This week I finally received my JPD rabbit that I ordered back in February. I was enticed at the time by the relatively short turn around time, but sadly that appears to be gone thanks probably to the glowing reviews Jimmy’s hats were getting back around the holidays. As a daily hat wearer lacking the funds for a second AB, I was looking for a replacement everyday hat as I retired my AB for display and special occasions (sorry Steve, I know this is against the AB philosophy!
) My Akubra fed. Dlx on the other hand just wasn’t cutting it anymore as a nice hat. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great hat, but the fuzziness has long bothered me, even after drastically improving it by spending severals hours on it with sandpaper. So now my Akubra is on extreme conditions duty, where just in case something were to happen to it, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Anyway, with that background, I present to you my JPD review.
Initial impression – It’s odd, I can’t tell you how excited I was to get my JPD. I was really looking forward to getting this hat and trying for some of that nice mushrooming most people’s JPD’s were showing. But for some reason, my initial reaction to the hat wasn’t as enthusiastic as I was expecting. There wasn’t really anything wrong, or bad about it I could see, but I wasn’t wowed like I was when I opened up my AB. Definiely not disappointed, just not floored. Please note though that my enthusiasm for the hat quickly built up the more I got to know it and held it in my hands. Right out of the box though, the JPD screamed “wear me!” whereas my AB on the other hand seemed more to say, “wear me on special occasions” (even though we all know not to listen to what our hats tell us
)Felt - Not that I was expecting any different, but I was quite relieved to see how nice and smooth the finish on the felt was. There was one spot on the brim where the felt was a little rough and had a “torn” appearance, but a once over with my hat brush smoothed it right out. The stiffness of the felt I felt was just right. Not cardboard, but not floppy soft either. I’m sure it will soften up as time goes by though.
It wasn’t until I started bashing that I truly began to appreciate the beauty of the hat. Bashing was a pleasure and a breeze. I spent 15 minutes bashing and fine tuning it until I was satisfied; all completely dry mind you. The only thing I have to complain about with the felt is the crease marks left in the valley of the side dents. They’re not extremely noticeable (I couldn't even get them to appear for a picture), but this is the first hat I’ve noticed such marks with. I’m waiting to see if they’ll work themselves out as the felt settles in. Note: unfortunately I did not get any mushrooming as a byproduct from just bashing. I'll eventually feel the urge to sit on the hat, i'm sure, and work some in there. As for color, it looks almost identical to my "ford felt" AB, which is just fine with me, as that's my favorite color of the one's I've seen.
Ribbon – I think I have a love hate relationship with Jimmy’s ribbon. First off let me say the color is not that bad, nowhere near as “bright” as I was expecting from the pictures I’ve seen. I was expecting it to have the same bright sheen as the miller ribbon, but thankfully this ribbon seems to be darker, though still a little “glossy.” I actually rather like the color, distinctive enough to be unique while screen accurate enough not to be distracting for my tastes. What I really take offense to in the ribbon department though is the fact that the ribbon fabric has wrinkles in it. The fact that the ribbon is a little on the loose side only serves to make the wrinkles that much more noticeable. The bow work on the other hand looks really nice.
Inside – On the inside we have the liner and the sweatband. I really dig the green color of the liner. It gives the hat a very distinctive and classy feel. The custom embroidery work is quite nice as well. Can’t complain any about the JP logo; again, very classy and vintage feeling. The lack of a plastic cap on the liner means I get to keep it in for all season wear and keep the hat looking classy on the inside. My only gripe with the liner is the one area on the green where the fabric looks a little frayed. It’s no hole, but definitely an area I need to be mindful of, lest it become one. The sweatband is pretty run of the mill and unoffensive, I’m guessing roan. It would have been nice to see the Jimmy Pierce name stamped in gold somewhere on it. It would have also been nice to see a small bow on the sweat seam, but I guess that’s just a personal preference (though I thought the little bow was customary, anyone know of its origin?)
Value - At 140 shipped this puppy’s main competitor is obviously the fed. deluxe. You have to remember though that with the JPD you’re getting a custom hat, and at that price, its also pretty unbeatable. As far as I can tell, there are only 2 areas where the akubra has the advantage and that’s in the ribbon (which can easily be replaced on the JPD) and the wait. If you absolutely have to have a hat by next week (I think I had mine in 6 days) Akubra is your best bet, but if you can wait the roughly 11 weeks I did for my JPD, put your money into the JPD.
Overall - Was I a little picky on certain things with respect to the price? Yeah, probably so. It’s a tremendous value for its price range, especially considering it’s a custom hat. And in all honesty, the things I was picky about are things you would expect from a much higher priced hat, so it’s actually making quite a statement when this hat is being compared to say the AB, and holding its own. The one area the JPD has yet to prove itself is in durability. We already know the Akubra kicks some serious competition butt in this category. Here’s hoping the JPD can fair similarly. If it can, JPD will reign supreme as the hat to beat in the $100-150 range. When all is said and done, I have no regrets replacing my current everday hat of choice, the Akubra Fed. Deluxe with the JPD, in fact I’m excited to do so, what with it being a custom hat with a spiffy green liner.
Scroll down for some comparison pics
vs. the AB
vs. Fed. Deluxe (notice felt texture)
vs. LC bashed Indiana Miller (notice ribbon color, and wrinkles in ribbon fabric)
Brian
I really appreciated the thorough review as well. Great stuff.
You have a great JPD.