fur felt in hot weather?

[Rick Blaine]

Lucky Ducks...

Down h'yar I'm lucky to wear even a light, unlined felt past mid-April & not again 'til November!

 

[Big_e]

Last summer I wore my straw boater except for days that I wore one of my cloth newsboy caps.
Ernest

 

[johnnycanuck]

This topic gets brought up a few times a year. Myself I wear felt year round. From -30 degrees Celsius to plus 30 degrees Celsius. But that's just me.
Johnny

 

[theinterchange]

Living in Central Florida, I wear felt year 'round. Have never seen the need for wearing straw during the summer months. [but must admit when I briefly owned a Penman last summer, it was THICK and HOT]

 

[dlvh]

Thanks for the input guys.

It sounds/reads like the Felt Fedoras can get a bit too hot for some of the warmest days in the summer months. I'll have to get myself a lighter colored Felt Fedora, seeings I only have a Black one and a Brown one...most likely I'll be purchasing a Straw Fedora pretty soon here, but I'm going to keep my eyes open for a Silver-Belly or similar colored Fur Felt, sometime in the future as well.

 

[W4ASZ]

Living in Central Florida, I wear felt year 'round. Have never seen the need for wearing straw during the summer months. [but must admit when I briefly owned a Penman last summer, it was THICK and HOT]

That is a manly thing to do. Even the burly partisans here in the frontier areas of Sixpackistan would be impressed.

 

[Engrishman]

I live North of the Border, and I have to admit that on a hot summer day, nothing cooks your head like a felt hat. I bought my first one during summer and came to regret it really fast.

Then I wore it again during winter, and all was well.

 

[Salty O'Rourke]

Here in the southeastern corner of the Old Dominion, I can wear my "regular" felts until mid-April. Then I have a couple of lightweight vintage felts that will get me into late May/early June. I start easing the straws into the rotation around mid-May and they get me through late September/early October when the felts come out again.

 

[Engrishman]

Here in the southeastern corner of the Old Dominion, I can wear my "regular" felts until mid-April.

I seem to recall a vague reference to the fact men would wear felt hats up to a specific date. The beginning Easter, I believe. Upon which it became appropriate to switch to straw.

 

[daizawaguy]

It`s related to humidity. In a dry hot climate (like Australia) felts are fine at 40 degrees C, but with humidity even at 20 degrees they feel uncomfortable. As soon as you sweat with a felt on, you`ll want to switch to straw...

 

[Blackthorn]

I miss Goose.

 

[daizawaguy]

Yeah...where is he? Anyone know?

 

[jimmy the lid]

check out this thread for more thoughts
and this one for a few more.

And, in the end, the upshot is this: wear what's comfortable for you, anytime, anywhere.

Period.

 

[Blackthorn]

Yeah...where is he? Anyone know?

After an absence of a month or two, he posted again to say that he had congestive heart failure, which made it difficult to even get up off the couch. He posted once or twice after that, and then stopped. He had such a great sense of humor.

 

[Burton]

Blackthorn, I've used fur felt hats in very hot tropical weather and find they work fine. Not sure anything is really "cool" in such conditions. I do use Panama straw hats for dressy occasions but I dont like them for tough conditions. As you mentioned being concerned about "ruining" the hat I suppose all mine are ruined by some folks standards but to me thats part of their charm.

 

[scottyrocks]

I agree. To me, a hat begins to look better when it takes on a little of its owner's personality, and that happens through wear.

 

[ScionPI2005]

I can't wear fur felt all year around. I don't know if I'm just sensitive to the heat, but generally once the temperature reaches the mid 70's (and definitely by 80 degrees), I have to go to straw fedoras or linen caps. All in all, I get about six months out of each year to wear fur felts, and then another six months for straws and caps.

 

[Scotus]

According to a blog I just read, straw hat season is from May 15 to September 1, when you can put your felt hat back on. I had remembered it was June-something. I just put the straw one on when it seems too warm for the felt.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Down h'yar I'm lucky to wear even a light, unlined felt past mid-April & not again 'til November!

Don't I know it, Rick. That's when I'm most active, from December to March or so, when it's actually possible to dress like a grownup, when it's possible to go outside and not have your hands feel as though they've been dipped in glue (from the humidity).

That said, I'm going to attempt wearing the light, unlined Resistol Open Road clone for a while this "spring." It's risky, but someone's gotta do it. Tell Mama I died game.

 

[Harry Gooch]

The hat liners with the plastic tops are killers in the heat. I removed the liners from all of my Akubras, and put them back in during winter time. No worries, even in 30 C heat.

I find that the felt nicely insulates my head from the noonday sun. Mad dogs and Englishmen?

Harry.