+ The Hat Quality

All Alexander Westwood hats are made of fur felt. We use fur felt because it provides the quality, durability, and longevity a "good" hat should have. Fur felt is reblockable, reshapeable, and cleanable - we have restored 70 year old fur felt hats. It also wears well with age if you prefer a naturally distressed look. Our fur felt is sourced through either American or European suppliers, and comes in three different grades:

• European Hare, (10X Beaver): All the great qualities of fur felt. This hat has a soft finish, yet has a rigid structure and feel. Moderately water resistant, and keeps your head cool in the Sun and warm in the cold.
• 50/50 Blend, (50X Beaver): This fur felt is a 50/50 blend of European Hare and Beaver fur felt, which provides some of the beneficial qualities of Beaver fur felt with the economical costs of European Hare fur felt
• Beaver Fur Felt (100X Beaver): The gold standard of hats. The short, barbed fibers of beaver fur felt means this hat is water resistant, provides a rigid structure, and has the softest velvety finish.

+ The Hat Color

We currently offer 45 color options!

• All swatches have been color corrected for accuracy, but there may be variation from your screen, and variation between supplier dye lots.
• All felts slightly lighten over time from sun exposure.
• Natural is only available in 100X pure beaver quality.
• Colors marked with an asterisk come from our European supplier, and are limited to a 5" crown and 3.5” brim. All other colors are from our American supplier and support up to a 4.5” brim.
• A limited selection of extra large bodies are available for 8" crowns and 5" brims. Please reach out if you are interested in one of these.
• Bone and Silverbelly: are approximately the same lightness, with Bone being a warm hue, and Silverbelly being a cool hue.
• Turquoise and Willow: These colors are particularly difficult to dye consistently, so there may be large variations from our supplier with these colors.
• Pecan and Whiskey: are approximately the same color, with Whiskey being a warmer, richer tone, and Pecan being a flatter, earthy tone.
• Moss: This dark green tone appears gray in dim or indoor lighting.
• Black Cherry: is nearly black with a reddish undertone.
• Dark Navy: may appear to be black in dim or indoor lighting, but is distinguishably navy when compared to black.

Too many options? Here are some AW customer favorites: - Lights: Bone, Sahara, Silverbelly, Camel - Darks: Burgundy, Moss, Whiskey, Steele

+ The Hat Size

We can work with a standard hat size, or measurements in inches or centimeters. In addition to hat size, we also recommend you provide your head shape for best fit (standard, oval, long oval). If you're located in the Los Angeles area, you can come by the workshop to get your head shape taken with our Conformateur device. Otherwise, you can use a semi-flexible ruler to take your head shape.

+ The Hat Crown

All AW hats start as an open crown and are hand shaped to the crown of your choice. Popular crown choices and their recommended heights are below. We like tall crowns so these are taller than typical crown heights that you would find from popular brands. We also like taking on new and interesting work, so if you have a different crown idea, let us know!

• Open, 6"
• Teardrop, 5.25"
• Cattleman, 5"
• Center Dent, 5"
• Diamond, 5.25"
• Telescope, 4.75"
• Double Teardrop, 4.75"
• Gus, 6.5"
• Twisted Peaks, 7"
• Cowpunch, 7"

+ The Hat Brim

The hat brim is important in maintaining the proportions of a hat. For the AW hats that we build, we recommend brim widths from 3.75" to 4.5", with 4" being the standard wide brim. All brims start as a flat brim and can be shaped to your desire. For a modern look, we recommend the flat brim with pencil curl at the brim edge. Brim edges can also be bound with ribbon in an either matching or constrating color, which helps maintain the structure and rigidity of the brim.

+ Hat Band

Selecting a hat band comes down to4 main options: Width, Color, Material, and Style.

• Widths: range from a 3/8" to 2" for standard ribbons. In our experience, a narrow ribbon (3/8") gives a western look, and a wide ribbon (2") gives a modern/dressy look.
• Colors: Matching, contrasting, or complimentary. Our stock on hand is ever changing, but we can always special order a specific color you want.
• Material: We use high quality petersham grosgrain ribbon in 50/50 Cotton/Rayon blend our 100% cotton velvet ribbon. We also have limited quantites of indigo dyed natural fiber fabric or patterned African mud cloth.
• Style: for narrow ribbons, we typically like to tie it in a know and leave the ends flowing and loose. Or we can style it in a bow tie type knot.

+ The Lining and Interior

We use a acetate based lining that keeps hair oils off the inside of the felt. For the sweatband we use lambskin in either an antique brown color or a natural untanned color. The sweatband is stamped with "Alexander Westwood," the hat quality "10/50/100X Beaver" and your choice of your name or a short phrase