Cool Felt

[feltfan]

In a recent thread, I saw this thought-provoking comment:

Havershaw, the Playboy has been one of my most-worn hats since it showed up. The felt is so thin, yet it doesn't feel flimsy at all. It has no liner, and nothing stamped on the inside of the crown either. I know some Playboys had liners and some didn't, and I'm not sure if mine did. It's definitely the coolest non-straw I have, and with the high temperatures we've been having lately I wear it a lot.

I was reminded to bring up the question, what sort of felt
hat do you find coolest in warm weather? Here in the SF Bay Area
we do find use for felt hats, at least in the evening, all year 'round.
We have a fair number of sunny summer days that are plenty cool
enough for a light felt.

But I have noticed that the hats I might have predicted to be best
for hot weather, aren't. For example, my heavy dura-felt Mallory
Premier is one of my top choices for hot weather. It has a relatively
thick, heavy felt. *But* it rides high and is a nice reflective light color.
Open Road-type hats, typically light in color and riding high are also
good choices.

Surprisingly, I find the extremely light, thin Borsalino felts to be less
desirable, apparently because they ride low like a typical fedora
and thus cover and keep warm more of my head. I should admit my
light Borsalinos are in relatively dark colors, too.

Some hot days I choose that Mallory or an OR-style hat over my
densely-woven 50s Stetson panama, which is a relatively hot hat.

Anyway, I find my thinking about hot weather hats is developing,
and wonder what you are wearing this summer.

 

[skillbilly]

Hey Feltfan,
Being from your neck of the woods, I understand felt hats in the evenings. I'm not a fan of heat in general and couldn't imagine wearing a felt hat in 90+ weather. Typically in the summer I wear an old straw Dobbs my grandfather gave me until that fog comes rolling in.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

The fit over the scalp is a big factor. When I bought my modern Stetsons, I thought I needed a 7-1/2. They're both teardrop crowns, and the domed part fit over my scalp like a skullcap, which was unbearable in hot weather. I salvaged them with some terrycloth stick-on sweatband inserts from Village Hat Shop, which have the effect of sizing the hats down so they ride higher, and adding some absorbency which is lacking in the modern Stetson sweatband.

The Playboy has it all. Light felt, wide brim, high crown with no liner, and a lighter color. Great summer hat.

 

[thefedorastore]

The fit over the scalp is a big factor. When I bought my modern Stetsons, I thought I needed a 7-1/2. They're both teardrop crowns, and the domed part fit over my scalp like a skullcap, which was unbearable in hot weather. I salvaged them with some terrycloth stick-on sweatband inserts from Village Hat Shop, which have the effect of sizing the hats down so they ride higher, and adding some absorbency which is lacking in the modern Stetson sweatband.

The Playboy has it all. Light felt, wide brim, high crown with no liner, and a lighter color. Great summer hat.

Hey, kinda like these, except Terry?

http://www.thefedorastore.com/FedoraFelts-tm-Self-Adhesive-Felt-Sizing-Strips-p/strips.htm

 

[DanielJones]

I have recent discovered my very thin Borsalino is not a warm weather hat. The beaver fur fibers being so densly packed that it holds in the heat and the sweat insues. Although it is ver pliable and feather light it is an oven on ones head in the sun or shade. This will definately be a winter lid for me.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I think you can get away with the right felt fedora if it's a dry heat. If it's humid, all bets are off.

Yeah, Fedorastore, the ones I got were called "Cap-Ban-Nu." They're kind of thick but they do the job.

 

[havershaw]

Well, I live in Mesa, Arizona - and it's pretty much hot here all the time. last week, we had three 111-degree days in a row. Somehow, the issue of which hat I wear still falls to which hat will go with what I'm wearing. I have an old Stetson Medalist panama which is starting to fall apart, but I only wear it when I'm wearing 40s Hawaiian shirts.
I have a fur felt Stetson Medalist (from the Canadian Stetson factory) and it is light as can be - very similar to the Playboy felt, only a bit less stiff (when I got it, it would not hold shape, but I wore it in a fierce rainstorm andshaped it while it was soaked through to the sweat and it's been fine ever since). It has no liner and a Stetson Medalist stamp on top and a tan sweatband. Those Canadian Stetsons are something else. I have another one that was too big for me which I reblocked (still have to get Art or someone who knows what they're doing to put a sweat, liner, and ribbon on it), and it has the same felt quality, though it's marked as a Royal Stetson Deluxe. I've had one other Canadian Stetson, and I'm convinced they did something a little different up there. The felt all has a super soft, floppy quality to it. Really nice.
But anyway, the Medalist's color is such that it doesn't go with everything, so it doesn't get worn tons and tons. Really, I never notice whether or not certain hats are better in the heat or worse. But then, I also don't own shorts...

 

[feltfan]

I have recent discovered my very thin Borsalino is not a warm weather hat. The beaver fur fibers being so densly packed that it holds in the heat and the sweat insues. Although it is ver pliable and feather light it is an oven on ones head in the sun or shade. This will definately be a winter lid for me.

This is what surprised me, too.
On the other hand, a super thin Borsalino felt can
fail to keep one warm on a cold rainy day because
wind chill cools the wet hat.

I don't have a fedora with vent holes of any kind.
I wonder if they work to cool things down?

 

[feltfan]

I've had one other Canadian Stetson, and I'm convinced they did something a little different up there. The felt all has a super soft, floppy quality to it. Really nice.

Didn't Biltmore make the "Canadian Stetson" felt?
Someone told me that once... don't know.

But anyway, the Medalist's color is such that it doesn't go with everything, so it doesn't get worn tons and tons. Really, I never notice whether or not certain hats are better in the heat or worse. But then, I also don't own shorts...

I think hot weather is easier on the skinny guys. I'll have shorts
and an "open weave" Dobbs on soon.

 

[havershaw]

The Canadian Stetsons were made in a Stetson factory in Brockville, Ontario. Basically, there was an already-existing hat company up there called Wolthausen Hat Corporation, which started up in 1904. In 1935, JB Stetson (Canada) bought the cmpany and started making Stetson hats out of the factory. The factory closed in 1970.
I also noticed that my Stetson Medalist must be really old - the sweatband is sewn directly to the felt - it's not a reeded sweatband. I only have one other Stetson like that, and it is an oooold one. It has the same little red paper tag that the Philadelphia Stetsons have...um, only it says it's from Brockville, Ontario.

 

[Michaelson]

I've experienced the same heat index with my 50's era thin felt Borsalino as well. It's a beautiful and comfortable hat, but when the temps go up, it comes off. Oddly enough, with liner removed, I've had good luck with my dark gray beaver AB by Steve Delk! That one surprised me!

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Visigoth]

That to me is the ticket: no liner. I have a thick Knox without a liner, and it's fine in the sun. In fact, all of my linerless hats are good. Take the liner out, and put it back in during the winter...

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I wish I could find where I read it, but I read that in high heat and low humidity, it's actually better to cover up with some pure cotton or linen. The point they made was that your perspiration evaporates too quickly from bare skin, and the cotton makes it evaporate a little more slowly for better cooling.

I wear long cotton pants and a long-sleeve cotton shirt for the sun protection in the summer, and I don't get overheated.

And of course staying hydrated is paramount in the dry desert heat.

 

[jake_fink]

When it came to warm weather wear I always thought this guy was a few grains of sand short of a full a bag.

 

[MattC]

Summer felts

They used to make them. Typically thin felt and no liner. Knox Vagabods, Lee Adventures, Champ Featherweights. They are cool--cooler than the old hard straws by a long shot. Borsalino made a great summer hat; a looser weave, so it didn't reatain heat, and a liner made not of silk or satin but a very light porus plastic. I've found a couple, all originally sold in Europe.

 

[feltfan]

Borsalino made a great summer hat; a looser weave, so it didn't reatain heat, and a liner made not of silk or satin but a very light porus plastic. I've found a couple, all originally sold in Europe.

Got a picture? I'm having a hard time imagining what
this is. You say "light weave" but I'm not sure what that
means in felt.

 

[MattC]

After I get home

and Art finishes some work on it, I'll post. Weave was perhaps the wrong word. It isn't as dense, tight a felt.