Club Obi Wan

I saw a couple of Indy cosplayers wearing a Jaxon hat at Comic-Con this past summer. I know it isn't exactly high on the Indy-SA that we want, but in terms of non-Indy hats, I think they would go great in terms of what I need: a group of gangster/mobster fedoras for costumes. I also like the fact that they have bulk offers, perfect for a group in need of hats.

So as to my questions. Has anyone here ever ordered a Jaxon hat before (wool or fur)? How good is the quality of their fur felt hats? How easy would it be to reblock the fur felt hat (or even wool for that matter) to the style that I need it? Also, I forgot if you need to remove the ribbon or not when reblocking.

I have a little less than a year to get this group costume project finished, so it's not an immediate concern. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Also, a big thank you for having that hat block tutorial thread. Glad I have some place to start.

My best friend swears by Jaxon. He has a couple fur felt Jaxons and is very happy with them. The felt qualtity is decent, but nothing out of this world, but notable. Again, I don't own one, but my best friend owns a few and wears them just about daily and is very happy with them. Hope that helps.

Dave

I've got one. It's a wool Safari II. I've had it for about a year and I take it with me all the time when I'm hiking. It's been through rain, snow, wind, and sun and has held up just fine...

Want a picture?

Yes, please .

Dave

Pictures would very much help! I'm especially keen on getting input from a Jaxon owner such as yourself. Any help would be much appreciated.

Here are some photos of the hat. The light blotches on the hat are my own doing, just to let you know.








The wool version comes in a basic shape, and I have since then tried to re-bash it in the Raiders Style.

You wanted Fedoras with a "gangster' appearance. I would suggest getting Fur Felt. They'll last a lot longer and look better. AND you can re-bash them to your own liking.

That is one much loved wool hat. And I like your rebash for it. Since my group will most likely want to have their own bash for each hat, what did you do to get the original bash out?

The ones I have worked on seem to be Tonak felt. Two of them had "Made In China" tags. I state that because I have seem claims of Custom made.

Jimmy

Actually I could not get the original bash out, so I simply pushed the hat's shape to its limit. Here's a pic of what it looked like when I first got it:



If you can, get fur felt with open crowns. It would be easier than having to try and remove a preexisting bash a wool fedora. Does Jaxon even offer open crown hats?

i have a few jaxons... i have the bogart, the detroit, the monk porkpie and a top hat. They are decent hats, inexpensive for rabbit fur. they're aren't as supple or soft as more expensive hats but they are a good value and the styling is nice... i find them to be pretty comfortable too. and yes, they are factory made in china.

now in terms of reblocking i haven't ever tried a full on reblock for a couple of reasons.... one being the sweat band is sewed through to the outside of the felt and i've heard this makes reblocking dangerous. the other reason being that they glue the liner in and when you remove it a bit of the felt rips off with the glue, not enough to affect the outside shape but i don't know if it would become more evident when re-stretched over a new block. I have however rebashed the detroit... i steamed it alot which made the felt more pliable and floppy. then i used clothes pins to form the new bash. just make sure to put something thick and soft between the pins and the felt or else you'll end up with little clothes pin shaped indents in the felt.


the grey hats in the middle are the jaxons


the hat to the left is the bogart and the one to the right is the detroit. originally the detroit had pretty much the same c-crown and dents as the bogart. i raised and pushed back the front a bit and deepend and pushed back the dents.


just a different view.


i owned one of their wool felts at one point but it just wasn't for me; not substantial enough and it didn't quite fit.

hope this helps.

Thanks very much for the info. Especially about the Detroit hat, since that's the one I was leaning towards. And I didn't realize that the Bogart looks good as well.