Reshape An old Fedora

[James Miller]

Can anyone please tell me if I can get an old wool felt Fedora reshaped an if so where and around how much does it cost.

 

[KY Gentleman]

If its in pretty decent shape you could do it yourself. Just roll the crown out into an open state by pushing it out with your fist. Add a little time bashing it into your preferred crease and either lightly steam it with a tea kettle or spritz it with water (or both) and let it dry. You should be able to re-shape it however you want.

 

[James Miller]

Still Need help!

It's not the crown The brim Is what's goofed up. Were the brim meets the shaft it drops down I tryed steaming it and setting the hat rightside up on a table and It just does not work. Any help!

 

[cooncatbob]

It's not the crown The brim Is what's goofed up. Were the brim meets the shaft it drops down I tryed steaming it and setting the hat rightside up on a table and It just does not work. Any help!

Use an iron, maybe use some starch too.

 

[NonEntity]

Nature of the Beast

The tendency for the brim to droop on a wool felt fedora is one of the many differences between it and a fur felt fedora.

I have a 12-year-old wool felt Dorfman Pacific in otherwise excellent condition that I recently noticed just didn't look quite right. So I looked in the mirror and switched back and forth between it and several pure felt Akubras, one of which is over three times as old and has been worn MUCH more in all kinds of inclement weather. It was then that I realized that the DP had the droop problem of which you speak. It had happened so gradually that I never really noticed.

I have tried everything imaginable to fix it--including a homemade wire thing-a-ma-gig to keep the brim bent up, way up, until it dried--to no avail; the brim still slants lazily down from the bottom of the crown.

I'm not going to do this because it's just not worth putting another iota of effort into the old $40 DP, and I believe the Hat God is directing me to buy a new fedora, but you might try this:

Thoroughly moisten but not drench your hat with water, then spray it evenly inside and out with heavy duty spray starch. Crank up an iron to the very hot "wool" setting with full steam, set the hat flat on the board, and press down hard on the brim, careful to get right up next to the juncture between the brim and the bottom of the crown. Then, put the crown on the narrow end of the board and gradually rotate the hat around as you press firmly on the bottom of the crown. This should make that juncture very close to 90 degrees and the starch should keep it that way--until you're caught in the next rain. You may have to finess the front and back of the brim with the iron to get the look you like. Then let that sucker get bone dry before you touch it.

Since Ive never actually tried this, I don't know whether or not it will correct the problem, but it's worth a try. If the fedora has anything other than a "self" hat band (made of the same thing as the body of the hat), remove it before you proceed, of course, and stitch it back in place when you finish.