a pre outsourced HJ. And of course, I do. 3 vintage HJs. They were fantastic hats, and still are. Fedora

I just had my hands on a vintage HJ about an hour ago, I would say late sixties or seventies. It was a brown, stingy brimmed fedora with a ribbon like a Stetson Open Road. There was no liner and the HJ emblem was glue to the underside of the hat; it actually looked more like a decale.

The interesting thing to me was the felt: still thin and soft with a warm brown tone, almost a fox brown, if you can follow me there. Of course, anytime one handles a vintage HJ, you wonder if this could be similar to the Indy felt from that period.

Hemingway Jones wrote:The interesting thing to me was the felt: still thin and soft with a warm brown tone, almost a fox brown, if you can follow me there. Of course, anytime one handles a vintage HJ, you wonder if this could be similar to the Indy felt from that period.

Yes, yes! Exactly...
I haven't seen it anywhere else...