Fans of "Breaking Bad" are calling for our best "Heisenberg" hat. Snap the brim up and remove the feather on this Dynafelt Pork Pie Hat, and you have our closest matching hat to the one on the popular cable show.

For those of you who are uninitiated into the cable drama “Breaking Bad,” Heisenberg is the nom de guerre of a character named Walt White (Bryan Cranston) who starts the series as a high school chemistry teacher who has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Wanting to better provide for his family after his death, Walt starts a crystal meth lab with a former student in order to make some quick cash. It turns out someone with a chemistry degree is a rare thing in the world of drug cooking, and Walt is doing way better than he expected.

When he learns he isn’t about to die and law enforcement and rival drug dealers are catching wind of his illegal activities, it become obvious Walt needs a whole lot more than a chemistry degree to get by in the world of illicit drugs. Remarkably, the show kept the tension and interest high for 5 complete seasons. In the episodes leading up to the big show finale, Walt started wearing a black pork pie with an upturned brim.

Since then, everybody wants a “Heisenberg.”

There are three great pork pie hats that will serve as excellent “Heisenbergs” for our customers. The most affordable option is the Bailey Darron. This is a crushable wool felt design that is durable, handsome and easy to take any place.

The black pork pie hat we carry that most closely resembles the hat worn by Heisenberg/Walt is the Dynafelt Pork Pie Hat. This blended wool and fur felt hat looks almost identical to Heisenberg’s hat when you snap the brim up and remove the feather.

If you want the classiest Heisenberg look, you gotta have the Biltmore Ashford Eleganza Pork Pie Hat. Made with genuine fur felt and given a high-gloss silken soleil finish, this fedora is light weight and very distinguished while still maintaining a tough edge with the brim snapped up and the feather removed.

Pianist Deniece Williams was in the shop during Blues Fest here in Chicago. Doesn't she look nice in a pork pie hat?

Our sweet home Chicago is world reknowned for its blues, most especially the annual summer celebration of BluesFest.

Luckily for us, Hats Plus is a popular haunt for musicians to visit. A slew of bluesmen and women were in the shop all week, and we were fortunate enough to have a few agree to pose for some photos.

Jazz and classical pianist Deniece Williams was trying on a few hats. (Not to be confused with the “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” Williams.)

Arkansas Blues Hall of Famer E.B. Davis (left) poses with Ken, our very own blues expert at Hats Plus.

Also in was E.B. Davis. Here he is posing with Ken, Hats Plus’ resident blues encyclopedia. Mr. Davis is known as “The Blues Ambassador.” He also has been inducted into the Arkansas Blues Hall of Fame. You can watch some of his performances on YouTube.

A pork pie fedora is called as much because of the way the crown is pinched around the top. Some might also contend they also taste way better than an actual pork pie.

Wait, I bet you’re wondering why they call some fedoras a pork pie hat.

Well. Because it looks like a pork pie…without the crust, ham or egg.

All right, all right. I kid.

A pork pie fedora features a cylindrical crown with a flat top that is pinched in

This is what an actual pork pie looks like. Please notice the pinched top layer of crust.

around the outer edge. That last feature looks very similar to the way an actual pork pie is baked. Check out the pictures, and you’ll see the similarities.

The pork pie fedora has been around for at least a century. Silent film star Buster Keaton was the

Buster Keaton was a hilarious silent film comedian whose great stone face belied a manic athleticism in films that had him cheating death in every frame. His flattened pork pie hat was his signature trademark.

most famous wearer of the hat in the 1920s. He would buy 20 or 30 at a time and spend weeks crushing them into his trade mark style. Many wouldn’t survive the weeks of soaking and wringing and ironing and stiffening he would put them through to get them just right.

Later, blues and jazz musicians, such as Lester Young, would make the pork pie a hat almost strictly identified as a jazz man’s hat.

Still popular with musicians, these days a lot of people love the pork pie hat. It is classy and modern. The stingy brim look is particularly popular.

Watching people tailgate, line up to enter Cowboy Stadium or cheer their teams, you’ll notice a sharp contrast between modern fans and fans of yesteryear. In 2011, the fans are wearing an assortment of T-shirts, sweatshirts and ball caps. Yet 80, or even 40, years ago, every game was a big game. Ladies wore nice dresses, and men wore suits, ties and a vast array of dress hats and caps.

Nearly a hundred years ago, everybody wore a nice hat to a ball game! You might not see many at this year's Super Bowl, but check out the fedoras, bowlers and more here at the 1913 World Series!

This photograph of the 1913 World Series at the Polo Grounds in New York is a priceless contrast to today’s fans. News service telegraph operators and fans are all decked out in great outfits. Just look at all the hats! Men are wearing fedoras, bowlers, newsboy caps, pork pie hats and skimmers (a.k.a. boaters). It was the same for football, except they’d add overcoats, scarves and gloves to the mix to battle the cold.

You might see a handful of stylish people wearing a hat other than a ball cap at this year’s Super Bowl, but wouldn’t it be fun to re-establish a classier look. Try it. Every trend starts with one person. Start with a nice hat at your next event and work your way down with the clothes as you feel comfortable.

Writer Nathaniel Cerf tries to set the retro fashion trend of wearing great hats to sporting events by wearing a Biltmore Eleganza to the first college football game played a Wrigley Field since 1938. It was the Northwestern Wildcats vs. The Fighting Illini.

As you can see, I took the first step while attending the first college football game at Wrigley Field since 1938. It was the Northwestern Wildcats vs. the Fighting Illini. (Does the purple give away my team preference?) I decided to go all out with a three-piece suit topped by a navy blue Biltmore Eleganza fedora. Let me tell ya., layers at a game near the Chicago lakefront in late November are the most amazingly wonderful thing. I was happy to see a couple other people in some nice ivies, newsboys and fedoras, but I seemed to be the only one to go all out in full retro garb.

If you are lookin’ to give it a try, basketball and hockey are still in full swing. Best of all, pitchers and catchers report for spring training in just two weeks! Our winter suffering will end soon!

Hats made from beaver felt are considered to be among the best made. The Pinnacle is considered the best dress hat made by Stetson because it is made of genuine beaver felt.

The felt for men’s hats normally is made from one of three kinds of fur: beaver, rabbit or wool. Beaver felt is considered the rarest and most refined of the three. Felt is made by matting the soft undercoat hairs of these fur coats and then treating them with hot water and steam, pressing them, folding them and repeating many times until the individual hairs are indistinguishable and a fabric has formed a tight bond. Mercury nitrate used to help speed up this process, but the fumes in poorly ventilated work spaces drove many hatters to insanity. Thus the birth of the phrase “mad as a hatter.”

As a fabric, felt is one of the strongest, and oldest, natural fabrics made by humans. Its strength helps to make it a durable material for hats. When treated properly, it can last for many years. However, repeated exposure to heat and moisture also trigger felt’s natural tendency to shrink.

After the felt is made and dyed, it is then blocked on special handmade wooden models. It is carefully steamed and pressed into place. The brim is crafted in a device called a flange. The brim gets a treatment of flattening with steam and pressure. Stiffeners are added to help the brim hold its shape. Many manufactures do not treat the crowns of fedoras and pork pies with stiffeners, but bowlers are especially prone to stiffening. Dress hats made of wool are more likely to see stiffener, regardless of their style.

Once the hat has its shape, it is sanded to a smooth and even texture. The inner lining is added next, along with the leather sweat band. Both items provide comfort and protect the hat. The lining is particularly important for protecting the felt (and any stiffener) from the oils and styling products in your hair. The outer hat band and other trimmings are added last.

Of course, this is just the basics of how it is done. Stetson will make its hats a little differently than Biltmore, which makes its hats a little differently from Borsalino, and so on.

We’re thankful for the fine fur felt,
And hats on which the snow will melt.

Stetson, Kangol, Dobbs, Biltmore
But mostly we are thankful for

Customers who share our passion
for proper toppers in their fashion.

For weekly greetings by regular clients
and visits by Chicago’s sporting giants.

We’re thankful for our loyal staff,
in all the ways they help and laugh.

So, as we take stock of the lives we’re living,
We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

“Does this look too big on me?” or “Why is this so tall?” they ask.

The height of the hat is the result of two primary factors. The style of the hat is among the key reasons. The crease of the crown is also a significant factor.

Oils from your head or hair care products can damage the lining and fur felt of a hat’s crown over time. So the crown of your hat needs to be high enough to keep from being damaged. Pork pie hats and bowlers have flat or gently rounded tops and are generally shorter crowns because they don’t need as much space to avoid touching your head. Fedoras and homburgs with a creased crown  have to rise up slightly higher to keep the crease from being too deep and touching your head.

So if you are new to hats, remember that the crown’s height serves a practical purpose and that it really isn’t as big as you might think. Then kick back and recognize how good you look with a hat.

You will never go wrong following these generally accepted principles of hat wearing. First you will need to make sure your hat fits properly. A men’s dress hat should rest about a finger’s width above your ears and eyebrows.

While checking in the mirror, you’ll want the hat to be centered on your head, with the brim perpendicular to your nose or parallel to your eyebrows. You will also want the brim of the hat to dip no farther down than your eyebrows. This way the hat won’t obscure your vision.

That said, a lot of movie stars and jazzmen make a fedora look awfully dashing by cocking it to one side. Other people like to wear their fedoras higher up and back, exposing their forehead. Some prefer it dipped low over one or both eyes.

And then there is the advice an old Chicago bluesman once gave a friend of mine that went something like this as he observed someone at the blues club wearing their fedora cocked back high on their head: “Only hayseed rubes from the country wear their hats up high like that. Real city cats wear them down a little over their eyes.”

The bluesman proceeded to adjust the guy’s hat for him.

Tyrolean fedoras were the first hats to be called a fedora. Men's hats have evolved over the years, but clearly the basic features of the Tyrolean hat can be seen in most modern fedoras.

Many people come into the shop with a preconceived notion that a true fedora must look a certain way because that is what their favorite actor or musician wears.

However, fedoras come in many shapes and sizes. It is almost easier to define them by what they are not. A fedora is virtually any straw or fur felt hat with a crown and brim that is not a top hat, bowler/derby, Homburg or cowboy hat.

Perhaps the most common fedoras come in two different crown shapes. There is the center dent, which has a pinched front and crease down the center. There is also the C-crown, which has a pinched front and a teardrop shape in the crown. From James Cagney’s “Public Enemy” to Johnny Depp’s “Public Enemies,” most of the hats you see will resemble these two styles. Brim sizes can range from Cab Calloway’s extra-wide zoot suit toppers to stingy 1- to 2-inch brims preferred by most men today who are between the ages of 16 and 30.

Considered the most sophisticated fedora crown design is the center crease fedora. The primary difference is that this hat has no front pinch. It is a more conservative design, often made of the highest quality materials.

Then there’s the pork pie hat. This fedora features a crown with a flat top, usually pinched in all around it like a pie crust. There are no side pinches at the top of the crown. It is a dressy hat with a playful side, especially when the snap brim is up. It is a design made especially popular by jazz musicians, particularly saxophonist Lester Young.

A subset of that design is the diamond crown fedora. Exactly like the pork pie in most all ways except that the crown is formed in a diamond shape. This, too, is a snazzy  hat, though perhaps not as common as its brethren.

To see all of these great styles of fedoras, come explore hats-plus.com.