Club Obi Wan

Reading through posts of old there is a lot of interest in the 'Indiana Miller' both pre-bashed and the open crowned version. What ever happened to their popularity with gearheads? -Turn out no that good of a hat, or just a lot more, better offerings out there?

I wore out two Millers before moving on to the Akubra myself.

FINE rabbit hats, but taper something awful if they get wet, and a bit to red color wise to suit a lot of folks.

Still, a fine and comfortable dress hat.

Regards! Michaelson

...so I guess over time and 'trial and error', people went on to more durable brands-especially for the price, I assume.

That's about it, yes.

Regards! Michaelson

A lot of hats have come and gone with the development of more screen accurate and durable hats, the Miller was just one of them. In its case it wasn't terribly accurate or taper resistant, so it's no wonder why it was not as prominent as some other hats in a Raiders centric world. It's also just simple economics. The Federation was cheaper and in many ways better than the Miller and all other hats in the same range (dp official, stetson temple, etc). Thus, The Federation has become one of the dominant hats in COW history. For the custom hats there was always a lot more movement in that area, bu the story's the same. Optimo obviously got a lot more play before the arrival of the Adventurebilt, but the latter eventually took over because it was both more accurate and cheaper. Geez, I remember before I took my 4 year hiatus on this site that Optimo was the thing then, and by the time I came back Adventurebilt was everywhere. Federation was big when I left and still big now because nothing has come close or competed in its price range or as a factory hat. It would take a hat with more accuracy and a with a price close enough to beat it, and it seems Hatsdirect has already begun steps to further address the accuracy in their hats, so it's unlikely that the Fed will lose its ground in the lower range anytime soon.

citRon wrote:Reading through posts of old there is a lot of interest in the 'Indiana Miller' both pre-bashed and the open crowned version. What ever happened to their popularity with gearheads? -Turn out no that good of a hat, or just a lot more, better offerings out there?

I actually LIKED the reddish tones to the Miller's Hats, and if they only took more steps to prevent taper then I would have recommended them.

Akubra's Federation just keeps getting better. Some of our friends at Finger Lakes had ones that were bought recently and they improved on the crown height with really makes the fedora just what we're looking for.

If taper is a problem for anyone, though... I would suggest making your own block. That's something I'm doing now for some of my older fedoras now that I have the time, space and tools.