Caps....
Anybody that's ever read one of my duck hunting posts has heard takes of my ancient Jones Style Cap. Well this past season "Hat" really started to show it's age and my fear for its continued use became strong.
I follow a FaceBook page called appropriately The Cap Department, which is a gathering place for some custom hat makers of amazing skill. They mostly focus on vintage style flat caps, newsboys, that kind of thing. I posed a question on there about the possibility of having a Jones made up. A young fella named Barry Simonds from Georgia messaged me saying he was interested in the project and wanted photos of originals to study.
I quickly dug up a few and in short order he shipped me a prototype. Some tweaks and changes, adjustments for size and so on were done. I also mailed down my precious original for him to look over. As nasty as it is, he must be a brave man just for handling it.
When he decided he had his pattern just right, I sent down the remains of my original childhood pair of Carhart overalls and some vintage flannel I'd dug up for a liner. Just a few days ago it arrived and I was stunned. We'd gone for an even more vintage cut than my old one, straight out of the 40s. You literally cannot tell this cap isn't that old, his work is incredible.
In the interim of pattern adjusting and prototype work he also made me up three other fantastic caps of various styles. Now this is all custom work so it ain't what you'd call cheap, but it's well worth it. These couple shots do not do it justice.
If anybody would like to get in touch with Barry about some custom work feel free to message me.
__________________
I was as virtuously given as a gentleman need to be; virtuous enough; swore little; diced not above seven times a week; went to a bawdy-house once in a quarter--of an hour; paid money that I borrowed, three of four times; lived well and in good compass: and now I live out of all order, out of all compass. Falstaff - Henry IV
|