A tale of two Tilley's

Just feel good story about buying good Canadian products (the few you can find these days)

For Christmas I received a brand new Tilley Airflow LTM3 hat, a nice gift no doubt but the model I really wanted to replace my aged and well worn T3 was the cotton T4 which while missing the snaps has a considerably larger brim than the old hat. For the pale spawn of a redhead like me, a large brim is a very important feature and not having the snaps (which I use a lot) is probably a good thing, now I can't use them to lessen my sun protection,



I took my hat back on Sunday and after deciding on a natural coloured T4 I went to the cash to make my exchange, I casually asked if they had spare parts as the foam floatation insert had long since disintegrated from my old hat. One look at the rag on my head and the sales clerk said we'll just give you a new one. I knew about the warranty but had no proof of my purchase, one of the labels inside was long since gone, and I had no idea how Tilley defined worn out. I was still wearing it after all it couldn't be worn out, could it? After only 17 years? Nah!

Now I certainly didn't need two hats nearly the same so the sales associate/clerk/minion allowed me to pay the difference between replacing my old T3 and a Mocha coloured TH4 made from hemp I had chosen. While the two hats appear to be the same style the courser hemp and the mocha colour make them quite distinct from each other so I'm quite pleased.



Funny thing, if it took me 17 years to wear out one hat and now I have two, I shouldn't have to go back to Tilley until ,oh..2042 or so! I don't know how this is supposed to work as a successful business model but just the same I'm well pleased that what I thought was a extravagant purchase nearly 2 decades ago has played out so well. It does pay to buy good quality domestic products folks, think about that next time Wally Mart has t-shirts that cost less than a fancy coffee at Starbucks.

The best part was I even got to keep my old hat! Of course I'll get shit every time I leave the house wearing it. "You've got two nice hats, why are you wearing that thing?"

I went to high school with Karen Tilley in what seems like a century ago, nice girl, tall, pretty; I hope she doing well and that her father's company continues to prosper.

Never did get that damn piece of floatation foam, Oh well

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