A question for you guys in rain country....

I would like to hear your experience with your felt hats and rain. What hats have held up? Which ones were effected? What tricks and advice do you have for us?

Fedoralover, dalex, etc.....give us the scoop.

Well, I for one bought my Akubra Fed while living in Portland, OR and worn it pretty much nonstop whenever I wasn't riding the bike for almost 2 years straight.
(I suppose a little extra stiffener would have made it street legal

Portland seasons are as follows: 3 month nice summer, 3 mos mild rain/drizzle, 3 mos of cold rain drizzle, 3 mos sometimes mild, somtimes cold rain/drizzle. Start over again...

The Fed held up great. I would usually just hang it on the door after coming in from the rain and it would be fine. The hat has yet to develop any noticable taper. The felt is weathering nicely to.
Part of that I directly attribute to the rain exposure, but no real serious fading due to weather.

About every 4 months or so I may re-steam the brim to get the real deep swoop.

As RK always says... "best hat i've worn..."

Even though I live in the land of sun and smog, my entire family is in Michigan. Last year I went to visit and expected (and packed for) coolish weather. What I got was persistent freezing drizzle. My lightweight Biltmore did not fare well at all. After a couple days I looked like Crazy Guggenheim, and eventually I had to get it reblocked. My heavyweight velour Biltmore has held up very well in the rain we've had out here, though my Cervo/Barbisio does somewhat less well. The brim on it tends to flatten out when wet, taking on a waiting-in-the-breadline look. My official rain hat for those occasional frog-stranglers that we get here in L.A. is not felt, but rather a wide-brimmed, fedora-crown palm leaf hat from Sunbody. Those are actually made for incliment weather and are damn near indestructable.

My Petersbros. (bullet proof) has held up extremely well to all kind of weather, be it sun, rain (for hours), snow or whatever. It still looks as right out of the box and I've really worn it.

My London grey Optimo has also been soaked a few times and it didn't really hurt it. Maybe it has become a little more tapered than in the beginning, but not much.

My chocolate brown Optimo however has tapered to a degree that I hardly wear it anymore and I've only had it for ten months(!). Though it has REALLY been abused, it is sad to see how a 400$ hat goes down the drain in less than a year. I'll reblock it myself in the near future (maybe 5 degrees off center to archive that "turned hat brim") and add some stiffener and / or water repellent (spell?).

Regards,

Marc

This is great info. Keep it coming.

What is your guys experience with Scotch Guard? I have lightly spayed my hats with good sucess, but I have seen some fedoras .....like Patterson's first PB....get darker from the treatment.

We've had close to twice the normal amount of rainfall here in Seattle over the past couple of months. In fact one rainstorm was so bad my trenchcoat became so saturated that the suit jacket and shirt underneath were soaked as well, not to mention everything in my briefcase. However, my Fed Deluxe took it all in stride and when I got to the office the only thing that wasn't wet was the top of my head. As Dalexs mentioned, there's no noticable taper

Got soaked

I got soaked TWICE today..went to the County Assessor and paid my property taxes (California prices). That was the first soaking!

We walked to the bank, and I was wearing my Graphite Gray light weight OPTIMO. It has the widest brim of all my Optimo's, with a bound edge. Anyway, the sky opened up and we were without umbrella, 5 blocks from the car. The hat got wet very wet, but it didn't "soak in", as most of the water shed off. That was two hours ago, and the hat is now almost dry to the touch. NO CHANGE IN THE SHAPE, DID NOT SOAK THRU, SWEATBAND AND LINER STAYED DRY.

Graham told me this hat was made from Nutria blend... Oh boy is this a nice hat.

I would wear this hat outdoors anytime, but when I anticipate rain, I take a heavyweight Optimo. Sorry , the vintage hats don't come out on wet days, although I know the would do well. I do have a vintage Cavanagh hat that I wear in the yard when I do gardening..and it has gotten as wet as if I had gone swimming. It takes two days to dry, but it doesn't loose it's shape. The Optimo seems more rain proof to me.

But that is what a good hat is for, protection from the weather and sun!

RAIN!

Here is a photo taken at 1:30 PM PST today showing me in the Optimo lightweight Graphite Gray hat IN THE RAIN. This is same hat I mentioned in my last post. Notice how there is rain beading up on the felt, and the flash caught the drops on the crown. The hat underside is still dry and looking again at the hat now that I am inside...there arejust mini beads of water I can just blow off! No Scotchguard here!

That is a good looking hat. I have a sample of graphite and it looks a lot darker than your hat. Flash and computers sure can skew color and contrast.

Unfortunately I can't see the pic

I have worn my Indy Brown Optimo in the rain probably 10 or 15 times now, and I'm very impressed with its water resistance. Water just beads up on the outside of the hat. Even big fat drops barely soak in. I think this is because of the nutria content, as my Federations don't bead it like the Indy Brown does. And, it still has no taper at all.

Matt, copy and paste this web address into your address bar, then you can see the picture.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid91/p050bdc72dfe37ec66268c4b903302408/fa6959bd.jpg.orig.jpg

Thanks Zohar

Oooo! nice hat.

Next time no dimentional brim for me.

Akubra Federation

Imperial quality felt. This is my trail/knock-around hat and has been in all kinds of weather conditions including, but not limited to, multiple down pours, sleet and snow. Sprayed with water repellant when it was new. The rain used to bead up on it but now it soaks in on contact and leaves dark wet spots. Water has never soaked through to my head. I ripped out the lining a few months ago. Shape is still relatively good but not completely un-tapered. I wear this hat hiking so it has been abused, which has made it very soft and very floppy.

Akubra Federation Deluxe

Heritage quality felt. This is my town hat and has not seen the kind of action my regular Fed has. I like the Federation line of hats and since I only have two I try to keep this one in relatively good condition. Water beads up on it when I am caught in the rain. Still has a lot of stiffener and the crown was blocked at Optimo and shows no sign of taper.

Akubra Overlander

Heritage quality felt. This is my other trail hat but it still hasn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t seen the kind of abuse my Federation has. Has been rained on several times yet still very stiff with no signs of distortion or shrinking. Water beads up on the felt.

Other

My other fedora is a vintage hat by Mr. Disney and is for dress occasions only. It has been treated with water repellant spray but is not a hat I would wear with foreboding clouds looming overhead. My Panama hat is stored away in its box waiting for next summer.