Club Obi Wan

Just wondering if anyone is familiar with this German hat maker.

www.advintagefedora.de

I did a search but didn't find anything on them. It looks like they make some nice-looking hats but I haven't read too much about them. I'm looking for a gray fedora and they have quite a number of offers in styles and shades, including both rabbit and beaver felt. Prices start at €189 ($273) for hand-made and €79 ($114) for a machine-made rabbit felt that doesn't look too bad.
Does anyone own one of these that could offer an assessment?

It appears that they sell everything to make you own hat. That might be a good resource for our european members.

Good find! I want to know who's website this is. They MUST be a member of COW to have all the information that they seem to have. I'd be interested to see if the actual product matches the photos. I'm so curious as to why this company has never (to my knowledge) been mentioned before

Freemason wrote:Good find! I want to know who's website this is. They MUST be a member of COW to have all the information that they seem to have. I'd be interested to see if the actual product matches the photos. I'm so curious as to why this company has never (to my knowledge) been mentioned before

Yeah, they go into a lot of fairly nerdy specifics and terminology that most folks outside of the indyverse don't use. And the gear section is really nice!

Maybe it's someone from a different fan site/forum.

You know, they look very accurate... and apparently, they sell actual Herbert Johnson Poets.

It's run by Thomas who some years ago offered the only HJs outside of London via his "Replix" website. He's a stand up guy and is taking the hatmaking very seriously. The first few that I've seen posted on the german Indy forum look very nice indeed - nicer than the website pics.

Wow !

They sell beaver caplines, ribbon....

I should make another hat

The price of the linning is ridiculously high though (10€), I got them at 1.5€ from my millenery supplier!

Regards,

Nico

I love the free typewriter clip art they use on that site. I've used it myself in the past.

the website says that the original KOTCS fedora was made of 100% rabbit fur

"small" detail that can easily be changed



nice site



CJ

Chiliana Jones wrote:the website says that the original KOTCS fedora was made of 100% rabbit fur

"small" detail that can easily be changed



nice site



CJ

It says that on all their hat pages, I think it's more a product of copying pasting than deliberate misinformation.

jlee562 wrote:

Chiliana Jones wrote:the website says that the original KOTCS fedora was made of 100% rabbit fur

"small" detail that can easily be changed



nice site



CJ

It says that on all their hat pages, I think it's more a product of copying pasting than deliberate misinformation.

that's what we call "lazyness"


CJ

Hi there,

just wanted to make my own thread about the "adVintage" Fedoras and mentioned that a discussion about this m(h)atter started already here.

Thomas started about mid October 2009 with his shop..and the german Indy-Fan community stumbled about his side round about 1 week later.
He is doing his hats handmade, beginning from the blocks to the sewing etc... ! If your german is good enough, just come over to the german
Indy Fan-site...http://indy.mamo-net.de/ ! Thomas wrote a short story about his "Fedora history" by his own, in the related thread.
Heres the link to his post, incl. some "backstage" pics of his workbench http://indy.mamo-net.de/popup.php?actio ... t&id=96648

I ordered a moon-grey Raiders (mid/end November) from him, 100% beaver, and the hat arrived yesterday. So here are some pics what i got!





If you want to see more pics just have a look here: http://indy.mamo-net.de/popup.php?actio ... &id=102742


I can't compare the hats in the aspect of quality with an Adventurebilt from Mr. Delk or Marcs AB Deluxe as i do note owne one (not yet ) but i think you get a absolutely great handmade hat, for the price he is selling them.

greetings from germany

Good to see these hats making their way out there. I'm currently weighing up my options for a handmade hat and was intrigued by these.

Great looking hats indeed.
Glad to see more and more quality offerings popping up out there.

If I lived in Europe I'd be all over this.


B

Thanks for your reply guys After some days of daily use i real can recommend to give the
"adVintage" made by Thomas a chance. So if you are looking for a affordable hand made, pure beaver,
Fedora, with short lead time you should contact Thomas

Heres a pic of the hat by daylight!

Looks fantastic! Is it stiff or floppy?

Being beaver I'm guessing more on the stiffer side like the Adventurebilts? Looks like a really great deal.

jepp, more stiffer than floppy. Correct.

Again i can't compare with an AB / ABD (not yet)! But i think you can't make something wrong with an "adVintage"!

Any updates from somebody else? Or some experiences to share with Thomas "adVintage" hats

I heard about these folks from Marc awhile back. As I told him, imitation is the highest form of flattery. He was wondering if using the Ad in front of vintage was one of the imitations. Looks like I started something, here, years ago. And that is NOT a bad thing. The more hatters, the more choices. If they get enough biz, that 12 week lead time will go up, along with prices. SO, jump while the kettle is hot. Fedora

I've got one of them. They are decent in quality and definitely worth their money. However, this does not extend to American customers who suffer from a, still too strong, Euro. John Penman's hats offer a smoother felt finish and the stiching work is also superior. Still, it's 100% beaver after all, the possibilties to combine colors are numerous and the waiting times are (still) short.

Let's keep this thread on track, specifically discussion about the adVintage Fedora, if you don't mind. Thank you.

Regards ! Michaelson

Interesting site. Just looked through it for the first time. This is the first site I have seen that offers the handmade Raiders hat, handmade Crystal Skull and the Herbert Johnson. The first paragraph about the Raiders hat is obviously from someone who is very familiar with this sites discussion of the hat. It has the wording of a Gearhead. The hats are handmade and attempting to be movie accurate. Things have come along way. Try and find a store like this 10 years ago. I bought my first Herbert Johnson from the Replix site back in 2004. Still have one in the box. I remember when whiskeyman (pagey) flushed this site out. This guy at Replix was responsible for me getting one step closer to Indy's fedora back then. Congrates on staying with it.
LLS

Hi everyone!
Just want to cast some light on this. I started selling the Herbert Johnson Indy Poets in 2002 with Replix.de (and Indyfedora.com), but it was a CS Adventurebilt I got from Steve in 2008 that got me into hat making. Haven't seen a hat in this quality before that and just wondered if I could make a hat like this myself. So I studied this board and the fedoralounge in detail, searched for material sources and experimented for more than a year until a (in my opinion) good fedora was the result of all this.

The reason I decided to start making and selling hats was that I wanted to offer an alternative to very good but pricy handmade fedoras to the European market, a European John Penman, if you will . The fewest can afford an Adventurebilt Deluxe (me not, too), but many want a more SA hat than the HJ.

I don't claim to be as good as John, Marc or Steve, I am definitely not ... yet . No seriously, I take my hat off to them. I hope to get near their quality in about one or two years or so. That's also the reason for not introducing myself here yet...

I originally wanted to call my shop Vintage Fedoras, but the word "vintage" is part of many other licensed clothes and I did not want to take the risk to get sued by some jeans manufacturer or so. "adVintage" is just a morphing of Vintage and advantage, which was not registrated as clothes trademark here in Germany.

Please let me take the opportunity to thank all of you, and of course especially Steve and Marc!
I'd never started making hats without them.

Best regards
Thomas

By the way, my bestsellers are the Crusader and the Raider in black and grey, not the CS fedora in brown

Welcome to COW, Thomas. Its good to have another hatter on here. From the photos, you seem to be on your way to where you want to be. I'd love to see some more examples of your work, if you don't mind posting a few pictures on here. Also, your prices would be great to know and your offerings. I hope to hear (more) good things about you and your hats.

Dave

Hello Thomas! Congratulation for your beautiful web site, it's a very interesting site with your hats, bodies felt, gear, accessories ETC. I am really impressed by this.

It's very good news for the fans.

Best regards and good luck!

Jason

Welcome aboard! Now that we know who you are, everything is good! Glad you popped in here! Great site too! Fedora

Huhuhu... All I could afford is the factory made "junior" fedora... I wonder if it can come in different colors; like the dark grey.

I just received a new adVintage with a CS bash. The first one I ordered was a little too small, so Thomas had to craft a new one for me. I'm happy to say that he has already honed his skills a bit. The finish is softer and the stiching of the liner is also a bit more diligent. Altogether, it doesn't hold up all too badly next to my John Penman and my AB deluxe.

Post some pictures of the hat. I'd love to see it.

Dave

DR Ulloa wrote:Post some pictures of the hat. I'd love to see it.

Dave

I'm rather inexperienced with this forum. So far, I can't see any way to upload images from my computer here.

That's because you can't. You have to upload the photos onto a site like photobucket and then post a link or the html code to view the picture here.

Dave

DR Ulloa wrote:That's because you can't. You have to upload the photos onto a site like photobucket and then post a link or the html code to view the picture here.

Dave

Jeez, that sounds comparatively elaborate. I'm not so much into this computer and internet stuff, so I'm not so familiar with the different possibilities to share pictures.

Well, if you are really interested: on the German Indiana Jones Forum (Indy-mamo.net), there is a thread with the name "adVintage Fedora". I've posted pictures of the hat there today under the nickname "Toth".

Hello Guillaume!

I saw your pictures on the German Forum, it's the realy great hat and I like your pictures with your 3 hats with a differents colors.

By curious, it's you on the Toth accompt.

Thanks!

Jason

fedoraiders wrote: By curious, it's you on the Toth accompt.

Thanks!

Jason

Well, "Toth" is my nickname on this forum and I'm the one wearing the fedora in the pictures. However, I hope you don't think that this is me on the avatar, because that's the celebrated French film director Francois Truffaut.

Thank You Thomas,
I received the beaver fedora about 3 weeks ago.
I like it, especially the coior of lining.

Nice lid Yoshinori! But you've got to post some of those cool pictures of you wearing it!

RaiderZee

RaiderZee wrote:Nice lid Yoshinori! But you've got to post some of those cool pictures of you wearing it!

RaiderZee

Thanks Zach ,
I am sorry to be late
There are some of pics

Ooh, me likey it very much. That is a sharp lid. The rest of your costume looks great too.

It looks really good on you! wear it in good health!

By the way, I like your jacket. Who made it?

Regards, Geert

yoshinori hatakeyama -

VERY nice hat indeed, great jacket, and nice gear all the way around. Honestly has to be in the top 5 best fitting gear I've seen on this site. I mean that both in terms of it suiting you VERY well and that the custom fit is dead on! Nice job.
I, too, like the liner on that hat and the solid look in the pics.


***big fan of the Danner boots, myself - as seen in the background

kiltie wrote:yoshinori hatakeyama -

VERY nice hat indeed, great jacket, and nice gear all the way around. Honestly has to be in the top 5 best fitting gear I've seen on this site. I mean that both in terms of it suiting you VERY well and that the custom fit is dead on! Nice job.

Agreed! I was about to say the same thing myself.

See Yoshinori, I told you you should post the pics . Great Indy impression, well done!

RZ

Ranger36 wrote:Ooh, me likey it very much. That is a sharp lid. The rest of your costume looks great too.

Thank you ,Ranger36. Nice to meet you.
I like my Tony Nowak LC jacket very much!
I like my Azuma's LC shirts ,too.

gwyddion wrote:It looks really good on you! wear it in good health!

By the way, I like your jacket. Who made it?
Regards, Geert

Thank you , Geert. Nice to meet you.
Tony Nowak made his indy3 jacket for me last year.
I like it very mch.

kiltie wrote:yoshinori hatakeyama -
VERY nice hat indeed, great jacket, and nice gear all the way around. Honestly has to be in the top 5 best fitting gear I've seen on this site. I mean that both in terms of it suiting you VERY well and that the custom fit is dead on! Nice job.
I, too, like the liner on that hat and the solid look in the pics.
***big fan of the Danner boots, myself - as seen in the background

Thank you for kinds words, kiltie Nice to meet you.
The color of the liner (old gold)is same as the color in the last scean of KoTCS.
I like it very much.
※I like Danner boots ,too. Especially "Dannner light" and "Explorer"very much.

Yojimbo Jones wrote:

kiltie wrote:yoshinori hatakeyama -

VERY nice hat indeed, great jacket, and nice gear all the way around. Honestly has to be in the top 5 best fitting gear I've seen on this site. I mean that both in terms of it suiting you VERY well and that the custom fit is dead on! Nice job.

Agreed! I was about to say the same thing myself.

Thank you, Yojimbo "用心棒" Nice to meet you
Your handle name "Yojimbo"means Japanese words?
If it is so, Yojimbo is written as "用心棒" in Chinese characters in Japan.
I am very familiar with your handle name

RaiderZee wrote:See Yoshinori, I told you you should post the pics . Great Indy impression, well done!

RZ

Thanks , Zack.
I like your 2003WESTED Jacket very much,too.

yoshinori hatakeyama, based on the photo posted above by you wearing your fedora and jacket, seen below, I truly hope you do wear it on a regular basis. As has been said, and I totally agree, you not only wear it well, but it looks as natural on you as a second skin.



WELL done!!

HIGH regards! Michaelson

I have to add a +1 to the comments here, a great looking/fitting set of gear. That hat is perfectly proportioned!

Michaelson wrote:yoshinori hatakeyama, based on the photo posted above by you wearing your fedora and jacket, seen below, I truly hope you do wear it on a regular basis. As has been said, and I totally agree, you not only wear it well, but it looks as natural on you as a second skin.

WELL done!!

HIGH regards! Michaelson

NICE TO MEET YOU Michaelson!!
THANK YOU KIND WORDS.
I TOOK PICTURES WITH FEDORA AND JACKET ON A REGULAR BASIS.
(The fedora in the picture is " LC" bash.)
THE JACKET IS DIFFERENT FROM BEFORE.

jlee562 wrote:I have to add a +1 to the comments here, a great looking/fitting set of gear. That hat is perfectly proportioned!

NICE TO MEET YOU jlee562!!
THANK YOU FOR "A+1".

Nice outfit Yoshinori...

regards
teko

tekors wrote:Nice outfit Yoshinori...

regards
teko

Nice to meet you , teko!!
Thank you for looking!

My jacket is made by riley barrie.(Tony Nowak original)
"LC" vintage goat jacket.

I have 2 more advintage fedoras.
They are "CS" bash.
Moon gray and dark brown.