Warm Weather Hat: Holds Shape, Water Resistant, Crushable

[deenis]

Here are a few more pictures of the Borsalino Crushable/water repellant. Picture was taken with a cell phone while exploring Montreal. A wet snow that turned into rain.

 

[John in Covina]

Interesting how the drops are beaded up on the surface, did they stay off and out or get soaked into the felt?

 

[deenis]

I shook the hat off when I got inside a building. Most of the raindrops rolled off but some of them soaked in to the outside layer of the hat. The hat did not lose shape and seemed dry enough. My head never got wet. Not bad for $189.00. The hat is not beaver. I reserve my beaver hats for nicer weather. This is my dedicated rainhat......deenis

 

[John in Covina]

I was just wondering, it seems like they could come up with a felt addative that could work as a rain repellant but not hurt the felt.

 

[carldelo]

...I grew up despising polyester and the thought of placing some on my body...

...likely not water resistant, but a poly material might take silicone.

The Joe Fedora intrigues me, despite not being quite as attractive as the Akubras. It seems to have gone whole-hog synthetic, what with the coolmax sweat band and & all.

The material of the Joe Fedora feels a little like stretchy fabric - not like polyester as you might imagine. The Akubra Capricorn is quite stiff, and has a bit of a crunchy texture when new - massaging it makes the crunch go away, but it does feel like plastic. Both are pretty convincing straw imitations, even from just a couple of feet away.

I'm not sure what you mean about water resistance - the material of either hat is completely unaffected by water. The Joe sheds rain well, and can even be washed in the sink if necessary. The Capricorn is a looser weave, so I guess some water might come through. But silicone wouldn't help - it's designed to inhibit absorption into porous fabric, which polystraw definitely isn't.

 

[Rick Blaine]

I was just wondering, it seems like they could come up with a felt addative that could work as a rain repellant but not hurt the felt.

Akubras from H.D. were once offered "Scotchguarded" as an option for a couple of bucks extra. I have used similar on many hats to no ill effect.

 

[John in Covina]

Scotchguard
I wasn't sure it would work well enough to consider.
For some reason I thought it was considered a no-no.
Glad to hear it has been used without ill effects.

 

[deenis]

I wonder if Borsalino uses something like Scotchguard on their water resistant line of hats. I don't see much information being put out by Borsalino regarding their hats. Pity. For that matter, they don't have alot of different colored felts to offer. I still like them though.

 

[Spellflower]

My Akubras don't need scotchguard to keep me dry. The felt alone keeps water out. Same for my better vintage hats.

 

[RobFedoraField]

ditto...

My Akubras don't need scotchguard to keep me dry. The felt alone keeps water out. Same for my better vintage hats.

my akubra's have never been treated and they seem to weather the weather ok. but water does asorb into the felt and I have to let it dry on it's own (NEVER USE HEAT TO DRY A HAT, TRUST ME!)

i've never been caught in a flash flood / down pour, but I'm sure that if I did, when I got home, I'd pop open the crown, snap up the brim and let it dry, that I'd be fine...

 

[Spellflower]

Sure, felt is not Gore-Tex (TM), plastic, or rubber. No felt will repel water indefinitely. The question is, how long will it keep my head dry?

I've worn my Fed III, Fedora, vintage Whippet, a Knox, and others in nasty downpours, and found that the inside liner is dry to the touch afterward. If I've been out for a long time, and water has filled my diamond crease like a desert pond, there may be some moisture inside, but it's usually not much more than perspiration would create anyway.

When I get indoors, I take advantage of the drenching to tighten up the crease or adjust the snap of the brim, and leave it to dry someplace cool.

So I see no need to "waterproof" my hats with any substance that may adversely affect the felt.

I especially don't see the point of covering a good hat with a plastic wrapper, as I see many in the Orthodox community do on rainy days.

 

[Yeps]

I started wearing hats primarily as a way to avoid carrying (and subsequently losing) umbrellas.

 

[jfruser]

Update: Peters Brothers "Custom Milan Straw"

Howdy:

I finally got to Fort Worth to take another gander at the PB "Milan Straw" (actually hemp):
http://www.pbhats.com/MILAN STRAW/Default.htm

I had them fit me for one of these puppies. I chose black, as this will be my "nicer" warm-weather hat and I have settled on black or black-compatible neutral colors for all my accessories from dressy-casual on up the formality scale. The style is similar to the pictures #7 "Indy Brown" hat (stereotypical fedora), but with somewhat less crown and an inward taper. I went with the maximum brim (in the 2 7/8"-3" range), a narrower black band (3/4"-1"), and chose for it to be mildly stiff, so as to hopefully survive my kids.

PB definitely took some time getting the size & shape of my melon down. There was a little less emphasis on the crown's shape, as he said we could nail it down and re-shape it on the spot when I picked it up. They will keep my head measurements and cardboard model for any future hats.

Wait time is in the 12 week range and I should get my paws on it around 01JULY.

If this goes well, I will turn around and order a custom cold-weather hat, likely a wool felt fedora.

This hat will not serve as something to keep my head dry. I have determined that my list of requirements is too demanding and will acquire one of the aforementioned Joe Fedora synthetic hats for inclement weather and warm-weather travel.

I'll give y'all my report after I have them in and have worn them a bit.

 

[byronic]

I was looking for a lid with exactly the same requirements, so I ordered the Wallaroo Havana, a Polystraw.
http://www.wallaroohats.com/product.php?proid=82&catid=8&sub_catid=&page=Havana
I expect to have it within a week, so a review and pictures will follow if anyone is interested.

 

[Richard Warren]

I like a coconut straw hat in the summer. Rain seems to have no effect. Don't know that they are crush-able since I have never tired to crush one. They are cheap.

 

[danofarlington]

Scotchguard
I wasn't sure it would work well enough to consider.
For some reason I thought it was considered a no-no.
Glad to hear it has been used without ill effects.

I thought that was to prevent spilling drinks on fabric. I've bought Bourbonguard, Ginguard and Vodkaguard, but haven't rolled around to Scotchguard yet. On the other hand, that's one liquid I'll never allow to spill out of the glass, so probably will never need it.

 

[Woodfluter]

Yeah, Scotchgard is a synthetic product. Anything that will repel Scotch is unnatural in my book!

Just to clear up some misconceptions hinted at here and seen elsewhere:

1. "I don't want to coat it in plastic!"
2. "To repel water, it has to plug up the pores and it won't breathe."

Nope, don't work thataway. What it actually does is increase the surface tension of liquids (well, those that have a lot of H2O in them anyway) at the interface with the fibers of the material. That makes water bead up into those nice big droplets seen previously in photos on this thread - rather than spread out and absorb as readily. It doesn't plug up pores. (There's similar misconceptions about some leather waterproofing compounds btw...)

So you say, felt does that anyway? True enough, but applications of such waterproofing will make it do so even better.

Will it hurt quality fur felt or change it in some way? Here's my experience: A light application or two sufficient to increase it's water repellent properties will have no detectable consequences whatsoever. Now if you apply repeated heavy coatings, I've found that it will make it stiffer. Sort of like the spray-on stiffeners in a can. But if you flex it enough, it will break down and the hand will return.

You expert hatters out there, feel free to contradict me! This is just what I've observed.

- Bill