One of those suppliers is Henschel Hat Company, an American company that has many popular hat designs to their credit, and one of their most unique designs is this little blast from the past civil war kepi, available in several different configurations. This review is about the Style: 191106HENDSO and is constructed of black leather (actually a dark brown color) and best follows the original design of the wool kepi that was worn by our American troopers of both the north and south about 150 years ago. I love this style of hat and I'm glad to see it is once again becoming stylish because this is a hat that is so rarely seen, people just love it and often have favorable things to say about it. This is one of those hats that can work well for someone who will typically shy away from wearing hats if they don't do much to enhance their appearances -- which is really what wearing a hat is all about.
This kepi design is a modification of the original French Kepi design from the same era that continues in wide use today around the globe, and this is a striking example of simplicity in design that is lightweight and uses soft garment leather for its short visor and smallish cap body. It has a cotton headband sewn in around the inside but the hat has no inside liner. Its flat disk top is a little narrower and sits a little higher than the four other brands of this hat I know about.
This is a hat that is loaded with character. The only feature of this hat that I don't really approve of is the little gold colored metal emblem of crossed rifles that the company attaches to the front of the cap. After carefully removing it by bending the inside tabs (like removing a big staple) it left two blemishes in the leather at the front of the cap. So in my opinion, Henschel should be thinking style rather than trying to conform to authenticity for this particular hat, and should probably just leave the emblem completely out of the production process. Judging from the comments of other buyers, the emblem usually gets removed anyway. I shudder to think what would happen if the emblem caught on something and was torn off accidently! Better to remove it to prevent that from ever happening.
Further, despite the hat industry's four confusing methods for measuring hat size, Henschel sizing conforms from one hat to the next for the several wonderful hats I own from this company. Henschel provides fitted hats in size small, medium, large, and extra large, and they provide charts for converting from European, American, and English sizing specifications. So before ordering online be sure to know just exactly what your head size measures. It is quite easy to accomplish and I prefer measuring in centimeters because it is the easiest and most reliable method. Measure using a cloth tape about an inch above your ears for the nearest centimeter and then use the provided conversion chart for converting it to Henschel sizing specs.
For example my head measures 57 centimeters at about an inch above my ears. I measure an inch above my ears because this is where I prefer most of my hats to rest on my head. Converting that to Henschel products would then translate to a size medium, and that's where most of my Henschel hats sit. However, most people who wear THIS particular hat (including myself), prefer wearing it down closer to their ears, and that requires it to be just a little bigger for a proper fit. So I ordered mine in large, which allows the hat to scoot down and rest on my ears, and it fits and looks just exactly the way I prefer.