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When Baron Hats Master Hat Maker and Owner, Mark Mejia
was a little boy, he loved sneaking off to the movies.
And one thing he was most fascinated with was how many
times a hat the characters wore was more interesting
than the actor who was beneath it! 
This was one reason when he
was old enough, he left home
and searched out the
greatest Hat Maker in the
world, Eddie Baron, in
Hollywood, CA,
and became his apprentice,
subsequently taking over the
business when Mr. Baron
retired.
Since then hats have continued to became as famous as
the actors!
Baron Hats is proud to continually be a
big part of such Hollywood Hat Historical Lore with such classics as Harrison Ford's
"Indy Fedora",
Jeff Bridge's "Wild
Bill", Jim Carrey's "The
Mask", John Wayne's "Rooster
Cogburn", and Russell Crowe's, "3:10
To Yuma", to name just a few. And every
day they continue to create hats for Hollywood that
are destined to be future classics!
Of course one of the granddaddy's of hat fame is the
one Paul Hogan wore as Michael J. 'Crocodile' Dundee.
It is one of the most requested hats in the world, and
one of the most famous. The requests for this
 hat have
been overwhelming, but Mark didn't want to create this
hat until he had just the right furs, and most important,
the most authentic looking hatband, which is its trademark.
There are many cheap "knockoffs" of this hat,
and Mark felt that if he was going to reproduce one
of the most famous hats in the world, it better be the
best made hat in the world, especially since his studio
made the original! That meant only the best materials,
and a huge
attention to detail. Since the most unique part
of the hat is the hatband, Mark knew right away that it
would be cost prohibitive, not to mention lawbreaking,
to create each hat with actual croc claws (yes, those
are claws on the hatband, not teeth)! 
He worked on and off for years trying to find a solution.
Finally he found an amazing artist and craftsman,
Kitao Sakai, who could create perfect faux croc claws,
utilizing a special resin, which Kitao invented. Kitao
then individually hand-colors each claw to give then
an almost other-worldly realism. In tests, Mark brought
the faux claws to experts at the Reptile Department
of the Griffith Park Zoo in Los Angeles, and even they
were fooled! He knew he finally got it right! They were
expensive, since each claw is literally a
work of art... but worth it! Each claw is created one
at a time, inspected, then carefully hand sewn into
a specially created faux croc skin leather and pattern-dyed
hatband with reinforced "qualità superiore resistente"
threads imported from Italy.
To create the hat, Mark uses extra high quality pure
furs and forms them by hand (no presses or molds) on
exact replicas of the original blocks made for Mr. Hogan.
All this special care and work has resulted in a "Croc
Trapper" that Mark is finally satisfied as
being worthy enough to carry the "Baron Hat"
name!
The hat can be ordered in 100% Western Weight Fur Felt,
or the luxurious and almost "sinful"
200XXX 100% Beaver (as was the original hat in the motion
picture).
You can also order this hat through our special FlexPay
payment plan. There is no extra charge or interest for
this service, and your hat goes into production just
as soon as we receive the first payment, so you receive
the hat just as if you'd ordered it in one payment.
Please
note: Because each special hatband has to be hand made,
please allow at least six weeks for delivery. If you
need the hat before then, please
e-mail us for
details on our Rush Charges.
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