Club Obi Wan

I was wondering if anyone here has heard of this brand of fedora (ORVIS)? I bought this at an old thrift store about 15 years ago and it looked old then. It has a leather band around the crown instead of a ribbon. I will take pictures of it tomorrow as I am supposed to be studying for a test at the moment.

Before I knew any better I used to completly submerge it in the river while canoeing on hot days and dump the water on my head to cool off. I paid $2.00 for it so no big loss. After being on cow and learning a little about how felt reacts to water I went and dug it out of the closet and believe it or not it has not tapered or shrunk. If it has it is not noticeable.

Again I know without pics you guys have little to go on but curious if anything is known about this brand.

Beaverlid

Post some pics. I'd love to see this hat your talking about!

Dave

Orvis is an outdoor type of brand. In fact, my officer pink repros were made by Orvis and are fantastic. (Sadly, they don't make them anymore.) They put out quality clothing and gear, so it doesn't surprise me that they offered hats at one point, too. That said, I doubt Orvis made them themselves. They were probably contracted out to a real hat manufacturer.

I will take a few pics by the weekend and post them. I would like to have a real ribbon put on it or maybe try my hand at my own ribbon. I have seen a few tutorials on how to install them.

Thanks for posting guys,
Beaverlid

I replaced a ribbon on one of my hats and while the final product is not as nice as others I've seen here, I'm happy with the results. It's really not that hard unless you are looking for a very specific look. I was not and it took less than an hour to do.

I did a quick and dirty search and Orvis does still offer a number of hats. Most are in the crushable wool vein, but they do have this one listed.

Premium Fur Felt Hat

A classic style refined with the softest of rabbit fur, a neat cut edge, exclusive satin lining with Orvis logo, a grosgrain ribbon, and a premium cotton twill sweatband. Ideally shaped. A great color easy to wear with most any jacket or coat. In taupe. 2½" brim and 5" crown. USA.
Sizes: 6⅞, 7, 7⅛, 7¼, 7⅜, 7½, 7⅝.

There are no customer reviews listed.

I bet a few years ago people would have cut off their right arm to own such a "great IJ fedora."

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

I saw that Orvis as well. It is very different then the one I have. I will get the pics up as fast as possible so you guys can see what I am talking about. I think I will try and tack on a ribbon. I am not much on the leather bands as this one has. I would love to think I have a vintage fedora. The crown height is a little short for me but if I ever want to change it up it could be a nice change.

Beaverlid

Yeah, I love much of what Orvis sells. I shop em often.

On the hat, Bink of course is right. Someone made it for them, and my bets say South Africa. No longer making hats down there though, but Milan used this felter for their felt bodies years ago. They made some of the better hats, South Africa that is. When they went under, Milan went with Portugal. According to Deb Henderson in Hat Talk. Fedora

So I could have potentially found a small treasure in that thrift store. If you knew the soakings that hat took on my first river trip I took it on about 5 years ago you would be amazed that it didn't shrink or taper. The core had to have gotten wet.

Here is one made of "Animal" fur:

http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=39EH

That blaze orange hat made me remember I've often considered getting a camo ribbon put on one of my hats, a nice Realtree pattern or something. I may look into doing that with my Keppler since it's my "kicking around" hat.
My southern roots are showing on this.. haha

Randy

This hat looks interesting, if only for the type of felt it is, Akubra's new pliable pure fur felt.. hmm http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx ... t_id=16229

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to this thread with pictures. To make it worse these are not the best pics. I will get my wife to take some distance shots for a better angle. For now these will have to do. I think it at least gives you the idea of the shape of this very abused fedora.





Beaverlid

throw a proper grosgrain ribbon on it and you'll have yourself a fine SOC.

I do plan to put a ribbon on it. The color is a very light color and does not match the Indy fedora. I have a few of the Indy style hats so this will be my slightly different but still Indyish hat. I definately agree it will look much better with a ribbon. But I do think I have one of those taper proof hats the guru's here on COW talk about. I promise the core of this hat has been wet more than once. I have soaked it to just cool the noggin off in Virginia August heat and it hasn't tapered or shrunk it in the slightest. I still can't tell if it is rabbit or beaver. There is no stiffner in it, and it is as floppy as they come so I am leaning toward rabbit. It does bash and hold its shape just fine even with it being so soft.

Wow! I can't believe that that ht has been so abused. It looks beautiful! I love it. I would swap out that leather band for a grosgrain ribbon. Send it off to John and he'll get you fixed up. I would put a true brown ribbon on it, not the Indy ribbon. But that's just me.

DR Ulloa wrote:Wow! I can't believe that that ht has been so abused. It looks beautiful! I love it. I would swap out that leather band for a grosgrain ribbon. Send it off to John and he'll get you fixed up. I would put a true brown ribbon on it, not the Indy ribbon. But that's just me.

I am not into the leather band at all. It never has been to my liking. You might be onto something. It is a really light colored felt and the Indy ribbon looking almost black may contrast with the felt. I nice brown ribbon may be just the ticket.

Beaverlid

I'm going to buck what others have said. I like the leather band. If it were my hat, I'd leave it.. but that's me. If you don't like it beaverlid, that's the important thing.

Randy

The leather bands never appealed to me. I think the hat would transform into something I would actually wear again if I had a good ribbon on it. It certainly has proven I can beat the felt up and it will bounce right back. Before I attempt to put the ribbon on it I want to ball it up and show how truly floppy the felt is and give an aftershot of it going right back into place like you see in the photos. I had thought about trying to put the ribbon on myself, but Dr. Ulloa suggested letting John @ Penman hats do it. He is probably right. This hat seems to be a possible vintage felt that will not taper on me and it deserves a little professional care. My ribbon attempt could potentially be disasterous. I will have to ask him about the turn around on this type of request.

Well, I've put on ribbon myself and I had fun doing it. It also makes the hat just a little bit more special because you had a role to play. I merely suggested John because most folks aren't comfortable working on their hats. Unless its a custom hat, I'll work on the sucker. If you don't want to do it yourself, though, John is the man to do it.

Dave