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OK one dumb ?=are all felt hats crushable as

Alan F

New in Town
Messages
22
my new Borsalino is so nice--In Rome I sported a Brown Country Gentlemen which I crushed to pack
but the Borsalino I got there looks so nice--lady at store said sure crush the right way and she sorta lost me in translation

What is the right way and well are they all Crushable?
 

MattJH

One Too Many
Messages
1,388
All felt hats are technically crushable, but only some are meant to be.

The first kind I can think of are the rollable felts. These aren't meant to be crushed, but literally rolled. The ones I know of off the top of my head is the Borsalino Roller and the Christy's Of London counterpart. These are both fur felt.

The second kind I can think of are Akubra's pliofelt line, which is fur felt but treated to retain its memory. These include the Traveler, Casual, and International models. They are meant to be crushed from the top of the crown down to the base rather than rolled or crushed on the sides.

The third kind I can think of is the crushable wool felts you can find all over the place, usually made by Country Gentleman, but there are also some by Stetson and a few others. These are also meant to be crushed from the top of the crown down.

There are also panama rollers, but they're of course not made of felt.

As Lefty said, some thorough searches will yield far more information. Try by searching for posts in the hat forum with the word "crush" in the subject line.
 

Alan F

New in Town
Messages
22
My new Borsalino she seemed to indicate was to be "poked" out and rolled

The country gentleman i sorts crushed side to side to pack
 

HarpPlayerGene

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,682
Location
North Central Florida
Alan F said:
hmmmm
i see some posts close

need a you tube video on how to crush

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLkd1hF3Itg

Alan, the above link shows rolling of a Panama hat. Same process for a felt - IF it is made to me rolled (some use "folded" or "crushed"). Basically, you pop up the crown and fold half of it into the other half, then roll.

I have a Borsalino travel hat that is designed to be rolled up. There are some other models of fur felt fedoras which can stand this treatment. There are certain wool felt hats designed as "crushable". I don't consider it something to do to just any soft fedora.
 

Alan F

New in Town
Messages
22
Well I do not plan on rolling soon but I bought in Europe so I'll go back-in many years ha
 
Messages
10,524
Location
DnD Ranch, Cherokee County, GA
There was a demo on a hatter's site for either a Christy's Foldaway or a Borsalino that showed folding & rolling then placing in a tube. I can't seem to find it though, so it may have gone with website updated. I'll keep looking, I know I saw it recently when I was looking for packing a hat in my motorcycle saddlebags...[huh]
 

pplepic

Familiar Face
Messages
56
Location
California
Great Video

That charming woman on the youtube site gives an excellent example of rolling and unrolling a Panama hat. I like my Stetson Panama, but there's no rolling. It feels as if it had two cans of hairspray applied to it. That part I don't like. I always thought a Panama should be soft and flexible.
 

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