I posted this at TFL months ago, and don't know why I didn't post it over here.
So... this is my AB Deluxe. And it is, in every possible way. The felt is beautiful, buttery, luxurious. The craftsmanship is remarkable. And the hat is best summed up by what a friend said: "That hat is BadA$$!"
Marc, you are truly an artisan. It was a joy dealing with you, from start to finish. And if the exchange rate wasn't so bad... I'd by another tomorrow.
That is truly a magnificent fedora. Marc makes one heck of a fine hat, I must say. I've got two of his Deluxe AB's (One LC style and one Raiders style) and they are both fantastic hats. One of these beautiful "Aviator" fedoras is high up on my wishlist, as well.
Awesome! I have two of these on order right now. I hope this post spawns more orders for Aviators for Marc, as it cost him a lot of money to purchase more vintage ribbon to make my orders. Being the genuinely nice guy he is, he just wants to eat the $300 ribbon expense when he has only ever sold a handful of these beautiful hats. I'm really hoping for Marc's sake that he didn't spend all that money for nothing. BUY AVIATORS FOLKS!!! :!:
In the meanwhile I have switched to use the roohide sweatbands only (here the roan goatskin sweatband was used). First of all they hardly shrink at all even when soakend in sweat and second I had the roohide custom died to match the color of the vintage HJs, which is the same color that Steve uses on his sweatbands.
Unfortunately I ran out of vintage ribbon in these widths when Kaplan ordered two, but I got my ribbon supplier to custom make some 1" and 1 3/4" (I should have become suspicous when they were so happy to offer custom made ribbon ). But the quality and color is the same as what you see on our (Steve and my) Indy Fedoras. It's one of the nicest ribbons available nowadays IMHO. The 1 3/4" Indy ribbon could of course be used on bigger hat sizes as well to keep the proportions right.
I've only made three or four Aviator hats so far. Doing the brim binding all by hand is EXTREMELY time consuming for me. It takes round about three hours, just to do the brim binding!
Excuse me for interrupting here gents, Paddy here from TFL. But I had no idea this lovely hat had been posted in TFL, so I really must check it out again!
Most of the talk quite rightly is revolving around the latest IJ movie hat. But I hope that you will all appreciate the diversity in talent of this man in Germany by the quality of the Howard Hughes' inspired fedora, "The Aviator," as it is truely as adventurous as anything IJ would sport on his noggin, it takes the 'slings and arrows' that life can throw at it and just comes back smiling!! Plus, it makes a rather dapper 'cut' when out in public.
Can I also just very quickly say (I know - long overdue, and I apologise...) how GREAT it was to have the honour to meet many of you gentlemen on the Queen Mary in November and I'm only sorry I didn't have more time to chat with you all. But it really added to and enhanced one hundred fold my first trip to the United States, which was a major step for a 'wee' Irish lad like myself. So thank you for making me feel so welcome!
I'm really hoping for Marc's sake that he didn't spend all that money for nothing. BUY AVIATORS FOLKS!!! :!:
). But the quality and color is the same as what you see on our (Steve and my) Indy Fedoras. It's one of the nicest ribbons available nowadays IMHO. The 1 3/4" Indy ribbon could of course be used on bigger hat sizes as well to keep the proportions right.
