Today I’m very happy to share some great news with you about a growth of the adVintage Fedora line-up. I would like to tell you about some new hat models that will be available in a few weeks and about what was happening here at my workshop lately.
First of all with good news come some bad. You might have seen my post here from late October about the visit of Marc Kitter, maker of the original Indiana Jones 4 fedora hat. In short the bad news is, as some of you might already guess or know, Marc is not returning to the hatmaking business. He’s well, don’t worry 😉! He’s just doing something different now. Good news is the things that made his work and the Adventurebilt Deluxe Fedoras so unique won’t be forgotten…
When I started making hats back in 2009 the AB DLX fedoras already were the measure of all things. So, of course, Marc never needed to be afraid of a new competitor, but I tried to become one for some years. Therefore the atmosphere was, let’s say interesting 😊 when we met in person. Since then some time has passed and I gladly had the opportunity to see Marc working on hats and even to work together with him. I was not surprised finding out that he’s a really great guy, but I was surprised that (I hope I may say that) a friendship developed.
Long story short… I’m am very happy and proud to say that Marc not only entrusted to me his hat blocks. It’s an even greater honor to me that he also gave to me his AB hat linings and sweatbands that were left, so that I can take care of reblocking and refurbishing Adventurebilt Deluxe Fedoras in the future.
That all allows me to announce the first new hat model, an adVintage CS Hero Fedora, made on the original blocks (even on the original Ford Hero block if you like), with the same type and colour of 100% best beaver felt. I will try to reproduce every single hatmaking and sewing technique Marc used for his fedoras here.
Marc really raised hatmaking to art. Of course, I am not Marc and adVintage is not Adventurebilt DLX…, but what I can promise is that I will do my best to get as close to the original as possible.
I’m also happy to say that you now can choose between the AB and adVintage crown block designs when it comes to a Raiders or LC Fedora hat. I will make some comparison photos asap, but it might take some time.
Furthermore all adVintage handmade hats will also be available in 100% rabbit felt in different colours soon. Many customers were asking for this, it’s just screen accurate for the first three movies. I will try to make the rabbit felt as durable as possible by pre-aging the felt and waterproofing it twice (inside and outsife felt), but you need to keep in mind that rabbit felt will never be as durable as beaver.
With all the good news, I unfortunately have to admit that I am a bit behind schedule with your orders, I’m very sorry. At the moment I’m working on orders from July and it will still take some time to catch up. If you want to change or cancel your order you can send me an email anytime, that’s no problem at all.
In the next weeks there will be plenty of work, but I’m happily looking forward to it!
I leave you with some impressions from my workshop and just three words, “Thank you, Marc!”
