Hats....

The Austrian trachten might be something you'd be interested in. I have one with a small brim, but it is not a pork pie. More like a short-brimmed fedora Sinatra would wear.

Goorin make a lot of hats, including pork pies, if you're looking for a mass produced brand. I don't venture into high end, bespoke, MTM, milinery, so good luck with finding what you're after. ;]

Optimo hats will make whatever you're looking for.

http://www.optimohats.com

I bought a bowler and plan on getting a pork pie from here: http://villagehatshop.com/ They ship out. The hats are nice enough for the price from what I can tell.

See Will's post on Kelly Christy, which likely would be a good option for a more fashion forward hat like that.

Optimo, linked above, could certainly do it, as could Art Fawcett. I have an order in with Art right now. Here is Art's Sammy D, which might appeal to you:



Expect to pay $300 at the low end (of price, not necessarily quality) for a custom hat. Optimo and Christy will run more than that. You should get very high quality from all of them, though. And with custom, you can get exactly what you want.

Anyone have a suggestion for a good, innocuous summer straw hat? Should I just get something off the streets? Anything like the above shapes in straw? The sun's been murder the last day and a half...

I would recommend JJ for your first hat. You can be properly fitted and try on dozens of styles/colors to find what best suits you. BTW, pork pies don't offer very much protection from the sun.

Yes, for sun protection it's definitely form follows function. I recommend a Panama with at least a 2 7/8 to 3" brim.

I would also suggest checking out Makins which are of comparable styling and construction at a lower price point. And they're available at discount at their NYC workrooms from time to time.

I would strongly caution against doing business with the Village Hat Shop. They really stiffed me on a flawed hat, and this was after I had spent several hundred dollars on other hats at their store. The one in Long Beach, where I live, struck me as a very tourist-oriented joint with no interest in either customer satisfaction or for that matter ethical business practices! I can tell the story in full detail if anybody is interested, but that's the gist of it.

I bought several custom hats from Baron's California Hats in Burbank about six years ago for around $150 apiece. These were fedoras. Homburgs were $180. No doubt prices are up, but I doubt if they have more than doubled. These were for rabbit fur hats. Beaver or beaver-rabbit blends are, of course, more expensive. The hats I bought have given me excellent service and have held up well over much use since then.

P.S. Just gave them a call. The price for a rabbit-fur fedora is now $240.

There was a place called Hollywood Hatters that I went into when I was killing time before an early dinner at Pizzeria Mozza in LA. They seemed to have some decent hats for decent prices.

The price of $300+ is for 100% beaver. Optimo also offers some beaver-nutria blends, I believe, but I don't believe anything runs cheaper than $400 from Optimo. The hat I have on order from Art Fawcett is a 100% beaver summer weight felt.

A price of $300+ dollars for pure beaver felt would seem very reasonable these days. Back when I was buying custom fedoras for $150, pure beaver was $350.

Maybe beavers are becoming yet more abundant and the price for beaver felt is dropping. A friend of mine with a farm in Missouri is having an infestation of beavers that are greatly damaging her and her husband's four-acre pond and numerous trees. Efforts to trap or shoot the furry pests had so far been fruitless the last time I talked to her.