7 1/4 is not 7 1/4

I have really become a very big baseball hat fan as of late. I've always loved wearing hats, but i rarely have represented any professional sports "team" hat until i got both my black/white pinstripe A's hat and my white/black pinstripe Giants hat. I know right, no loyalty to any one team? well. i love both bay area baseball teams and if anyone thinks that's wrong then those are the people that watch only ONE game of each sport and that's their own team; if they watch any other team then they are being hypocrites.

anyhow, i digress from my point. so as the giants won the world series i wanted to buy the Giants World Series Hat that the players wore during the series:

Now here's the dilemna that i faced.

My white giants hat size is 7 1/4

My black A's hat size is 7 1/2

I've shopped for hats before and for some reason 7 1/4 is way too tight when I try them on so I went online and ordered a 7 3/8 size for the hat above. Perfect compromise between the two right? Well when I finally got the hat, the 7 3/8 is too loose!

Now this is weird because the 7 1/2 and the 7 1/4 both fit perfectly on my head, but for some reason when I buy the 7 3/8 (in between both sizes above) it ends up being too loose?

There are few explanations that I've theorized for this:

1. When i got my A's hat, my head must have been larger?!?! as I have grown weight throughout the years and as I was trimming weight the hat was accidentally washed once and shrunk to what my head size is now?

2. The White Giants hat was really tight a long time ago but has now form fitted to my head to be the perfect size?

3. New Era has no idea what they are doing when they are making hats.

Well, now i was forced to go into the store (at great mall) and try to exchange it for a hat that was my size. I went to the 7 3/8's and of course, they were still very loose (i could fit both of my thumbs underneath the hat and wiggle around. Then I went and tried the 7 1/4's and it was VERY tight. I mean I could fit into the hat but it felt like it was pulling on my eyebrows (maybe it would keep me awake and attentive?)

So i asked the store clerk if such a size between 7 1/4 and 7 3/8's existed (7 5/16?!?!) but he said no to my disappointment. But he told me to do what most gangsta's er... i mean... store patrons do at the store, which is try on every single damn hat of the same size to see which one fits because apparently, no two hats are made the same: (see reason 3 above)

I tried on every black-billed Giants World Series Hat in the store from size 7 3/8 to 7 1/4 (it helps that i got into the store right when they opened.... not that many people) and nothing seemed to fit although I did see what the guy was saying. Some 7 1/4's were tighter than others but none of the 3/8's seemed to fit me until I found the LAST 7 1/4 on the rack. Slipped it on, and WOW!!!!!!! it fit!!!!! PERFECTLY!!!!!!!! just the right snug with no pull or uncomfortable squeeze. he was right!!! and my theory was correct! the hat makers don't know what they are doing. I looked underneath and it said Made in USA so of course. it made sense right then and there.

So what was the lesson of my lengthy story about my hat? Is that never order a hat online. because as the title of this post states: 7 1/4 is not 7 1/4. It's "close enough" as Made in USA usually goes =P and if you have a weird head like I do and you wish to purchase a hat, learn from me. Be gangsta about it and try every possible hat you can because you never know, you might find the exact one that fits you.

I am adding hat's to my list of items that are very picky to me when it comes to buying. the only other thing that's on that list is sunglasses. ironically enough both items involve my abnormally sized head.

From Pics of Me