Club Obi Wan

Hi. Holt's SoC has inspired me, I am getting a hat (and I don't ever wear hats).
I followed the HatsDirect website instructions and I have measured my head one inch above the eyebrows, with two different dress makers tape meaures three times each. My exact measurement seems to be 59cm exactly.
So that puts me in between the Fed IV Dlx size 59 and 60. I have read that rabbit felt shrinks with wear, so I'm tempted to go with the 60, but I've also heard these hats can slip down over your ears if only a bit large.
Any suggestions?

Cheers

Give them your exact head measurement. I did, they recommend to me a size 62, and it fit perfectly.

It won't slip down over your ears if you bash it properly. The centre dent should sit on top of your head, helping to prevent it slipping.

Also be aware of your head shape. If your head is a long oval, the hat may feel a little too tight (especially front and back) and you may have a gap on the sides where the sweatband doesn't touch your head. If so the hat may fit once it adjusts to your head shape. It took me many trials and errors before i noticed the hat fit nicely once i'd softened the felt.

The sweatband will shrink before the felt does and if it feels like a very slightly loose fit when you first buy it, then it will shrink to fit you perfectly.

I had the same problem. I was an exact size. They recommended I go large. they supplied plenty of tape to fit under the sweatband for a snug fit.
Over the first three months of wear I occasionally needed to remove an inch or two of the tape as the hat tightened slightly [you notice the smallest difference] until it settled down to a perfect fit.
I then replaced their foam tape with self adhesive foam tape - in sections to make a more even fit - as no head is an exact oval.

I have two, an imperial and a deluxe. I wear a size 59 but ordered a 60 like they say to do. I wish I had just ordered a 59 in each case. Yes, the tape makes it one size smaller, but since I need the tape on both, I should have ordered the size I wear. The imperial has shrunk a tad, but the deluxe not at all. And from what I have read elsewhere, the deluxe doesn't shrink, ever. I wear the imperial while hiking, and although it will fit perfectly before the hike, as I sweat it gets looser, so I just have to use the tape for any kind decent fit. I should have just got 59's to begin with.

guys, this is exactly the sort of commentary I was after, many thanks and keep it coming!

Well I'll make this just that much more confusing, i have three fed iv's, the brown, moonstone and the carbon grey. Each one reacted differently. I purchased the regular versions, and they were a bit large, im in the middle of the road with a 58.5 and i bought a 59. The tape helped, but after a few months i had to completely remove it from my moonstone as it shrunk up to the point it no longer needed it. So i lost about a half a size on the hat. Now, the brown didn't do anything, its like the day i bought the hat, and this one has been beaten more than any of the other three. I've even tried to artificially shrink the sweat, so i could remove the tape, and it just wouldn't budge. My carbon grey, fit the day i bought it, no tape at all!! and its the same sized as the above three, same sweat, same felt type. Its safe to say go a notch larger, you can shrink a hat easier than making it larger. This is the trouble with factory hats.

Hope this helps you feel out your desicion, i know how nervous i was when i bought my first off the internet not knowing how it was going to fit!!

Indy35 wrote:Well I'll make this just that much more confusing, i have three fed iv's, the brown, moonstone and the carbon grey. Each one reacted differently. I purchased the regular versions, and they were a bit large, im in the middle of the road with a 58.5 and i bought a 59. The tape helped, but after a few months i had to completely remove it from my moonstone as it shrunk up to the point it no longer needed it. So i lost about a half a size on the hat. Now, the brown didn't do anything, its like the day i bought the hat, and this one has been beaten more than any of the other three. I've even tried to artificially shrink the sweat, so i could remove the tape, and it just wouldn't budge. My carbon grey, fit the day i bought it, no tape at all!! and its the same sized as the above three, same sweat, same felt type. Its safe to say go a notch larger, you can shrink a hat easier than making it larger. This is the trouble with factory hats.

Hope this helps you feel out your desicion, i know how nervous i was when i bought my first off the internet not knowing how it was going to fit!!

I guess all things considered, you can't go too far wrong ordering one size larger and depending on the tape to fill out any extra space.

The problem with ordering machine-made hats over the internet is that they're not guaranteed to be exact. From personal experience, several different hats of the same size, from the same company may vary in actual size. I had a bit of a panic when i ordered my Fed Deluxe 4 and then went into a shop in England which stocked Akubras and a size 58 didn't fit. It was far too small. Imagine my horror when the 59 was far too big. But the 58 had been left out in the window of the shop (and we do sometimes get hot weather in England) and had shrunk very badly.

Any avid hat fanatic will tell you slightly too big is much better than slightly too small. However if you're hat does shrink too much maybe its worth getting a hat jack. They do work without damage to the hat, but its not to be used to go a lot bigger. I think the custom hat maker John Penman has some hat jacks that had rave reviews. Correct me if i'm wrong John.

The bottom line is its always best to try it on first. Would it be able to fly to Sydney and get a train out to the Blue Mountains. Although I never went to their Hats Direct premises, I did once take a train out to Katoomba from Sydney. I know its a long way from Melbourne but have you ever been?

I think you're right Snapbrim, I'm up that way in January, it would only be a few hours drive to keep going on to the Blue Mountains, and it would be great to see the premises. Cheers

My Federation 4 Deluxe fits a little snug, so I wear it when I've had a fresh haircut. I think the general opinion is that they do fit a little snug.

Randy

I dropped in on City Hatters under Flinders Street Station today (highly recommended if anyone ever visits Melbourne - and will no doubt become a more popular part of Melbourne after The Pacific gets aired).

Tried on four different styles of Fedora in various felts. Size 59 was the best fit, size 60 was huge.

I solved the sizing issue for my first fedora by visiting a western shop. But, have since learned by experience that what's 7 1/4 to one maker is 7 1/8 to another. So, I'd talk with HD and give them your findings, they'll guide you in the path you should walk.

Randy

Just for closure, and anyone in the future who is searching the board looking for sizing information, I ended up getting a 59 (and a haircut) and it fits perfectly.
I think I had also been measuring around my head too low - there is no way I could wear a Fedora as low as I had measured it, not with a bash that includes an accurate centre dent, 3.5" at the back. So I was probably closer to a 58.5 than a 59cm measurement.
I can fit my index finger under the brim when the hat is on my head. It does not fall off when I put my chin on my chest. After half an hour on, there is no red mark around my forehead. Perfect.

Snapbrim76 wrote:It won't slip down over your ears if you bash it properly. The centre dent should sit on top of your head, helping to prevent it slipping.

seriously, dude...how can you even stand it? It's so uncomfortable when the top of the hat touches your head. Plus, I wear short/medium hair, and when I wear a hat which has a deep center crease I always found myself with messy hair (flattened in the center).

I suppose it's all about head shape and forehead hight. I just measured it, from the base of my hair to my eyebrows: 7 cm (I don't know how many inches are 7 cm).

Restless Dreamer wrote:

Snapbrim76 wrote:It won't slip down over your ears if you bash it properly. The centre dent should sit on top of your head, helping to prevent it slipping.

seriously, dude...how can you even stand it? It's so uncomfortable when the top of the hat touches your head. Plus, I wear short/medium hair, and when I wear a hat which has a deep center crease I always found myself with messy hair (flattened in the center).

I do know what you mean. In the days when I used to keep my hair longer it used to irritate me.

If you find that irritating you want to try wearing a Panama - all the fibres meet in an itchy little mesh exactly where the hat touches your head!

In days when everybody wore hats, the "hat hair" effect was as common as traffic jams. Everybody had that problem so nobody cared that there was a ridiculous dent in the top of their head. But I keep my head shaved short and thats one good reason to do so.