Club Obi Wan

Does anyone have any photos they could share that would compare the color of the Akubra Federation IV to the Deep Sable of the Herbert Johson Poet?

I have always been under the impression that the Fed IV is a bit dark, but I'd like to see if the Deep Sable from HJ is the right choice for me.

I'm quite uncertain about the color of the lighter Sable HJ offers. Michelle at HJ has told me that Deep Sable is more screen accurate, but that the Sable is colored to look lighter, for a SoC appearance.

Would like to find a color that pairs nicely with my Legacy Wested, which is quite dark, and am thinking the lighter Sable would be too light.

Anyways, if you have comparison pics, I'd love to see them.

I don't have any pictures with me. Still, from my understanding, the normal sable, which is supposed to be accurately colored to what is on screen, has a bit of a greenish undertone under some lighting, but that said about early versions of the reboot, so that may have changed. The fed IV has a greyish undertone. The deep sable is supposed to be what was used on screen, as you mentioned.

Here’s my Fed IV Deluxe on the left and my HJ Crusade Poet Deep Sable on the right. Definitely more grey in the Fed.


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All Akubras tend to have a grey tone going on. I believe it's because a more budget dye that doesn't fully penetrate and color the grey-blue color of the felt body is used.

As for color, I believe the regular sable is good for cosplay purposes out of the box but I'm curious how it looks after some hours in the sun.

The color of the Federation drives me a little nuts. Akubras are such great hats, and a really good price, making the Federation such a great option for Indy fans, but the color just isn't there. Seems like such an easy thing for Akubra to fix...

As to color of the HJs, it seems like Sable might look most screen accurate due to lighting, but Deep Sable is more true to the color of the Raiders felt in real life.

Forrest For the Trees wrote:The color of the Federation drives me a little nuts. Akubras are such great hats, and a really good price, making the Federation such a great option for Indy fans, but the color just isn't there. Seems like such an easy thing for Akubra to fix...

As to color of the HJs, it seems like Sable might look most screen accurate due to lighting, but Deep Sable is more true to the color of the Raiders felt in real life.

Yeah, I don't think we'll ever see Akubra have hats that are a nice rich, deep color. We're stuck with the more muted, dull earth tones. And the Feds have to use felt bodies made for one of their regular line -- the Deluxe uses felt bodies originally intended for the Lawson hat and the standard uses felts for I believe the Angler. Akubra offers a few other brown colors as special orders on certain standard hats, but even if Akubra offered special order Feds to the Hattery I think it would be more difficult for the ladies to stock them given the lead time and the volume of Feds they sell. But I'd love to see them knock up a prototype in a different brown that they have, especially that cedar brown color. And I've said for a long time that if people want a Fed in a Cairo style then they may be better served with getting a tawny instead of the brown.

I always felt that the Akubra color Rodeo Brown had lots of potential, somewhere between the sable and the more red colors that appear in the Raiders fedora from time to time. I have an old Down Under in that color, and wish it had the crown height to turn it in to a Raiders hat...

Thanks for the pics and information! WOW, I had no idea that the Fed was so grey. I guess I don't see that in mine without something to compare it to.

I'm really torn on the HJ color. I've seen that greenish tone in the sable in some photos, but that may just be the photo. It's a tough decision... go for "screen" accuracy, or prop accuracy?

I'm still shocked at Indiana Nate's photo... I thought for sure my Fed IV would be much darker than the Deep Sable. Thank you for posting that, Nate!

I hope Nate doesn’t mind, but here’s a link to a comparison between his sable and deep sable. https://imgur.com/gallery/8EQkOtq" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Personally, I like the save look more, but you could wait and see what the 40th anniversary has to offer.

Wow, neither one looks like the Cairo hat color but the Fed looks to be in the more correct hue even if lighter. That deep sable looks really red in daylight. Somewhere between the two is the right Cairo shade of muted brown but neither one of these have it on their own.





Does Herbert Johnson remember or still have access to the felt and supplier they used before switching to the custom made hats on the Portuguese felts? Knowing the felt durability wasn't anywhere near the quality of their hats today, but colorwise and texturally, that previous felt looked pretty Cairo accurate.

That would be a nice option to get a custom HJ but done using their previous felt (A.K.A., the "cheaper quality felt") that used that color. Do they offer that?

Here's an Amazon link to the premade Herbert Johnson. It's out of stock and the hat's not all that pretty in these images, but that color (light sable) on that felt and with dust added, to me, is Cairo film and prop accurate.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Herbert-Johnso ... B0056SNPIK" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You may want to take a few minutes and read/re-read this from the main site page.

http://indygear.com/igfedora.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cury was the original felt supplier, but HJ moved away from them.

Years later Steve Delk was finally able to contact someone AT Cury and secure a felt cone to try and recreate the Raiders hat, but said the quality felt received wasn't very good quality, and colors WAY off.

Regards! Michaelson

I mean in terms of the felt they (Herbert Johnson) were using prior to switching to customs, not the Cury felt from years ago.

Ah, understood.

Regard! Michaelson

Per Michelle, the deep sable felt was color matched as close as possible to an LC era hat.

The hats just prior to the reboots were made by Christy's and I would not trade a FEPSA beaver felt for a Christy's felt on the basis of color.

Interesting. The HJ and Christys' looked similar shape and spec-wise but the felts didn't feel quite the same in hand. Did HJ verify that they were using the same felt as Christys' for their hats or just that their hats were being made at Christys' factory?

bantufo wrote:Interesting. The HJ and Christys' looked similar shape and spec-wise but the felts didn't feel quite the same in hand. Did HJ verify that they were using the same felt as Christys' for their hats or just that their hats were being made at Christys' factory?

I can't prove that the same felt was used across all brands that came from the Christy's factory, but I would be surprised if they were producing a significant number of different dress weight felts.

Michelle confirmed that the previous hats were made by Christy's....and also that both Sable and Dark Sable were matched by FEPSA to vintage HJ hats.

Hedji wrote:Thanks for the pics and information! WOW, I had no idea that the Fed was so grey. I guess I don't see that in mine without something to compare it to.

I'm really torn on the HJ color. I've seen that greenish tone in the sable in some photos, but that may just be the photo. It's a tough decision... go for "screen" accuracy, or prop accuracy?

I'm still shocked at Indiana Nate's photo... I thought for sure my Fed IV would be much darker than the Deep Sable. Thank you for posting that, Nate!

You’re very welcome! And I don’t mind at all IJJTM. I’m happy to take or share any photos of my ever growing fedora collection After 20+ years of wanting to, I’ve finally put the entire ensemble together. Problem now is, I can never decide which hat to pair it with!

I think if the ribbon on the Akubra were darker, the overall grey hue wouldn’t be as noticeable. Great hat though. Quality for the money keeps it a very strong competitor against the bespoke options. On the flip side though, the deep sable that Michelle uses is really spectacular. By far my favorite of the bunch.

Nate is that Fed IV above in Tawny Fawn? It looks to be on the lighter side, naturally unless it was sprinkled with something?

Texan Scott wrote:Nate is that Fed IV above in Tawny Fawn? It looks to be on the lighter side, naturally unless it was sprinkled with something?

I probably should have mentioned earlier that it’s a Fed IV Deluxe, but it’s definitely the dark brown and is un-altered. I took the photo in bright sunlight so I think that’s why it resembles the fawn. The deep sable on the HJ in the photo isn’t quite as rich as it is in person either.

P.S.

Christy's, Stetson (top, with pin), HJ....sable, tobacco, sable


Stetson, Christy's, HJ

JLee, gorgeous hats, all of them.

IJJTM wrote:Personally, I like the save look more, but you could wait and see what the 40th anniversary has to offer.

Yup, I am definitely waiting to see. It's a long wait, isn't it?

bantufo wrote:

...that's not archaeology Jr.

Hedji wrote:

IJJTM wrote:Personally, I like the save look more, but you could wait and see what the 40th anniversary has to offer.

Yup, I am definitely waiting to see. It's a long wait, isn't it?

Definitely, I wish they would at least give us a price at this point.

Michaelson wrote:You may want to take a few minutes and read/re-read this from the main site page.

http://indygear.com/igfedora.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cury was the original felt supplier, but HJ moved away from them.

Years later Steve Delk was finally able to contact someone AT Cury and secure a felt cone to try and recreate the Raiders hat, but said the quality felt received wasn't very good quality, and colors WAY off.

Regards! Michaelson

A few years ago, I was in Curitiba and looked at some Curry hats, and they are just not what they once were.

Interesting topic. I wonder how the hats have changed over the years. My first Federation from 2001 had distinct green undertones. Then my Federation deluxe from 2005 had distinct red undertones. So your saying the modern Federation hats have grey undertones now? I was thinking of treating myself to a new hat. May have to give that a think if it has grey undertones. May just go with the grey federation then. Let me know.
Johnny


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IJJTM wrote:

Hedji wrote:

IJJTM wrote:Personally, I like the save look more, but you could wait and see what the 40th anniversary has to offer.

Yup, I am definitely waiting to see. It's a long wait, isn't it?

Definitely, I wish they would at least give us a price at this point.

The suspense is killing me.

I know how you feel. On the bright side, I assume they’ll show it off at the very latest on the 12th of June, but they’ll probably show it off before that date, depending on supplies.

jlee562 wrote:P.S.

Christy's, Stetson (top, with pin), HJ....sable, tobacco, sable


Stetson, Christy's, HJ

Where did you get a Stetson hat like that?


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Here’s the two hats in artificial lighting.




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