Club Obi Wan

Well, it's been a long journey, stretching across multiple countries and an ocean, but a factory made Adventurebilt, "The Henry", is finally a reality. Now finally being in possession of one, let me say, it's not exactly what I expected, but that's not a bad thing - Read on!



The Henry is a hat lover's Indy fedora. You can tell that it has been designed and refined by people who really know the craft. It has all the features necessary to make a hat a "classic". If I had to sum up the Henry in one word, without a doubt it would be "vintage". What I feel like Marc and co. have created with the Henry is what I think Adventurebilts would have been like if they had been in production 50+ years ago. Holding a Henry in your hands, you will swear you are holding what could have actually been Indy's hat circa 1937. What you are getting first and foremost is a top notch factory made hat. It just happens to also make a darn good Indy hat.

Let me go ahead and get my couple of gripes out of the way first. The only place on the hat that says Adventurebilt is on the sweat band. I'm afraid that once this wears off I'll be left with a hat that people will just have to take my word for is an Adventurebilt. Usually one would expect the brand of the hat to be labeled as such on the liner as well, but Marc has chosen to go with the more CS SA plain white liners. I guess it comes down to personal preference, but I really would have liked one of the gorgeous new liners (Marc, can I buy one off you?). I guess the stitch nazis might be happy with the choice of white, but personally I'd rather let the world know I'm wearing an AB.

Second, there's not quite enough curl to the back of the brim for my tastes. I know I could probably add a little with some steam, but it's really hard to get it looking good without a flange, which I do not have.

curl of my 2006 Steve-made AB compared to the Henry:

bigger:
http://picasaweb.google.com/squidkidd/C ... 4041157634

Over in the Henry discussion page I said how I could tell that Marc and Steve's CS block was not used for the Henry. It's definitely true, and when you compare one of Steve's CS hats to the Henry, the nuances of the CS block become readily apparent. I believe Steve once said that, partly from a business standpoint, he purposely made the CS hat hard to reproduce. Despite this, I have managed to get a darn good looking CS hat out of the Henry. It is not dissimilar enough now from my hand made CS hat for me to care. It just takes a little bit of playing around. I'm confident I could have also put in an awesome Raiders bash. In short, the block design I believe is going to be good for whichever Indy style you desire.

Now what do I like about the Henry? Just about everything else. Let me start with the felt, as that is what stands out the most. As has been mentioned before it's soft. Butter soft. Raiders floppy soft. You'll want to curl up under it on a cold night and watch a good movie soft. If you've ever handled a nice vintage hat, you know what I'm talking about. This also translates well for those who might be a little nervous bashing a hat for the first time as the softness makes the felt very forgiving. Definitely no need in busting out the kettle here, it just molds to the shape your fingers give it. Those who have been saying that they're having a hard time getting the Henry to hold it's bash I think just need to use a little more force in putting in the creases, because they'll stay just fine.

Another thing I love about the Henry is the sweat band. The closest description I can give as to its texture is that it feels like my new washed goat wested. It's also butter soft. This combined with the felt make the Henry hands down the most comfortable fedora I own. I believe somebody else here said something to the effect that they didn't want to take it off once they put it on. I thoroughly concur! Like I said before, this is first and foremost a well made hat, designed to be worn. It's also an Indy hat.

Construction is solid. I can't find one area of construction that feels shoddy or looks like it was made on an assembly line. The ribbon? It's the real deal, what else can be said. Fortunately the bow, at least to my humble eyes is every bit as good as can be.

Just a few more things - I wore it outside most of the day today on a hike on the Oregon coast and it makes for a great field hat. Probably even more so because of how comfortable to wear. If I had to wear a hat all day, I sure hope it would be this comfortable! It's really interesting to compare it to a Federation. Even though they're both well constructed factory made hats, they're completely different beasts.

In conclusion, the Henry is a welcome addition in the ever expanding world of high quality Indy hats. It is most worthy of the Adventurebilt name and commands its price well. Think of it as Adventurebilt's vintage model. If you want a hat with the HJ name, go with the Magnoli. If you want a hat that actually approximates how a vintage HJ was made from the felt up, go with a Henry.

Pics:
Henry on the right, hand made CS AB on the left
http://picasaweb.google.com/squidkidd/C ... 0376770466

same deal, side profile
http://picasaweb.google.com/squidkidd/C ... 1308427954

Henry right, 2006 Steve AB left
http://picasaweb.google.com/squidkidd/C ... 1303726978

JPD left, Henry right
http://picasaweb.google.com/squidkidd/C ... 9686373650

on the head
http://picasaweb.google.com/squidkidd/C ... 2130142242

on the head, to the side
http://picasaweb.google.com/squidkidd/C ... 2348322482

Regards,
Brian

Thanks for the indepth review. Most appreciated.
That's incredible. The photos showed what I was looking for. I have a Fed Delux and was fairly happy with it just not the bash but after you mention it holding the bash and being a different beast, now I'm going "Handmade AB..or Henry.."

Thank you very much Brian, for the HIGHLY appreciated indepth review. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better one. It's critical and well written and the hats seems to fit what we wanted it to be perfectly.

With the U.S.$ finally recovering more and more over the last weeks, the price is also very close to what Steve and I had originally planned it to be.

Regards,

Marc

This just made my day! I knew these hats would be something special in so far as factory hats go, and am as pleased as punch they are living up to what we had hoped. Good work Marc!!!

And Marc, it was very nice to hear that once they get all of the blocks handmade, they can make 2000 hats a month!!! Now that means soon the lead times will be very, very good. The hat actually looks pretty darn good to me.

I can just hear the boss at the factory telling his folks, "this guy is so picky, we are gonna have to handmake his blocks!"

Our intent was to blow the other factory hats out of the water. And do our small part in getting factory hats back to what they used to be many years ago. From the looks of it, we may be on our way to actually doing that. It's a mission that is well worth the time, if we can pull it off. So far, it is looking really good to me, so great work my friend!!! Now if we could only get these out to retail stores......... Fedora

2000 hats?! wow! I'm curious as to what type of hats the factory made before and the quality they are.
Size 62 hasn't shipped yet right? I might be jumping on board with this one depending on when they ship and how much time I have left to possibly order one.

I can just hear the boss at the factory telling his folks, "this guy is so picky, we are gonna have to handmake his blocks!"

I told him that if he dares to "ahem" up a bow or any other detail for that matter, we'd have THOUSANDS of people knowing this the moment the hat arrives. "Always a pleasure to be challenged from you Marc" was the rather dry reply from him, but I know that he understood where I was comming from. He's such a great guy to work with and I really thought it was a funny coincidence, when I found out that he looks like Richard Swales (only younger).

Now if we could only get these out to retail stores

Working on it my friend and I hope so are you. Problem with these hats is, that - as always - we kept the profit margin low and according to a retailer in New York who contacted me a couple of weeks ago, they'd like to have it, if they could purchase them for 20 something bucks That's the other side of the coin. People in here can tell a good hat from a POC, but the avarage Joe just want something "smashing" for the next half year - which is something I don't want to sell.

I'm curious as to what type of hats the factory made before and the quality they are.

They make other high end hats for the big brands over here that usually retail somewhere for round about 600-800 Euro.

Regards,

Marc

This review was great. The Henry is really everything I hoped it would be. Marc, is there any chance of getting more colors on the Henry? Grey would be great as it was also used in the films. Black would be a nice change too.

Dave

Yes, if we sell enough of the brown ones, we'd offer other colors as well.

Problem with the custom made felt - as with the felt for the AB-Dlx. - is that it takes a min. requirement of rawbodies to have them made.

Regards,

Marc

As if I wasn't doing enough advertising for AB! Now I have to shout to the rooftops "Everyone, buy the Henry so we can have other colors!" Actually, the hats sell themselves, though I don't mind being called an AB fanboy. We all order non-Indy colored Federations and Christy's, lets make it happen for the Henry too!

Dave

I would absolutely LOVE a Henry in grey! I really can't think of a better candidate for a grey hat. It's vintage feel lends itself well for a super classy fedora.

Something else I should have mentioned in the review is please bear in mind this is a factory made hat. Seriously, did you ever think we'd be nitpicking a factory made hat against a handmade AB?! This hat REALLY ups the ante for what is possible in a factory in this day and age.

Regards,
Brian

Too bad you didn't get that hat a week earlier and then I would have had an opportunity to see it in person. Squidkid and I ran into each other at the Portland Antique show last Saturday. I saw him walk by wearing his JPDesign fedora and knew he had to be an Indy fan.

That factory CS fedora really looks great, I also think they did an awesome job on the bow, which is something that sometimes gets overlooks at the factory on new fedora's. Great job Marc and Steve in being so particular and getting the details right.

fedoralover