Club Obi Wan

According to the new up and running AB website, Steve / Fedora isn't taking any new orders right now. Looks like I got in just in time with my order last week.

http://adventurebilthats.com/

(

Can you imagine how long the back order list is if they have to suspend current orders until they can catch up? We're going to have to wear our current fedoras to the movie next year.

I'm glad I got my order in last month. At this point I don't mind not getting mine after the new release,as long as I get it eventually.

S William

They took down the address, does anyone els know where i can get the Adventurebilt address?

Well this explains a lot of the trouble people have been having in getting in contact with Steve...although it doesn't explain why he hasn't been responding to my queries about the hat I ordered last June... :junior: -IJ

The address is still posted in the "contact" section of the Adventurebilt site.

To be honest I think Steve probably should have done this a while back. The poor guy was just swamped with orders. He should have done this. Finished up what he had and then took a little vacation and came back.

I think it's good that he's trying to get caught up. That way maybe before or around the time the movie comes out he can start with a fresh slate. IF the factory hat project get's off the ground and he has those to offer and then he raises the price of the regular AB that *should* cut down on the amount of orders and make his life a little less hectic.

In the long run this way we all win and everyone is happy.

Well that just is a shame. I can understand why Fedora (Steve) is not taking any more orders, just got way too behind with making hats for the movie. I guess it is a move to make the hats he needs for everyone who ordered a hat. I am sure that is a lot fo hats. Well I guess it will be a while before I get one made by Steve.

IJ, you ordered one just this past June 2007 or June 2006? If you ordered last year unless your in the Novemeber/Decemeber 2006 category you should have your hat, was a bit confused what past June you are talking about. Steve should respond to your e-mails eventually, he is just really busy making hats. Maybe he needs to hire some help to help make the hats Well I will eventually get a hat from Steve just doesn't look like anytime soon.

IndianaChris

I think he has done a very nice job with the look of the new website. Very clean. Classy looking.
best
Canada

I agree, Pit. It should have been done before now, and though I'm sorry that some folks missed the boat at this time, they really needs to be able to take care of the backlog without more orders flowing through the door.

It's not fair to those who have been waiting, or fair to either Steve OR Marc who are probably pulling their hair out trying to create a masterpiece each and ever time they make a hat, only to see more orders piling up at the door.

I'm glad they finally pulled the plug, if only for their own sanity.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson wrote:I agree, Pit. It should have been done before now, and though I'm sorry that some folks missed the boat at this time, they really needs to be able to take care of the backlog without more orders flowing through the door.

It's not fair to those who have been waiting, or fair to either Steve OR Marc who are probably pulling their hair out trying to create a masterpiece each and ever time they make a hat, only to see more orders piling up at the door.

I'm glad they finally pulled the plug, if only for their own sanity.

Regards! Michaelson

I agree as well, it was the right idea and a bit overdue. However, to my knowledge, Marc of AB Deluxe is still taking new orders. There's no mention of discontinuing new orders on Marc's site.

http://www.adventurebiltdeluxe.com/

-GCR

Yeah, Marc is still open for business.

Wow. I just got my order in time then. Phew.

Good to see he can focus more on the hats now!!

IJ, you ordered one just this past June 2007 or June 2006?

June 2007. Yeah, I know he'll probably get back to me some time, just curious as to where he is in the process...from the looks of it, he's up to November/December of 2006, so I've still got a ways to go. :junior: -IJ

Guess I can't get my hopes up too high, either. I ordered mine in mid-September, and by that point Steve seemed relatively sure he'd be caught to at least that point by the movie release. Can't fault him, though, he's certainly got his work cut out for him. I just got my Fed Deluxe today, so I suppose it will tide me over until Steve gets around to my AB.

If I remember correctly, this isn't the first time he took a break from receiving new orders. The man truly deserves a break, especially since he's a one man operation in the States. If Marc is still taking orders, obviously he must be a glutton for punishment! Honestly, I too am surprised he didn't do this sooner.

Aw, rats!

I was going to pull the trigger this weekend; I understand the problem, but that is a real bummer. Steve, can you sneak in one more :)? I don't even have to have it by May 22...

Canada Jones wrote:I think he has done a very nice job with the look of the new website. Very clean. Classy looking.

Agree. Very nice look, shame that the technology behind it is dated and there haven't been practically any new testimonials in two years. Hey what happened to http://adventurebilt.com/ and http://adventurebiltdeluxe.com/?

Ok guys here is what is happening. I have temporary stopped taking orders for NON COW members only. Since most of the new orders were coming from non COW members, I had to stop that for awhile. Until I can get the price increase up and running on the site.

But for COW folks, you can still order. Is there a wait? Yep, no doubt about hat, but I don't feel personally bad about that today, Dec, 2007. If you buy a hat from John, the western hatter, the wait time is 8 to 9 months, and Rand has a year's wait, so my lead times are NOT, I repeat NOT out of line with the custom hat market. It only seems bad to us, but many western hat fans are used to it, and expect it. Good things take time to make. Try to buy a knife from a well know knife maker!! I started to get on the list to find the list was 5 years!! A year I could have waited, but not 5 years. But many many folks do wait that long for a particular handmade knife........


Regarding the emails, not being replied to. I get hundreds!!! And it takes me awhile to answer them. I limit my pc time to 2 hours each day. I used to limit it to 1 hour, but the volume has prompted me to spend twice that amount to time. And it is not enough to respond in a timely manner.

Of course the new film can be blamed for this, but I am not complaining.
I get the hats made as quick as humanly possible, but I refuse to let one out the door that is not one I would wear, and be proud to wear. I refuse to let my quality fall, due to being rushed.

Deliveries for hats ordered in Dec will be recieved AFTER the film releases. If I have counted correctly, all orders placed by Nov of 07 will be shipped out BEFORE the film premiers. While I am on Dec orders today, few orders were taken in Dec, Jan, Feb and March of this year and last year(Dec). So, those will be knocked out fairly fast, which will translate into shorter lead times for hats on order after those months. I expect the lead times to be down to 8 months here shortly. Light order months early this year allows for that to happen.

Hopefully if this factory hat gets off the ground, this will take off the pressure, and I will again have decent lead times for the handmade hats. The increased price on my handmade hats will slow down the demand, which is what I need, over the long haul. I am afraid the day of the bargain priced handmade Indy fedora is a thing of the past, but not yet. You can thank us being chosen to make the film hats for this.

I actually HAD to turn down an order for 12 dozen ABs yesterday!! The guy wanted to buy up that many at the old price, and resell them later on as he knew what they would be worth once the word gets out in the press, later on. A speculator, I guess. Fedora

12 dozen, that's like 144 AB's? And when one costs $250 the total cost would be $36,000. Either the guy is a millionaire or there is a calculation mistake.

...or the guy knows that he could sell'm for twice that on an open-market after the film's release!

144 AB's? Well, that would be a long... time to wait. What an illusionary idea.

Fedora wrote:all orders placed by Nov of 07 will be shipped out BEFORE the film premiers.

You're the best Steve, that was just what I needed right now.
I guess I don't have to go for an fed deluxe for the premiere...

VP wrote:

Canada Jones wrote:I think he has done a very nice job with the look of the new website. Very clean. Classy looking.

Agree. Very nice look, shame that the technology behind it is dated and there haven't been practically any new testimonials in two years. Hey what happened to http://adventurebilt.com/ and http://adventurebiltdeluxe.com/?

Thanks for the compliments guys! I've taken out the dates so as to not date the content. Photo and testimonial submissions seemed to taper off so it did look dated.

Thanks for the update, Steve. Hang in there and don't forget to breathe once in a while, okay?

There's a typo on the testimonial page, it says "Tesimonial and photo(s)" 18 times.

12 dozen, that's like 144 AB's? And when one costs $250 the total cost would be $36,000. Either the guy is a millionaire or there is a calculation mistake.

Actually, I said speculator, but in truth, he was a retail hat outlet. And, I never heard of him. But have not had time to google him. Needless to say, I told him I was hoping to have a factory hat that would satisfy his needs, perhaps one day. But, that is NOT what he was after. (je assumed he could sell them for 650.00, once the news is out, as he has already had requests)

When the price page comes back up, you can expect a higher price, that I will evaluate over the remaining months......I fully expect to have to go up again once the news makes the newspapers and magazine.

So, if you bought an AB at my old prices, your hat just increased in value. But, these hats were always an unheard of bargain from the get-go. No one else would even think about selling a handmade pure beaver fur hat for 225.00 or the 250.00 site price. They generally start at around 500 and go up to around 795.00. And only a couple of hatter actually still handmake their hats, with the other 500 dollar hats being basically factory made hats, in a small shop. Optimo, does this. So does JW. He can turn out one hat in two hours!! The machinery allows this, but then it becomes a factory hat, if you really look at it with knowledge.

When we got the contract, I was told to charge more for what I made. I would have none of that. My site price IS my price, no matter whom is buying. I could have easily gotten the going rate for pure beaver hats that I sold to the production company. But, that is not the way I do business. I would never take advantage of ANYONE, even if that ANYONE would gladly pay more than my regular price. Some would call me stupid. I call it something else. Being honest........and stupid. But, it is hard to change my spots.

On stopping production to get caught up.......well, that may sound like a problem solver, but if you think about it, it does nothing to cut down lead times. If I stopped today, and did not sell one until the film comes out, the lead time would be pretty much the same. If you wanted to order a hat today, to get the same felt I used in the film, but had to wait until June of 08 to order it, your own wait time by not buying now, would be the same as if you waited until then(or even longer), or pretty darn close. So, say, that you could not buy an AB until June. I could very well get in 500 orders the 1st day of June. The large majority of those hats would still have a good lead time involved. I doubt I will never have a 1 month lead time-EVER. It is unheard of in the custom hat business, that actually handmake their hats. Its the nature of the beast. And it will certainly not be the case when the news breaks officially, on who made the hats. And that is the reason I am hoping to pull off this factory AB, that is a clone of the Raiders and CS fedora. Only that hat will help solve the lead times of the AB line. I would love to only make 100 handmade hats a year. And with my final price increase, hopefully this will allow me to do so.

The good news is, if you are one of my existing customers, you will get a price break on additional hats that you may want to buy over the years. I know who has bought from me, as I keep records. And if you are one of my old, trusting customers, you will always have a perpetural perk involved by being one. I am loyal to my old customers. If you cancelled your order because of impatience, or you have trashed me on other boards, don't ever expect me to make you a hat at ANY price. I refuse to do so. I will not put all of my heart into making a hat for those guys. Those names have a note in red on their original order forms. That is HOW I conduct business. If you cancelled because of economic reasons, you are still a good customer to me. I have a heart, and understand how other things more important supercedes any hat order. Regards, Fedora

Steve, you are a true gentleman of a hatter. The likes of you rarely exists anymore.

Steve, you are a great man, thanks for caring about the people who can not really afford a really great hat for all this time by providing a hat that is "built to last." How much do you think the price increase is going to be? $100? $200 higher than previous price? So if I should e-mail with an order should I put my COW user name in the e-mail or how you going to keep non-COW members from ordering?

IndianaChris

Steve, you are a great man, thanks for caring about the people who can not really afford a really great hat for all this time by providing a hat that is "built to last." How much do you think the price increase is going to be? $100? $200 higher than previous price? So if I should e-mail with an order should I put my COW user name in the e-mail or how you going to keep non-COW members from ordering?

IndianaChris

I am going up to 350.00 when the price page is up again. I will evaluate this price increase, up until the news finally goes hardcopy. This may give me the desired number of hats I want to make each year. If not, I will go up again, until I reach the goal of what I really want to make. Remember, I am an old guy, and I really don't want to work 7 days a week forever. I want to enjoy stuff before I get too old to take those hiking trips, and backpacking trips. I am 56 year old now, and don't want to wait until I am unable to enjoy my sunset years. Personally, since I am a small part of Indy film history, my dream has come true. And as such, I really don't care if I ever sell another hat, that is, a handmade hat. I was about to call it quits on hatmaking anyways, and let Marc have all of the business, but being chosen as the last Indy hat maker, sort of changed things for me on this deal. So, it looks like I will make my handmade Indy hats until I die, but I want those to be expoentially less in number than to date. For selfish reason, of wanting to enjoy my sunset years, outside of my hat shop, instead of inside it. So, I figure actually charging more as to what my hats are actually worth will give this to me. Plus, I know most folks here who wanted an AB already have one, or at least have one on order. And they got a bargain, which I am very happy to give them. My allegiance lies here at COW, and always will, and to my old customers who forked over the bucks and waited, and waited on their hats.

Plus, Marc and I both figure, that the REAL DEAL exact clone of the last film hat is worth more money than I have charged in the past. What really is the worth of a CS fedora that is identically handmade just like the film hat? I think it should be higher rather than lower. And of course, this makes our hats, already out there MORE valuable in the years to come. Unlike the HJs, that followed the films, when you buy an AB you are getting the EXACT same hat as we made for the last Indy film. Made by the same guys who made the film hats, all by hand. That is worth something, I think, and sets our hats apart from the replicas that every hatter will offer. But, they don't have our blocks!! Sure they can get an AB and have the blockshape copied, but it will never be EXACT. And I doubt anyone will ever have the right and accurate film ribbon. There are only two guys in the world that made the last film hat, and that is Marc and I. To many, this will mean alot. To others, any brown fedora will suffice. But with Lucas doing the C and D letters to all hatters, we will be, along with HJ the only hatters who can legally claim we made Indy hats. That is worth something, I think. Fedora

Steve, do you know for certain all the C&D letters are going out to all the other hatters? What ever became of your letter?

Missed this quote.

So if I should e-mail with an order should I put my COW user name in the e-mail or how you going to keep non-COW members from ordering

If anyone orders from here, please give your COW name. And email me of the order. You will have to go straight to paypal and use my email address to get the discount still in effect. Ordering through the site, once it is back up, means you are a lurker, or non COW member. And those new customers will pay the new, higher price. Thanks. Fedora

Steve, you're a stand up guy. I can't think of anyone who deserves the accolades that come from getting your hats in IJ4 more than you & Marc. I've bought hats from both of you, and the level of service and commitment in both cases has been outstanding. No ego, no annoyance with being bothered, no impatience with nitpicking... just a straight up understanding of what an Indy fan really wants and a commitment to delivering it at a more than fair price.

I know people get impatient with waiting on their hats, but trust me folks, once you get one, you will never, ever regret the wait.

And this is why we wait...patiently. Thank you for being so honest and upright...there are very few people like that nowadays.

Derek

Steve, what about us poor souls that placed an order a few weeks ago but are still waiting for you to come back with the total price including shipping so we can submit payment. Can we be considered as being 'ordered'??? Otherwise I'm just going to throw some cash into your Paypal and hope it'll be enough to cover the shipping!

Steve, do you know for certain all the C&D letters are going out to all the other hatters? What ever became of your letter?

Yes, but some have not received them yet, to my understanding. Miller Hats has already changed their website, renaming their "Miller Indy" The rest will follow, or suffer the consequences of a lawsuit. It seems Lucas is intent on getting rid of the people using the Indy name to make money from his film character. And I understand it completely. That is just good business, if you want to make all of the money from the sales of an Indy fedora. Of course, he makes no move to make the Official Hat, accurate, and even lets them sell the teardrop crown hat, that is totally inaccurate.

On my letter, I told them to shove it. But, only after I told them I would get my site revamped, to take off the prior Indy references. Which I have done, or Namebrand has done. The fact that we handmade all of the film hats to be seen on Ford and his stunt's heads(if they don't put a DP in there for future sales) , gives us the legal right to say that we made them. This is still the USA, and no law is on the books that says we cannot lay claim to facts. Certain phrases or names have a legal bind on them, so you have to walk a fine line, which we have done. Tony will be allowed to say he made the jackets, and then offer them for sale. The same with us. But, if we would not have made the last film hats, there could be no mention of Indy on our websites at all! I figured this was coming, so it was no big surprise to me, although I was shocked that the maker of the last film hat recieved such a letter. But, it was a form letter, with no signature. Others have gotten a second notice with a signature of the lawyer.

Now, if they want to give us a few million bucks to reliquish our rights, that is a horse of a different color. In that case, all existing customers of mine would never have to buy another AB. They would be gifts! You can't sell em, but you sure as heck can give them away! Fedora

VP wrote:There's a typo on the testimonial page, it says "Tesimonial and photo(s)" 18 times.

It wasn't actually a typo, it was meant to indicate what each person had submitted. Some might have submitted just a testimonal or just photos but this never happened so they were all the same. That being said I have now changed it so it doesn't seem as odd.

Steve, what about us poor souls that placed an order a few weeks ago but are still waiting for you to come back with the total price including shipping so we can submit payment. Can we be considered as being 'ordered'??? Otherwise I'm just going to throw some cash into your Paypal and hope it'll be enough to cover the shipping!

Zip me an email man. With hundreds of emails, I sometimes miss one, or three. Sounds like I missed yours. But, all who are in this boat, no problem at all for you guys. Just resend the queries. Thanks. Steve

Nice going buddy. So...how is your retirement going?

I can remember the days we spoke about you making a few hats, figuring that the big rush of orders would wane after a while and you could make a few hats each week.

Just remember that if you cannot hit the hills personally, at least your hats will be doing so.

Fedora wrote:Now, if they want to give us a few million bucks to reliquish our rights, that is a horse of a different color. In that case, all existing customers of mine would never have to buy another AB. They would be gifts! You can't sell em, but you sure as heck can give them away! Fedora

I still have and wear that old Dobbs you refurbished for me back in the days when you learned to sew in sweats like a monkey, as you more or less like to put it. My, how that monkey has grown!

Just remember that if you cannot hit the hills personally, at least your hats will be doing so.

Small consolation there my friend! I gotta get you down to this one trail I told ya about. The one that I said had grown much steeper, either that, or I am badly out of shape. For personal reasons, I will maintain the grade was much steeper than 12 years ago or so.
After a quarter of a mile, I started having thoughts of never living to see the release of the new film, but that did not stop me. I just had to take many more rest stops than the last time I climbed that trail. I refused to give up the climb. If I was to have a heart attack, I figured there wasn't a prettier place to do so. My mind was saying "go" while the legs and body were screaming "NO"!! I ended up not listening to what the carcass was telling me. I survived! But, as I told you via email, I ended up with a very sore rump. The other hikers got a good laugh though. Much to my chagrin. But, I never lost my well pulled down hat, and it was really gusty those days. The brim just flapped in the wind and the hat stayed on. On the way down, I ran into a bit of a rain. Which preceptuated the second rump slide. Much worse than the first. But, again, I made other folks happy that day. They must have been REAL happy, as the laughter was quite loud, even in the mountains. No Indy comments though. Fedora

Fedora wrote:No one else would even think about selling a handmade pure beaver fur hat for 225.00 or the 250.00 site price.

I could have paid $225 instead of $250? Serves me right for being a n00b!

namebrand wrote:

VP wrote:There's a typo on the testimonial page, it says "Tesimonial and photo(s)" 18 times.

It wasn't actually a typo, it was meant to indicate what each person had submitted. Some might have submitted just a testimonal or just photos but this never happened so they were all the same. That being said I have now changed it so it doesn't seem as odd.

I meant that the word testimonial was missing the second T, but the problem seems to have been fixed now.

Steve, you are truly a stand up gentleman! It is so rare to see your effort and attitude towards buisness. I actually feel really privileged to have ordered a hat from you and cannot WAIT for it. BUt yes I will wait. And I'm honoured to do so! Even though I ordered on the 5th of Dec, I can't wait to have the hat! I'm sure I'll wear it to the film, maybe not on opening nite, but sometime.

Now I was always curious since I am a fedora noob, why does it take so long? Is there a "how the hat is made" sorta article floating around somewhere? I know custom stuff takes long times, and I'm not saying you should be able to pump them out quicker at all, but I'm just curious to see how the hat's made. And yeah go have a vacation or somethig before the website opening up because I'm sure the #### will hit the fan!

Hmm....let's see. I paid $110 for it. Ok, I'm selling my AB Rabbit for $1000! Anyone? Anyone?.......

Yeah, are you kidding me. You're going to have to pry my hat out of my cold dead hands because I'm never giving it up.

Steve, everything sounds great to me. To me $350 is still a good deal. I really hope all of this works out and you'll finally be able to relax for a change. You truly deserve it.

The Pilot wrote:

Fedora wrote:No one else would even think about selling a handmade pure beaver fur hat for 225.00 or the 250.00 site price.

I could have paid $225 instead of $250? Serves me right for being a n00b!

I was just wondering the same thing. I ordered mine off the website before it went down and only after I placed the order did I wonder if there was a COW discount.

steve, as always, you are a gracious gentleman in this hobby. raising your prices won't stop me from knocking on your door my friend

warmest wishes,


gil

Steve, the more you talk about the AB, the more I realize I've just ordered a piece of history...so I'll have to get an honour place in my Indy Collection. Don't know if I'll dare to wear it on the streets.
(but I think I will...)

PS: Why you keep saying you're too old, if you're only in the mid 50's?
Come on, enjoy your glory days....

KingNothing wrote:Now I was always curious since I am a fedora noob, why does it take so long?

Because he hand assembles every hat and one hat can take a day of work, so if he has 365 orders the wait time is one year.

Steve,
Glad to see you're actually taking steps to get a little time for yourself, hopefully. Thanks for all of your blood, sweat, and tears over the years, while researching, designing, and perfecting your hatmaking skills.
Merry Christmas,
Blooze