While it’s technically still summer until September 22 and our days are still in the high 80s here in Dayton, we’re all thinking about getting out our fall hats and flannels. We like to tell you how to be a model hat owner with every hat in a box, stashed with some cedar or lavender to keep moths away. This is definitely a case of do what I say, not what I do… I am far from being a model hat owner.
I always have a lot of work to do when I switch over for felt season. I pack some of my better hats, and especially anything with a long or beaver finish, in hat boxes but most of my collection is on racks collecting dust in the off season. And not a few of them need a good steaming to remind them of their proper shape after being crunched for six months.
I switch my hat collection out in phases as the weather gets colder. Most people probably don’t have enough hats that they feel the need to do this but I have around a hundred - don’t look at me like that! I work in the hat industry! It’s a hazard of the trade. I like analogies. My go to for grouping felt hats is flannel shirt, sweater, heavy sweater because we all know what weather we want each of those items for. So:
- When it’s cool enough that I consider wearing a flannel shirt, I pull out a couple of my go-to favorites and put away my bleach panamas and other light colored or beachy straws (as an aside, I box my panamas – it makes a huge difference in brim condition when spring rolls around).
-
When I start feeling the need for an actual sweater, I pull out anything with a flat, suede, or velour finish (i.e., all my short finish felts) and put away all my warm weather hats except for my darkest straws.
- When it starts to feel wintery and I’m ready for my heaviest sweaters, I get out my long finish felts and put away any lingering straws.
Caps can be switched with a similar categorization but, honestly, you have to have a LOT of caps before they take up so much space that you need to switch out in waves. They take up a lot less space and stack easily without much ill effect. I personally have somewhere around 40 that I keep out year-round. I keep seasonally ones in an easily accessible stack and out-of-season ones in a less convenient location.
Where ever you live, you probably have a lot of back and forth with temperatures this time of year. Every time the summer to fall season changes come around, my social media is clogged up with memes about the twelve seasons of Ohio - you’ve probably seen a variation for whatever state you live in. This time of year, we yo-yo between hell’s front porch (sometimes Satan’s armpit) and false fall, then bleed into second summer, and finally actual fall (which somehow always transitions directly into winter according to said memes but never actually does in real life). Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that when the seasons are changing, it’s best to leave your options open. It’s not at all uncommon around here to have sweltering days with not a leaf on a tree anywhere and a hard frost the same week, so I leave a straw hat or two out as an option late into the season.
>> PRO TIP: The absolute best hats for the in-between-seasons weather are synthetic braids and silk or cotton caps.
But the reason you’re here reading this is because you want to know how to bring your hats out of storage, especially the ones that you didn’t exactly take care of in the off season.
SUPPLIES
- a lint roller
- a hat brush
- a source of steam - a kettle is best but you can use a pot of boiling water
PROCESS
- Remove any feathers and other loose trim from your hat.
-
Lint roll the whole hat. Use as many sheets as it takes to get the job done. I rarely use less than two sheets to clean a hat, including the ones I clean weekly, this example required 7.
- Get both the top and the underside of the brim, paying special attention to the edge of the brim (especially important with raw edge hats!), and the crown.
- Don’t be afraid to pop the top of your hat – it will go back into shape.
- If the crown is too stiff to pop, peel off a clean sheet from the lint roller and lay it on the crown, using your fingers to push it into any deep imprints and get the dust out.
-
Apply a little steam and gently work any stubborn spots with your hat brush with the grain of the hat (clockwise on the top, counter-clockwise on the underside). You can pinch hit with a tooth brush if you don’t have a hat brush
- Watch our how to use a hat brush video.
-
Give the whole hat a little steam, being mindful of your fingers – steam can burn quickly.
- If the sweatband is leather, avoid getting steam on it. This is especially a danger with vintage hats where the leather can shrivel up and literally fall out of the hat.
- If your hat has gotten misshapen, let the steam soften your hat and use your hands to gently push the hat back into shape. The steam activates the memory of the shape the hat was blocked in.
- If your band has gotten wrinkled and isn’t leather, release any wrinkles by applying steam and gently smoothing with your fingers.
- If your feathers have gotten a little mangled, apply steam until the fibers release back into place. Feathers might look a little like a wet cat. Don’t worry, they’ll fluff back up when dry.
- For long finish hats, line up the fibers and show off that luster by giving the whole hat a good brush. It’s better to skip this step than substitute for a real hat brush (in other words, put that toothbrush away).
- Put all your loose trim back in place and your hat is ready to wear.
Now is also a great time to give that hat you haven't worn in a long time a refresh. Our Jane has been pulling out her felts and giving a few of them updates for the season with new feathers and trims from our hat bar. She inspired me to give this grey Stetson Runabout (sadly no longer in production) that I haven't worn in years a refresh. I added a camo interchangeable hat band, a feather, and a hat pin. More on how to do these kinds of updates coming soon.
