1911 Service Hat (aka Campaign Hat)

[oskar2ndchev]

If you're looking for a proper 1911 campaign hat (officially designated as the "Service Hat"), What Price Glory now has an improved model:

onlinemilitaria.net/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=155&cat=AMERICAN

The price is a bit steep BUT you'll be getting a quality hat that will stand up to most weather conditions. I have one of WPG's cheaper models and while it's served me well, it's definately weathered out quite a bit and soon I'm going to need a replacement. Time to start saving...

[rmli]

Looks great. But OMG! The price!

[oskar2ndchev]

Unfortunately good hats don't come cheap and especially those made of Nutria body. Wool felt is a lot cheaper but doesn't weather very well, losing its shape and being prone to shrinking in rain or heavy moisture/humidity.

[Radford]

For that kind of money, I want stitching that is evenly concentric, a brim that doesn't have a wavy edge, and a grosgrain band that is the correct thick/thin ribbing and is the right color.

Oh, by the way, the bow is off center.

Pass.

[CRMichaelis]

I think you can find German camo helmets cheaper...

[oskar2ndchev]

And there you have it, I suppose...

[oskar2ndchev]

Here's a better picture of the campaign hat. Looks like the hatband is just fine.

[rmli]

Looks like the hat in my Grandfathers picture (dated 1916), cord and all.

[oskar2ndchev]

Definately saving my pennies for this one- I have a friend who already ordered one so I'll get a good look at it. I like Jerry's stuff but sometimes you have to wait until the product development bugs are worked out- however, Jerry's a straight-shooter and he's always made good.

What's interesting is when looking at period pictures, for the most part I've never seen two of these that look exactly the same- they seem to weather and wear for each person a little differently.

[CRMichaelis]

Looks good - let us know what you think once you've had your mitts on one.

I'm going to have to make due with the $60 Jerry Lee special - good enough for my ever-shrinking budget! Plus, I agree with what you said - no two ever look the same! My next US purchase is going to be one of his wool shirts. The polyester one I have from AEF Supply is just not up to snuff.

Thanks for posting.

[oskar2ndchev]

No problem. The thing that drives the hat price up is the nutria- there's just no way around it these days. Wool felt is more common and you can use a bit of Scotchguard to give the hat "body" (but not a lot).

I've got a great cowbay hat I had done up custom made of nutria and it's withstood everything but it cost me some serious $$$ (back when I had some to burn). I'll give a more complete review when I get it (which may be awhile).

[Radford]

On the new photo of the hat in Reply #6, the bow looks like it's centered correctly. I like the color of the hat body, and the blocking and shape of the Montana crease. The color of the grommets looks great!


I just figure that for $300 you can sweat the details. The band should be thick thin-thin-thick ribbed grosgrain, not evenly ribbed grosgrain. This photo of an original shows what I mean:





Here's a close-up:





Also, the stitch rows should be evenly spaced, and the stitches themselves should be even with each other. It is as if the original was sewed on a five needle machine:





On the original, the joins where the stitches start and end are at the center rear of the brim. On the repro, they are spread out on the left side of the brim.





The thick thin-thin- thick ribbing is not exclusive to G.I. Service Hats. Here is a private purchase Officer's quality Stetson:





Here is a private purchase hat from Fort Sill:





When I was restoring my original 1926 dated Service Hat, I had trouble finding the right ribbing, so I used evenly ribbed grosgrain:





Here are all four hats together for comparison:






The WW1 original is almost mustard colored, but I figure with millions of hats made there was certain to be some variation in color on both the hat body and the band.


The new hat from WPG looks great! I just wish they would tweak the details to get it perfect.

[oskar2ndchev]

Interesting...

With a lot of this stuff, I'd expect quite a lot of contractor variation in color and some of the smaller details and the selection pictures seems to reflect this. Then there are all the private purchase models out there which makes it even more confusing.

As for the ribbon, I've never noticed it but then again, at the prices originals are going for these days, my access is somewhat limited. True, they probably should have made the effort to make the alternating pattern grosgrain ribbon hatband but I suspect that it's something that's not too common these days and probably non-existent in India, where this stuff is probably made. Just trying to get the Indians to get the overall details on something right is troublesome enough. I'm sure it probably could be done but it would no doubt raise the unit price further.

Unfortunately, such are the realities of the reproducing this stuff. It's all a work in progress. Who knows, with enough demand, perhaps it will get changed and if not, one can always claimed that they bought a private purchase pattern (lame but it helps explain away inconsistencies).

[hawkhero]

Found these three articles regarding the campaign hat:

www.oldmagazinearticles.com/pdf/Old%20Campaign%20Hat.pdf

Apparently the Army was planning to phase out the campaign hats before the war even ended. How odd, considering they stuck around for another 20 years.

Cheers.

--Brian

[oskar2ndchev]

Apparently the Army was planning to phase out the campaign hats before the war even ended. How odd, considering they stuck around for another 20 years.

My personal theory is that now that there wasn't a major war, or the prospect of one for awhile, the classic peacetime Regular Army asserted itself again and decided that it needed to set itself apart from the mass conscript wartime army.

It took another war to bring home the reality that its usefulness was over.