Care and Feeding of Men's Hats

by Cable Car Clothiers, Reprinted with permission for the January/February 2013 issue of Finery

Your hats will actually improve with age with proper care! This is a brief guide explaining how:
Touch your hat with clean hands; oils from your hands may stain a light hat.
When you put your hat on or take it off or need to adjust it, handle it by the front and back of the brim, never by the crown.
Unless your hat is “crushable,” flexing or folding your hat may eventually weaken the body of the crown and brim and make it lose its ability to keep its shape.
Do not pick up your hat/fedora by the pinch… it may misshape it. In a straw fedora the pinch will crack. In a felt hat it may split the felt.
Do not place hat on its brim. It may flatten or lose its curve especially when it is wet. Always hang it. If no hook is available, store it by inverting it and placing it on its crown.
Do not leave your hat in the car or in the sun as the humidity may cause it to lose shape and the sweatband, cotton, wool or leather, could shrink or distort.
Hats of any material may be sensitive to prolonged exposure to direct sunlight causing colors to fade.

Editor’s Note: Reprinted with gracious permission from Cable Car Clothiers: http://www.cablecarclothiers.com