Felt hats in summer..

[Lotsahats]

Rick Blaine wins the thread!

A

 

[-30-]

Does anyone remember when it was revealed that NFL Players used pantyhose to keep their legs warm during the 70's?

(Yes, my ex told me at that time that it did indeed keep her legs warmer.)


Regards,
-30-

 

[Rathdown]

Does anyone remember when it was revealed that NFL Players used pantyhose to keep their legs warm during the 70's?

The same is true when fox hunting.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

I use the summer months to enjoy Milans and different Panama's. I enjoy the change from one season to another. I also have light weight newboy caps for the summer month's. It's a good excuse to buy another hat.

 

[DJH]

I'm with you on this, Ed. Sure I could wear a felt hat in summer but it would be like wearing an overcoat on a really hot day - nothing to stop me doing it, but there are more comfortable options.

While I love my felt hats, a nice panama or milan is a change of look - and an excuse to get another hat as you mentioned.

For cooler summer evenings, a lightweight felt is often a good choice. An ArtLite or light vintage can be perfect then.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

This last summer here in Michigan was a record breaker for the number of days in a row over a high temp of 90+, I was very happy to have some hats to wear along the lines of straw or panama hats. However, I do admit and am guilty of wearing one or two of my OR hats before the very high heat came along, and right after it left as well. Even with wearing a straw or panama hat, I found myself having to use some tissue paper on the sweatbands to mop them up. I do not sweat as much as some folks do, but wearing any hat in hot weather is going to trap heat and cause some moisture on the sweatband. Keeping the sweatband cleaned off (even cleaning it off every so often while you are wearing a hat) in the heat should be all that is needed to be done. If a sweatband seems to be going out on you from wearing it in the summer, I would suggest you give the hat a rest a few days in a row, apply some leather conditioner on it, leave it alone and see if the conditioner is doing it's job.

I own no lite weight felts at the moment, but I am sure some that have vents would aide to some degree in the comfort department.

 

[John in Covina]

I wear a fur felt nearly every single day. Here in So Cal it can get hot and from midsummer on stay hot for days on end. I have both vintage and bought new hats. There are some hats that are vintage that are fragile you may see something that will warn you that it is fragile, the condition of the stitching, a flaking leather sweatband- these may let you know the hat needs restoration already. Beyond those conditions existing already I haven't had a hat in good condition actually disintegrate during use either summer or other season.

There are lightweight furfelts, and other choices but I will add that cowboys worn their furfelt hats year round and did things like use them as water buckets to water there horses, etc. Now I have some dress hats I would not use quite like that but will wear them in the summer. I have other hats that are vitage I wear as daily hats, same as some new like my Akubras. I don't super baby them but find that daily use doesn't make the shrink. A hat jack may help if something gets snug but you really should not be trying to change it several sizes up either.

For me I find that whether straw or regular in the summer it's hot and I will need to take off my hat and wipe my brow with a hankie.

Sweat has salt, water and body oils. Cleaning with Naptha will take out the body oils and dirt attached to them but the salt can stay behind, blotting with a damp (water) cloth can often remove salt type sweat stains. I have "rinsed" hats with cool water after brushing to get salt marks out.

There are threads about using leather products and preservatioves to keep a leather sweat band in good condition you may wish to read those.

 

[DesertDan]

If you lived in the jungle of the Southeast you would encounter a place where 'evaporative cooling' is but a dream, two words strung together in meaningless sequence. This is where mold & mildew spores out number people 900 m./1 and where people turn to powder at >30% humidity.

That high desert, it must be something else... literally.

Having spent much time in Georgia and Florida while growing up, I agree.

 

[danofarlington]

While I love my felt hats, a nice panama or milan is a change of look - and an excuse to get another hat as you mentioned.

It's the change of look I go for in the summer. A fur felt may be no hotter than a Panama or straw hat is in the summer, but the latter look more like summer, and in the absence of seeing other men with fur felts during that season (as opposed to what you had in the heyday of hats), I choose not to wear them then.

 

[cookie]

In the Outback and even round town plenty of Aussies wear felt in summer.

 

[150719541]

Some people wear fur felt in summer here in SLP (city in desert) even with heat at 100 °F , I never do it, I pass all summer in wide brim´s straw hats ¡¡

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

I wear my Mike Moore and TonyB Roughrider hats in the summer. I have one in Bone and one in Sahara. I don't wear them for very long though. I wore a few different Sunbody hats in the summer last year when it was 115 degrees F.

later

 

[Florida_Marlin]

I live in Florida, in the area some call the " armpit" of Florida. Hot, swampy, humid. About 3 days of Winter. I wear a felt hat all the time. I have an old Stetson 3x Rancher that I rebuilt for all my outside work in the heat/sun. Keeps my old bald head protected from the sun, and I can beat heck out of it and it just keeps going. It outlived an old Florida farmer, and I expect it will outlive me. As far as being hot, when I'm out in the Florida sun, I'm always hot, felt, straw whatever. I think felt or straw in the summer, it all depends on preferences. If I were a straw hat aficionado, I would probably be wearing them all year around. However, every time I acquired a straw the last few years, I gave them away or ruined them in a rainstorm. So, every time I get a hankering to buy a straw, I throw the money in a jar to add to my felt hat fund. Regards. F_M

 

[PHIL1959]

my wife and myself went on a months tour of Austrailia. Before going into the outback the tour guide informed us that if we did not have a hat, we wouldn't be allowed to continue the tour! we bought an Akubra felt down under and a Kangaroo Jacaru.Must say we found no problems wearing them in such heat.

 

[150719541]

Panamas & Milans

I think you are right, the preferences are ordering, for me is unbearable a fur felt fedora on my head in the hot days of summer even with short hair, the panamas and milans (calados & semicalados) are my favourite ¡¡¡¡

 

[Benzadmiral]

If you lived in the jungle of the Southeast you would encounter a place where 'evaporative cooling' is but a dream, two words strung together in meaningless sequence. This is where mold & mildew spores out number people 900 m./1 and where people turn to powder at >30% humidity.

That high desert, it must be something else... literally.

+1000. Da Swamp, as I call it, is truly a jungle. Your hands feel like they're covered in glue in the time it takes you to walk out to your car, your clothes stick to you in seconds, and you're coated in warm slime with the least effort. . . . Gah. No wonder I hate it.

Colorado was another story entirely. You could go out to breakfast early on a weekend morning in summer and run the windows down in your car, and be comfortable. The irony is that I didn't wear hats as much then!

 

[1961MJS]

... As far as being hot, when I'm out in the Florida sun, I'm always hot, felt, straw whatever. I think felt or straw in the summer, it all depends on preferences. If I were a straw hat aficionado, I would probably be wearing them all year around. However, every time I acquired a straw the last few years, I gave them away or ruined them in a rainstorm. So, every time I get a hankering to buy a straw, I throw the money in a jar to add to my felt hat fund. Regards. F_M

Hi

I suggest that you buy a Sun Body hat, they're made of grass of some sort and they're a lot tougher than Panama hats. I have four or so and wear them in the summer. I have one that I wear when I'm outside for a longer time, and it's sweat stained. If you wet/soak them every few months, they won't break.

https://www.sunbody.com/

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?35187-THE-SUNBODY-ASSOCIATION

get a few ventilation holes put in before you get it shipped, OR buy one locally if you can. They're heavier than a Panama, but they're also much stronger. They're sold out of Houston, so they're a tropical deal in a way.

later

 

[APP Adrian]

Fur felt hat vs no hat in the summer. Which one would you choose.

Hey guys, if you could only choose between a fur felt hat and going hatless. Which one would you choose. This is in extreme heat. Which option would be more comfortable.

 

[The Good]

A fur felt hat could be tolerable. For me, it is a decent option. I wear one sometimes during the summer, although not as often as during the fall, winter, and spring. I'm expecting to get a nice straw dress hat, soon enough, though. I only have one straw hat, which is more casual than I'd wear with nicer clothes, like a sports jacket, suit, and a tie.

 

[Fastuni]

In "extreme" (for Germany) summer heat I usually wear no hat. Much more comfortable. The Panama comes out only rarely.

A pomaded coiffure is dressy enough with a short-sleeve shirt and shorts or summer slacks.