You REALLY seem to like that lid or yours there my friend Honestly, I didn't think that you'd enjoy a non pure beaver Fedora that much, so that is a high praise!
Yeah, I do like it alot. It is just so darn soft and floppy! Now, that is seen generally more in rabbit hats, and I am not used to seeing a hat that feels like beaver fur, act like rabbit! So, I am quite taken with it, plus it is summer and it is a cooler wearing hat than my pure beaver. I noticed that right away.
When I pick it up, (and I have done this alot in the past few days) the first thing I see is that screen accurate Raiders bow. The folks that do the bow work did such a great job!! I am just not used to seeing this on a factory hat!! HOW did you get this pulled off??? My limited experience with a factory trying to reroduce the CS fedora was, well, less than satisfactory. (as you well know about Marc)
So, while I had seen pics of our factory AB, I really never was that excited about it, due to my past experience with modern factory hats. But, holding one in hand, and wearing it, has completely changed my mind. Again, you have amazed me, with your attention to detail, not to mention the fact that you actually got a factory to do exactly what you wanted!!! I think part of this is due to our factory being a remnant of the old days. One that survived the demise of hatwearing. They apparently still never lost the skills of producing a great factory hat. Is this hat as good as a vintage high end Stetson? No. But, it is the best modern factory hat I have seen to date, and that pleases me. And then the only difference is just the pounce job. The old Stetson Company pounced their high end hats better, so ours is more along the lines of a Royal line from Stetson, back when Stetson was really Stetson. (prior to the leasing of the name in 1970)
Yes, the sweat bands are thin, and soft, but this was the factory standard in vintage hats!! This is the most vintage like sweat I have seen, in modern hats, Sweats are generally made thicker today, for some reason. If I could get these, I would have used these sweats in my own hats, from day one! But, this leather is not available here, in the USA. Or, I have never found the source. There are only 3 major sweatband manufacturers here in the States. And I think one went under, so that leaves 2! And the sweat is one of the things that I love about our factory hat. Might have to see if we can get choc. brown if Bernie will use these, just to match up with the CS sweats. Or, we could all meet here, and just change out the sweats for Indy 5, IF that ever happens. And while we were at it, make sure each bow is identical, although that doesn't look to be a problem going by this hat here, and the ones I have seen posted here. Good consistency.
Of course, being 80 per cent rabbit, this hat acts more like the Raiders felt than pure beaver, but that is nothing new. We all know that. And that impressed me as well. Because if you just grab it, any experienced hat wearer would immediately think, it is beaver. They were right(Portugal) when he told you, it takes a min of 20 per cent beaver to get the beaver "feel". This hat proves that. So, kudos to you once again! Plus adding the beaver makes for a better felt too. Blends were used heavily back in the old days, and it was an art form to get just the right mix. And we both know that Portugal has one of the best mixers in the biz. The guy who mixes the various furs is an artist, in the hat industry. It is indeed an art, as we both know.
Another thing that grabbed my attention is, while the pounce job could be better, it is very screen accurate to the Raiders fedora, in degree of pounce, from the hi def pics I have seen recently of the Raiders fedora. The hatters here, pounce our hats better than factory hats, as the both of us learned early on that high end hats have better pounces. And our handmade creations were intended to take a step back in time in so far as quality of materials, attention to detail, and the pounce. When the new hatters came on board, like LLS, and John, they basically learned from you and I, and carried that torch. So, I would not change the way the factory pounces these hats, but only because it matches the screen hats better, and afterall, we are selling replicas of the Indy hats. (with the exception of the CS fedoras which we did do the extra pouncing on) And I know what we pay this factory for each hat, and it is already high enough! But part of our much higher production costs is probably because we have the Portugal felt shipped in to our factory, and don't use their felt. (another kudos to you for doing this!!) This makes our Henry even more of an anomaly, in so far as factory hats go. The Henry is indeed a custom made factory hat, no doubt about that.
We all had this very conversation on the Indy 5 hat thread. I thought that using the Henry would be the most logical choice in terms of #'s needed for a film, quality, and availability both in Europe and the U.S. I think its funny that you came to the same conclusion after wearing it a few days.
One thing about me, is I will change my mind, and don't mind being seen as wishy washy, when I discover I was wrong initially. My initial opinon was based on the modern factory hats I have seen, in hand. I just did not think any factory could give us what we wanted, with Marc's high standards. Of course, IF Indy 5 happens, the decision will be left up to Bernie. But, I will send him a Henry, to get his opinion, with the upside being, he could have them all at one time, instead of piecemeal like the Indy 4 fedora. So, the fate of the Henry, will be in his hands, not ours. But, personally, it is of such high quality, that this factor won't keep him from using it. And if the film is hot, and less wet, it would be a perfect hat to use. THAT, I shall tell him . And the fact that I got the CS fedora easily from this block, won't be a factor either. The Henry, from my limited experience, makes a dandy Raiders fedora, and is better for that style than the CS block. I only saw that, once the hat settled a bit from a few days of wear. Yes, hats do settle in, as most know. I have really noticed this on our CS hats. They have to settle in, to get the film look, in most scenes from that film. Only some scenes show a new looking CS, in shape. And those scenes were shot when Bernie was not on set, constantly working the film hats. I have no doubt, the hats would have been more consistent, if Bernie had been on set on those days. And he even mentioned it to me, later on. He was well aware of this, so he must have been watching the hat along with us, when he finally saw the completed film. It bothered him.
I could go on and on about our factory hat, but I think I have said more than enough. This hat isn't a big profit maker for us at all, due to the production costs. We could make more money, just not having it, and selling the handmade versions, but at least, it does have a decent price on it, and that gives the folks on a budget an opportunity to own an AB, that is an outstanding hat. If Indy hats are your thing. But more than that, I am just so pleased that Marc did the work and got us a factory hat that should set standards for factory hats. I really feel that our Henry does that. I have to admit, I was not convinced, UNTIL, I finally got to actually see one. I have not had great experiences with other factory hats, except the Federations. I always liked them, and thought for the money, it was the best bargain in the Indy universe. It still is, due to the materials used, and its pricing. But if you want to step up, and spend a bit more, we have the hat for you. I don't see how anyone could not be very pleased with the Henry. But, it will please the experienced hat wearers the most. Folks who have seen what modern factories offer. Fedora
Thanks Marc!
I was a little surprised by the sweat, very thin but very comfortable. Great to read this kind of insight into the Henry and its potential future possibilities. 
), but I thought that "the Henry" was was a Raiders hat... that's what I read a couple of years back, anyway.
So I asked, if they had made hats for HJ in the past, which was confirmed. Also that this block was used for HJ's many years ago was confirmed. So... I asked him to make a prototype on the old HJ block and upon receiving the first Henry prototype, I figured that it COULD be IT, however no-one can actually tell for sure if this is really THE block, hence I don't use it for advertising on my website. The Henry prototype took both the CS and the Raiders crease very well and I got an exclusive on that block shape, of which a full set was then made.
