Club Obi Wan

Back when I first started making hats, I wanted to make a hat that could be used for what hats were intended for, and that would be outdoor wear, in the elements. Not a prissy little dress hat, but a real man's hat, as worn by our fav film hero. Sure, I was after the "look" that had escaped me with all of the hats I had bought, but I was also wanting to make a real world hat, something an old cowboy would have found appealing in its durability. And frankly, I was tired of my hats tapering after just a short time of normal wear. Whether I got it wet or not! Some would just taper from the Ms. heat we have here in the south. No joke. Left one in my car one day, and came back to find it tapered to the point it looked like a witches hat. I have left my own AB in my car since then, and none have ever tapered from the heat.

I recently made an annoucement in the vendor section about my OLD CUSTOMERS and having just checked my email, I found one from my good buddy Rick5150, who was one of my first customers, IF not my very first. He had just returned from a mountain climb and as always, he takes one of his ABs along. Don't know when I made this one, but the color has faded out nicely. Rick doesn't take his hats with the turn, but he wears them well. I don't think he would mind me showing off his AB, doing what I designed these hats for from the get go. And being a backpacker myself, having taken many trips in my life, mostly soloing, like Rick does, this endears old Rick to me. A great friend whom I have never met. He has his own jacket site, and knows as much about film jackets as anyone does. As you can tell, Rick takes care of his hats. So without further ado....check out Rick's AB.




Love this shot....



And once he conquered the mountaintain....thumbs up.



Rick, is living the adventure, a real Indy like character in his own right. Fedora

That's a great looking lid...thanks for sharing. I need to head on more adventures to "wear" mine some more. For now, I guess I'll just have to settle for mowing the lawn and chasing after the kids

LOVE the color of that hat!! You're right it has faded out nicely. Awesome pics.

A fantastic lid that's done nothing but age BEAUTIFULLY!
Steve, I solemnly swear that once I get my AB from you, she'll be spending A lot of time outdoors with me (and my son) on many an adventure!
All the Best,
Mitch

Yeah! Way to go - THIS is indeed what these great hats are made for: protect your noggin' out there in the field.
Beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing these with us, Fedora (and Rick of course). It's always great to see other's "adventures"!

This thread proves real men wear fedoras. Excellent photos, excellent hat.

Randy

I love the color of the felt. My fedora is more of a pecan color and is much darker. I would love to know if eventually mine will fade to this much lighter shade of brown. Is that pretty close to the original color when it was made or has it faded a bit with age. What is the SA color of the Indy fedora. Does it vary from film to film?

What a great shape that hat has! But I'm curious - is there a limit to how much the colour will fade on these?

Hey Steve - thanks for posting these. That is from a recent hike to Mt. Whiteface last Monday (Labor Day). I continued on to Passaconaway that day as well. I just got back from Mt. Carrigain yesterday. There were not many people on the mountain yesterday despite some nice weather. Very surprising, but virtually every time I get on the trails, I get a positive comment about that hat. A few times I have passed people wearing obvious wool felt hats in the same style and they can say stuff like, "Now that's a hat...." The quality speaks for itself. Like Dalexs at Mt. Cardigan, I had to remove the hat on top of the mountain. Actually, the top was wooded, but there is an observation tower with some stiff winds. I wouldn't want to have another Rick5150 moment. Hey, waitaminnit...

I absolutely love those pics! That is the same style (bash) I am hoping to get with my AB Deluxe whenever Marc gets to my order. I can only hope mine will look as good, say, 10 years from now. I plan on wearing that hat as much as possible on all kinds of adventures.

That's exactly the hat I'm waiting for! A perfect fedora - just like the ones they don't make anymore. And made to be worn. I count the days...Good work!

Steve, thanks for posting this! What a great hat and what a great way to use it- just like it should be!

Hi Rick! How you been? Great looking AB/Raiders hat. Hiking rules!

3thoubucks wrote:Hi Rick! How you been? Great looking AB/Raiders hat. Hiking rules!

I have been doing well. New career path, new website adventures, new (old) Harley, etc. I was hoping to finish up the NH 4,000 footers this year, but the weather had other ideas. I do not mind hiking in the rain - I have done that too many times to mention, but I just do not like starting out that way. By the time the weather cleared up enough to get out on the trails it was nearly August. Then I had choices to make. Cut the grass, hiking or the Harley - and the bike generally won out. At least until the waistline started to expand, anyways. At 47 years old, it is doing a great job at that. Miss a few gym visits or eath the wrong thing and it seems to have an immediate effect. I did get out and grab 4 of the 4,000 footers in the last three weeks though. I have 8 to go now and I am counting on the Adventurebilt to take me to the top of each one (next year). I get tons of compliments on this hat on the trails. I am always waiting to bump into some of the New England COW members on the trails, but not yet. This year has been the least crowded that I have seen the trails. Saddens me, actually.

That's a great hat, and that second photo is absolutely fantastic. It brings to mind this one my dad took of me on a hike:



Of course, yours is much nicer, or maybe I'm just not a fan of the desert after living here so long. Now that I've got my AB I can't wait to go hiking again.

I thought I recognized NH in those pics.
Excellent hat Rick. I am going to order a Henry AB for myself soon and then there will be at least two NH hikers with AB's. Just went up Mt. Monadnock today.

Risu wrote:That's a great hat, and that second photo is absolutely fantastic. It brings to mind this one my dad took of me on a hike:



Of course, yours is much nicer, or maybe I'm just not a fan of the desert after living here so long. Now that I've got my AB I can't wait to go hiking again.

Hi there, Risu! That's a nice picture, but I've been meaning to ask... is that a grave to the left of the picture? If that is the case, do you know who has been buried there? If it's a close friend or family member in any way, I'm sorry... but I do wonder what happened on that mountain you're on.

P.S. I agree, hats should be durable, and should be able to handle some of the elements. I will personally be purchasing an Akubra Federation IV in dark brown for my Indiana Jones-esque adventure/outdoors hat.

i love to hear and see real life use of the AB. I hope to wear mine on a trip to Italy next year

Watch this space!

MK

I would guess that the 'cross' is a marker indicating a trail, that you are at the summit, etc. As you can see, there are not too many places to nail signs.

Then... what's under the pile of rocks?

More rocks?

Awesome picks Steve! I'm a hiker as well. I just got my first real man's hat this past week, a gray CS Penman (11/11/09), which by the way I posted pictures of on the Penman thread. I've never worn a hat in my 50 years until I picked up one of those inexpensive "Indy" hats made by Dorfman last summer. I immediately ordered one of your ABs in Nov. '08 and the wait was killing me. That Dorfman just didn't compliment my Nowak CS.

I plan on hitting the hills this spring/summer. I live in a wonderful area with the Olympic Mtns., Puget Sound and Cascade Mtns. I'll be hitting Hurricane Ridge. Hopefully your hat will be to me this summer as well.

Wow, that is one nice lid. Great work, Steve!

Lovely pics!
I was also an a hike this summer. It took a friend and me from Sweden to Norway and my ABD was all the way on top.