Club Obi Wan

Anyone have experience with Dave Brown Hats? Evidentally he's a major player for studio films, making the hats for Road to Perdition, Last Man Standing, etc. He shows a Indiana Jones hat which looks perfect.

If anyone can chime in about customer service, hat quality, etc, that would be great.

Nevada

The only thing it doesn't say is how much these things cost, which makes me think: "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

The hats cost right around $600, so compared to vendors on this site they ARE expensive. But I'm willing to fork over the dough for quality, like my G&B jacket at $408..

I'm more interested in customer service and quality than the price...

Nevada

Well, we have a couple vendors around here who offer fantastic quality and customer service for a lot less, especially if you're looking for an Indy hat.

I don't think there's anything you could possibly do to a hat to make it "worth" $600!!!

I would think twice about buying an Indy Style fedora from someone who hasn't contributed to these forum.

Does he know we're here?

Fatdutchman wrote:I don't think there's anything you could possibly do to a hat to make it "worth" $600!!!

Oh, I don't know. You could cover it in diamonds and give it a 14k gold ribbon. Not that it would look good, mind you. I'm not saying Dave Brown hats are bad hats. In fact, I bet he makes some really nice hats, judging by his clientelle. But since he has such high-end clients, I bet he can also afford to sell his hats for more. Same thing with Optimo. I've seen some really nice Optimos in person, but they're a bit salty for my budget.

If you're after an Indy hat specifically, then it makes sense to me to talk to a number of hat vendors here who specialize in the style of fedora you're after. I think you'll probably do better by it. And if you're willing to "fork over the dough for quality," it doesn't necessarily mean you'll do better just because you paid more for it. And if it's quality you want, are you also willing to wait for it? Adventurebilts and Kepplers have various stories regarding wait time, but I can speak from experience when I say the Adventurebilts are worth the wait. The Camptown is an option, though I am unaware as to wait time/availability. Akubras are great hats and JPDesign's new offerings are getting some good praise, too, plus the wait time currently isn't long for either of these offerings.

Nevada, I assume you've been doing your homework if you've found places like Dave's Hats. Just don't forget the "local" offerings have proven track records, as reading through the Hat section will show. Good luck!

If you're looking for an Indy hat, I don't know why you'd go anywhere other than our "local" vendors. Their stuff is high quality, carefully made and attentive to the demanding requirements of the Indy folks -- and a lot cheaper than $600!

Randy

$600 bucks is too much for a fedora, unless Harrison Ford takes it off his head and puts it on yours.
There are vendors on this site and others that can make it for half the price. Take the extra 300 and buy your girl something nice.

Feraud wrote:$600 bucks is too much for a fedora, unless Harrison Ford takes it off his head and puts it on yours.
There are vendors on this site and others that can make it for half the price. Take the extra 300 and buy your girl something nice.

You're right. If Harrison Ford took his own fedora off his head and put it on mine, I'd pay $600 -- except that it wouldn't fit my huge noggin!

Randy

Feraud wrote

Take the extra 300 and buy your girl something nice.

Better yet, take the extra $300 and buy yourself a Wested.

Just to clarify, I own one AB and just ordered another, so I can attest to quality, attention to detail, and customer service.

I don't think AB would suffer from competition however, Fedora has already said he'll raise prices come next year since demand (and supply cost) have increased. Like my grandfather would tell Fedora "you're lucky to have problems like that!"

I was simply curious what the opinion was of anyone who actually OWNS one, since I came across the site and there was DB's version of the Indiana Jones fedora with a picture from LC. Since he makes hats for other films I thought perhaps he had a hand in making one for LC.

Nevada

Oh, I think I see what you're getting at, Nevada. And I didn't realise what you already had in the way of hats. And you're right, competetion is a good thing. I don't know of anyone around here who has one of Dave's hats, though I've seen mention of them several times before. And though he's done hats for movies, I don't believe he had anything to do with hats for any of the Indy movies. If so, I'm sure it would be on the movie list posted on his website. (Whereas Baron's hats makes a claim that they made some hats for ToD, I think.) I figure a customer wanted Dave to make an Indy hat, hence the pic on his site. I wouldn't take it as anything other than that.