Hi there! This is my first post, probably not my last. Nice to meet you all!
I am wondering about the Raiders hat - was it beaver felt? After reading through all the entire Fedora page on IndyGear, it seems that it probably was, but I didn't see it specifically mentioned. Not on the Vendors page, either. And the Herbert Johnson website wasn't helpful.
Going to try to put together a complete Raiders outfit - if anyone has any recommendations as to good current sources (beyond what's on the website) I'd be grateful to hear them!
First 3 films wear rabbit, the 4th was beaver. First movie were more of a custom built from HJ and the next two were off the rack Hats from HJ. 4th custom beaver from Adventurebilt.
The Raiders hat was rabbit felt as were both Temple of Doom and the Last Crusade. The only hat that was beaver felt was Kingdom of the Crystsl Skull.
I would recommend a thinner rabbit felt as well. They seem to get the "look" better than the thicker felts. The trade off is the higher probability of getting a hole in your hat. Happened to me way back.
I gotta say I love my beaver hat. If you are going to go the whole nine yards and get a custom built hat just go the extra yard and have the dependability of the beaver hide. The floppiness of the hat still looks screen accurate IMO.
BendingOak wrote:First 3 films wear rabbit, the 4th was beaver. First movie were more of a custom built from HJ and the next two were off the rack Hats from HJ. 4th custom beaver from Adventurebilt.
John beat me to it!
Don't believe everything you read on the internet, as some hat companies falsely promote that they provided the hats for the films. You can trust us though
While this quote below is referring to the hat used for Raiders from the Fedora section on the IndyGear main site you are right... No other part of that write-up gives the type of felt used for each movie. For us it's generally accepted as common knowledge around here
At the core of the Poet was a high quality rabbit felt from Cury, a hat factory out of Brazil
Bending Oak is 100% correct though. The first three were rabbit following by beaver for the fourth.
Great catch there
