My AdVintage arrived... and is immediately going back
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2022 11:02 pm
It looks like my lifelong quest for the perfect Raiders SOC has a little farther to go. I ordered a Masterpiece grade "Hero" Raiders SOC (without the fake dirt/dust) from Thomas several months ago. We went through the entire order process and I followed his instructions to the letter. A few months passed and the hat arrived to great anticipation.
Let me begin by saying this. It was the most beautiful, perfect Raiders hat I've EVER seen in over 30+ years of Indiana Jones hat wearing. But the moment I put it on, I immediately knew something was wrong. It was grabbing my head like a friendly vice - just snug enough a fit that it didn't go on with any struggle, but too tight to have possibly been the measurements we agreed on. An attempt at a short driving errand a few days later resulted in a deep red mark on my forehead and a headache at my temple for a few hours after removing the hat.
I've worn fedoras my entire life. I *know* I'm just under a size 60 (and please hold off on making fun of my head size for another time.) We'd agreed that 59.8 (598mm) was the proper size to allow for comfort and slight roominess to account for the leather sweatband shrinking naturally over time to 59.7, around where it's snug but not torture on my head.
I e-mailed Thomas and we exchanged a few messages. He wanted me to send the hat back to Germany where he would evaluate it and determine if he'd gotten the measurement wrong, which he stated "is unlikely." If the measurement turned out to be correct on his end, I'm not sure what my options would have been. I told him that wasn't an ideal solution, because if I'm going to be stuck with a hat I cannot wear, I don't want to send it around the world in 80 days on my dime twice over.
Hence, he told me to use a tape measure on one of my hat stretchers and size the stretcher to 598mm and see if it fit in the hat. Of course, it did not without a lot of coaxing/force and the result was a very torqued and janky-looking fedora. I'm now sending the hat back and Thomas has stated he will remake the entire hat again. I suspected that a number had gotten transposed in the making of the hat (589mm instead of the correct 598mm), so I set the stretcher to 589mm, and wouldn't you know it - the stretcher fit perfectly into the hat.
To paraphrase Harrison Ford in Last Crusade, "We're turning around. They're taking the hat back to Germany...." I'm bummed, admittedly, but there's nothing for it. As Ford also said once, "It's just another useless experience."
Let me begin by saying this. It was the most beautiful, perfect Raiders hat I've EVER seen in over 30+ years of Indiana Jones hat wearing. But the moment I put it on, I immediately knew something was wrong. It was grabbing my head like a friendly vice - just snug enough a fit that it didn't go on with any struggle, but too tight to have possibly been the measurements we agreed on. An attempt at a short driving errand a few days later resulted in a deep red mark on my forehead and a headache at my temple for a few hours after removing the hat.
I've worn fedoras my entire life. I *know* I'm just under a size 60 (and please hold off on making fun of my head size for another time.) We'd agreed that 59.8 (598mm) was the proper size to allow for comfort and slight roominess to account for the leather sweatband shrinking naturally over time to 59.7, around where it's snug but not torture on my head.
I e-mailed Thomas and we exchanged a few messages. He wanted me to send the hat back to Germany where he would evaluate it and determine if he'd gotten the measurement wrong, which he stated "is unlikely." If the measurement turned out to be correct on his end, I'm not sure what my options would have been. I told him that wasn't an ideal solution, because if I'm going to be stuck with a hat I cannot wear, I don't want to send it around the world in 80 days on my dime twice over.
Hence, he told me to use a tape measure on one of my hat stretchers and size the stretcher to 598mm and see if it fit in the hat. Of course, it did not without a lot of coaxing/force and the result was a very torqued and janky-looking fedora. I'm now sending the hat back and Thomas has stated he will remake the entire hat again. I suspected that a number had gotten transposed in the making of the hat (589mm instead of the correct 598mm), so I set the stretcher to 589mm, and wouldn't you know it - the stretcher fit perfectly into the hat.
To paraphrase Harrison Ford in Last Crusade, "We're turning around. They're taking the hat back to Germany...." I'm bummed, admittedly, but there's nothing for it. As Ford also said once, "It's just another useless experience."
) and it also felt quit snug when I put on the first time. I got a hat stretcher and stretched it a bit overnight after steaming the sweatband. 