Lord McDonald said:
How does the Hornets Hats 'Adventurer' fedora compare with other available hats? (adventurebilt, HJ). It's only £50/$100 and looks pretty good.
What would be the right colour for this hat? Light Sable?
According to Steve Delk, different hat companies in England use the same supplier, so the Christys may actually be an HJ with a different label and a much lower price. I know that the sweatbands are exactly the same, and the felt also looks and feels quite similar.
In my opinion (others may disagree) the Christys is the best inexpensive Indy hat. It may even be one of the best looking at any price.
As far as durability goes, it seems to be holding up well under normal use so far. I would characterize it more as a dress hat than an outdoors hat, though; if you need a rugged hat that can take abuse from the elements on a regular basis, the Federation IV might serve you better.
The Adventurebilt tops everything else in terms of ultimate quality.
The Magnoli/Adventurebilt/HJ is also the finest quality version of the HJ available today.
As far as LOOKS go, though, in my opinion you can't go far wrong with the Christys, esp. if you want to replicate a look from any of the first 3 movies. For CS, the block shape of the Fed IV is probably better.
On the Christys, the color Light Sable is an almost exact match to the old HJ's that were used in the movies.
Here is a photo of a vintage HJ (on the left) next to a brand new Christys Adventurer in Light Sable:
Here's another photo of a Magnoli HJ (also on the left) next to the Christys.
Jack
