hmm... naja: kurz gesagt war das Ziel des AB einen wirklich guten, soliden, handgefertigten Hut für einen mehr als fairen Preis anzufertigen. Das Ziel mit dem AB-Dlx. war es schlichtweg den besten Indy Fedora den man für Geld kaufen kann zu fertigen, ohne jegliche kompromisse. Und DANN den Preis festlegen. So ungefähr, wie wenn man einen Hummer H1 mit dem neuen Batmobile vergleicht. Wer in Punkto Qualität absolut keine Kompromisse eingehen möchte, für den ist der AB-Dlx. gedacht. Kostet dafür aber - wie Du bereits erwähnt hast - auch einiges mehr.

Hier ist eine Antwort die ich gestern einem Kunden aus den USA geschickt habe:

The goal with the AB was to make a highend screen accurate Indy Fedora that would be available for anyone who really wanted one, while the goal on the AB-Dlx was to make the best hat money can buy. So, while both are handmade hats made from pure beaver felt, the materials used a quite different. Every little thing on the AB-Dlx. is custom made (except for the ribbon, which is used on both hats) and asside from the min. requirement to have such things made, the price is QUITE a bit more on the materials as well. Lemme give you an example: the sweatbands I use come from traditionally tanned roo hides, tanned at a small family owned tannery in Australia to match my specs. Then they're shipped to me, forwarded to my sweatband maker and cut before the reading tape is added to my specs. etc. etc. etc. While a standard sweatband is round about 5 bucks, mine cost round about 45 bucks a piece. With 100 sweatbands min. per order, that puts me back with 4.5 grand each time. Just for sweatbands. You can imagine, what 50 rawbodies made to my specs. puts me back with. Is it worth it? To some people it is, while other think differently and you'd be in good hands either way. Question is, if a high end Cadilac suits your needs, or if it has to be the Rolls Royce. Either one of them fine cars with leather interior etc. etc. and both will get you from A to B. Both in style. However the Rolls is STILL WAY more expensive the the Cadilac ;-) Now if it's worth the extra money to you or not, only you can tell.

Die AB-Dlx. Hüte fertige ich selber komplett in Hand. Ich verwende teurere Materialien und dadurch kommt auch der höhere Preis zustande. Ein raw edge brim heißt einfach dass die Krempenkannte nicht mit einem dünnen Hutband umnäht wurde (wie bei Boghart oder beim Aviator). D.h. ein bound brim ist für einen Indy Fedora nicht erwünscht ;-)

Naja, die Hüte von Steve wären dann aber auch deutlich günstiger...oder?

Ach ja: ca. 80% meiner Kunden kommen sind Amis (wie bei Steve auch). Ist also nicht standortbezogen, sondern richtig sich ausschließlich danach was man haben will und / oder was man bereit ist dafür zu investieren.

Gruß,

Marc

Ok, let's see... What is the same on the AB and the AB-Dlx. is the brand, the fanatism of the maker :lol:, the ribbon and on the CS Fedoras the block.

What's different... well pretty much the rest :wink:

Ok, lazy answer. Perhaps I should sum it up and then I can refer to this thread next time I'm asked (tomorrow probably).

Let's start with the rawbodies. Steve purchases pure beaver dress rawbodies in the color of his choice from his felter and if he desires, he can buy as little as a single rawbody - which is a great advantage! When I started looking into the few felt suppliers left, I picked the one I'm still using, as he was able to deal with the list of specs. I threw at him ("worst customer ever" were his exact words). I wanted a particular colored pure beaver felt with a particular crown hight, brim width, weight, thickness, stiffness in the crown, stiffness in the brim, water repellent cooked into the felt, extra dense (30% denser than standard - which is the max. they can do) etc. etc. etc. - you get the idea. Though willing to do as requested, I was asked to buy a min. of 50 rawbodies a time if I wanted them to be made THAT specific and of course the price went up, up, up with every new idea that crossed my crazy mind on my way to THE rawbody So, have to shell out several grands whenever I need new rawbodies. While the price has gone up a bit over the years, the Dollar has become weaker and weaker making the rawbodies even more expensive for those of you earning Dollars.

Ok, what's next... the pouncing. I spent LONG hours pouncing, going up to a 2000 grit to get a SUPER smooth surface, that is almost like silk or velvet. This doesn't make the hat more or less durable, however it adds a very luxus' appearence and feel to it (hence AB-Dlx.).

Cutting the brim is done equally not matter if Steve does so or me.

Sweatbands: the sweatbands I use come from traditionally tanned roo hides, tanned at a small family owned tannery in Australia to match my specs. (color, thinkness, surface) Then they're shipped to me, forwarded to my sweatband maker and cut before the reading tape (made to my specs.) is added as requested (curve, stitches, "lip length") etc. etc. etc. While a standard sweatband is round about 5 bucks, mine cost round about 45 bucks a piece. With 100 sweatbands min. per order, that puts me back with 4.5 grand each time. Just for sweatbands. The advantage of the roo hide is that it is a very dense and tough hide (which is why bullwhips are made from it :wink: ) and it hardly shrinks - which Steve found quite amazing after soaking his AB-Dlx. completely in sweat two days in a row without any ill effects. The disadvantage: you could get a decent blend rawbody for less. Every little thing on the AB-Dlx. is custom made and the price reflects that.

Liners: Both of us are using white satin liners. So the difference here is only the two color logo that I have put on mine and the smoother and denser bridal satin that I use (which again means 240 pieces min. requirement). Both are sewn in by hand in opposite to using hot glue or similar.

Blocks: using an English block maker for my Raiders blocks and the blocks used for the CS hats and having them made of heavy mahagony, I had to spend 300 Euro (450$) per block! This is plain said outrageous, which is why I had the last blocks made in the US from poplar.

All this summed together and added the German rip off taxes (I think anyone over here can attest to that) plus more than 70$ for the shipping, makes the AB-Dlx cost what it does. The weak Dollar does the rest. When I purchased my Optimos back then, I had to spend 1.2 Euro for one Dollar. Now it's 1.48 Dollar for a single Euro :shock: Or in other words: if the Dollar would still be 1.2 Euro, my hats would cost 330$ incl. shipping to the US. This would be less than a reg. AB WITHOUT shipping :shock: But alas, this is something I have no influence on.

I hope this helps, otherwise feel free to ask.

Regards,

Marc

Dann stellt sich jetzt die Frage: Welche Modelle trägt Herr Jones im neuen Film? Die Kitter oder die Delk Modelle? Oder sogar mal von jedem ein Modell?

Insgesammt habe wir um und bei 50 Stück geliefert (inkl. Prototypen).