Warm weather hats

[tm3]

it is spring and a man's fancy naturally turns to ... golf.

besides that, i'm fancying a fedora for summer wear.

i've ruled out a panama as whatever i wear is likely to see rain.

my questions are

1) do the little vent holes that some hats have make a significant difference in feeling cooler?

2) can sweat stains be cleaned out? or just buy a darker color of felt to disguise them?

thanks

 

[Rick Blaine]

You want FELT for a N.C. summer?!?!?
You must be one cool character!
Have you considered milan braid?

 

[adamjaskie]

My favorite summer hat is a wide-brimmed "outback" from Scala. The brim is waxed canvas with a leather edge, the top of the crown is also waxed canvas with a little foam to hold its shape, and the sides of the crown are mesh. It also has a chin-strap and band, both of leather.

It's certainly not dressy, in the least, but I bought it for a week-long canoe-camping trip in August, so I wasn't really concerned with it looking great. Functionally, it's wonderful. It keeps the sun off my neck and face, and out of my eyes, and my head stays cool. It certainly has a very outdoorsy fishing/hiking/camping look to it, not all that appropriate for the country club or around town I would imagine. I generally clipped the chinstrap onto my PFD for extra insurance against it blowing away (we had some heavy winds; paddling a few miles upwind along a lake is NOT fun, especially when that wind is strong enough to push waves up over the prow of the canoe, and you're paddling as hard as you can and barely making any progress.)

 

[Aerol]

Tilley

Just one word: Tilley

 

[GI Joe]

I have my eye on this.

http://quakermarine.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=70&products_id=200

It kind looks like it came out of the '40s (to me).

Now when is payday? Bah, I'd just fritter the money away on things like food and shelter, may as well buy a hat!

 

[tm3]

i don't know what a milan braid is, but i'm here to learn.

i agree on the tilley (i have 2), but i want this hat to be stylin'. i won't be wearing it for strenuous outdoor activity. tilley is all about function, like for golf (there goes my fancy again).

i don't find my wool baseball cap objectionable in the heat, but it is very lightweight wool and unlined.

 

[Spatterdash]

I'll do a little advertizing, here...

Art Fawcett at vintagesilhouettes.com has a line of hats that are made of featherweight felt, well under 4 oz I think. They may be called Artlights, as that's a term I've seen around here.

Give him a call, he can make you the golfing cover you want.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Hi TM3,

I don't know what area of the Old North State you call home, but here on the coast, I'm pretty sure that felt would be out of the question for summer wear---vent holes or no. It seems to me that our local heat and humidity would reduce even the highest quality felt hat to a sweat-soaked blob in only minutes.

My grandfathers, both Tarheels, wore straw hats in the summer. I'm not sure what they did when it rained. I expect that they just let it rain and tried to keep their hat dry as best they could.

AF

 

[MrFusion]

My first thought would be a Panama (I'm working with PanamaBob now on one), but you don't want to go that route. So then I would have to agree with Spatterdash on the Artlight but having most of my family there in NC I think any felt would be too much down there! (so now I'm back to the Panama... )

 

[johnnycanuck]

Summer

1. Tilley...... any Tilley http://www.tilley.com/
2. Panama. Any day I hear about a chance of rain I take an umbrella. Just a matter of choice.
3. Akubra. I would choose one with eyelets myself, they do make a difference. http://www.everythingaustralian.com.au/displayproduct.asp?id=2&cat=Akubra, http://www.hatsdirect.com/cgi/products.cgi?group=Akubra+Hats My two favorite Akubra summer hats right now are the Cattleman and the Coolabah.

My two cents worth.
Johnny

 

[tm3]

i live in the mountains, so not as extreme heat as the lowlands.

i may have confused the issue by free associating with golf. i'm not going to be wearing the hat for playing golf (i have a great australian hat for that, outback shade i think it is called). this hat would be worn outside of course, but not for high level activity. think going to a weekend craft fair, or maybe checking out the brew pubs downtown on a summer evening and you get the idea.

maybe i dismissed the panama too easily? from my thread search and reading, i was under the impression that

1) panamas should not get wet. whatever i wear will likely see rain.

2) the quality panamas with tighter weave are just as hot as felt.

not true?

 

[Big Man]

I'm from western NC and have never given a second thought about it being "too hot" for a felt hat in summer. I have a Panama I'll wear from time to time in the summer, but usually it's just a regular old felt fedora. No big deal.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

I have found a felt hat to be bearable in hot weather, if it is a light color (Dark colors, like black, absorb heat. Light colors reflect heat; just like we learned in science class). Whichever you wear on a hot day, felt or straw, your head will sweat and your hair will get wet. No hat will keep that from happening. It's just a matter of what you find comfortable enough to bear. (Wearing no hat raises another set of problems.)

 

[Feraud]

I have found a felt hat to be bearable in hot weather, if it is a light color (Dark colors, like black, absorb heat. Light colors reflect heat; just like we learned in science class). Whichever you wear on a hot day, felt or straw, your head will sweat and your hair will get wet. No hat will keep that from happening. It's just a matter of what you find comfortable enough to bear. (Wearing no hat raises another set of problems.)

Well said. I completely agree.

Look for either a lightweight, light color felt hat or an open weave straw.

 

[Stan]

Hi,

I'm also in in NC, near Raleigh which is more-or-less the central region. I have straw hats for the summer and not felt. Often times, the straw is too hot but is essential for working in the field, especially when haying.

I have a two-tone (white top, brown brim) straw hat that's nice for when I go to things like the craft show you were talking about. I also ordered a panama from Bob a couple weeks back, but as I have yet to wear it during an NC summer, I'll have to defer to others as to how well it will work. Of course, I have hight hopes for it!

Later!

Stan

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Here in Houston I'll wear a felt year round too. Even dark colors since I really only have to go from the house to the car to the studio. If I'm going to be outside for a while I just go with a light color. How often do you even see straw hats in old movies, not very often. Bogart wore felt in the Sierra Madres! Man up and wear felt!

 

[Spatterdash]

Technical question from a felthead...

Why would panama hats be a problem in the rain? Is rain bad for a panama?

 

[tm3]

hopefully a panama expert will jump in, but, what i believe i read in an older thread was that if a panama gets wet it loses its shape and has to be re-blocked.

 

[MAB1]

I have 3 straws I wear for summer. A nice Panama Bob for dress, an old Stetson cowboy beater that I've revamped into a plantation style ultra wide brim, and a cheap golf gambler style that I put a pinch on.

I also have a linen newsboy cap I wear when it's not too sunny or stifling.

My recently purchased Akubra Riverina has holes but... has yet to be tried out it 90F weather. I may remove the liner when things start heating up.

MAB

 

[Big Man]

Well said! How hot could it get that wearing a hat would make any real difference. and besides, if it gets that hot, wouldn't going hatless be even more unbearable? [huh]