Cheap hat cleaning and sweatbands.

[cptjeff]

Being a college student, I don't have a whole lot of money to spend on hats. I recently found a hat at a thrift store, and while I succeeded in reblocking it (the thing was crushed), it needs to be cleaned, needs a new sweat, and could stand a new liner and ribbon, but those would be optional.

Is there a place where I can get those without running up too much of a bill? For the cleaning is there a chance I could have a local dry cleaner do it?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Tomasso]

Check out this thread.

 

[Spats McGee]

I just got a hat back from Mike Moore at buckaroo hatters. He did a sweat replacement, stretch, clean & reblock on it. Very reasonable & I'm happy with the work. We also discussed the possibility of a new liner & ribbon, so I'm sure he can do those, too.

 

[Tomasso]

He did a sweat replacement, stretch, clean & reblock on it. Very reasonable

How much?

 

[Spats McGee]

Well, let me be clear. I realized after the last post that by "clean," someone might think I meant a naptha bath. No. He gave it a good brushing, took out the old sweat, took off the ribbon, stretched it, reblocked it, put in a new sweatband, and re-attached the ribbon. All total, $37.

 

[rmrdaddy]

Spats,
Thanks for the info. I know that quite a number of the fellas have made friendships with Mr. Moore, and his work looks wonderful, but his website gives no mention of refurbishment of hats that I could find.
I have a Champ custom quality hat that has a loose sweat and ribbon so stained that I won't wear it. I'd love to have it rejuvenated!
I've been meaning to ring him to discuss, and you've given me impetus to do so, Thanks!

 

[cptjeff]

I found this place on a hat store list, and they have great prices- anybody dealt with them?

http://www.hatlounge.com/

I'm thinking I'll give them a shot, but if anybody knows of them I would love to hear about their experiences.

 

[rmrdaddy]

Jeff,
I can check into it for you if you like. A friend of mine is a customer there, and loves the hats and customer service he gets. Pablo has musical groups perform right there in his shop too, and my friends' band has been a guest there a few times. My understanding is that Pablo built his business from a mall kiosk into a real store there in the Northgate Mall.
I hadn't heard that they had renovation services from my buddy, but, he's only been buying new hats. I would turn my friend onto vintage hats, but... He wears the same hat size as me... You all understand...

 

[marvelgoose]

I found this place on a hat store list, and they have great prices- anybody dealt with them? .

I maintain a hat store list and since this is new to me I went over and took a look. The pricing is strange. A Stetson Chatham for only $299.99 (!) and you wait 4-6 weeks for delivery. You can find same for $170 tops and in stock at several locations on the web.

They had a Stetson Nostalgia listed at $129.99 (a very low price) on the Stetson page but when you click on the link it is offered at a SALE price of $249.99. I just ordered one from Sterling Leather for $148.00 with free shipping.

Subscribing to this thread to get more input.

 

[carldelo]

Whoa----

I found this place on a hat store list, and they have great prices- anybody dealt with them?

http://www.hatlounge.com/

I'm thinking I'll give them a shot, but if anybody knows of them I would love to hear about their experiences.

HOLY COW - This retailer lists a Stetson Chatham for a whopping $300!!! :rage:
Full retail for a Chatham is around $145 - this place is clearly a raging rip-off.
Read some threads here and use a trusted source.
I trusted a vintage lid to an unknown refurbisher in NYC and it was destroyed - caveat emptor!

 

[tonyb]

I'll say it again ...

Properly refurbishing an old hat can be as much or more work as making an all-new one. About all that would make it any easier is that the felt body on an existing hat wouldn't require the level of finishing a new body would. What would make it more difficult includes (for a start), stripping the old hat down; cleaning the felt (quite the challenge, often); reinforcing the old body at its weak points (being handled by the crown a few thousand times will do that to a hat); getting it on a block without tearing it (it'll happen); replacing the trashed-out pieces (ribbon, frequently; sweatband, almost always; liner, sometimes); et cetera, et cetera.

Most hatters would rather make new hats because it's generally more pleasant and more worth the time invested. Customers might balk (rightly, perhaps, depending on the particulars) at spending what a hatter might reasonably ask for all the effort and materials involved. But a truly refurbished old hat is, by my way of seeing things, essentially a new hat, built around an old hat body. If you can get all that done for less than a hundred bucks, know that the hatter is giving you a bargain.

 

[tonyb]

Well, let me be clear. I realized after the last post that by "clean," someone might think I meant a naptha bath. No. He gave it a good brushing, took out the old sweat, took off the ribbon, stretched it, reblocked it, put in a new sweatband, and re-attached the ribbon. All total, $37.

That's a steal. Remember him at Christmas.

 

[bbshriver]

Sounds much like restoring a vintage car... Very easy to end up spending more than the cost of a new one!

I'll say it again ...

Properly refurbishing an old hat can be as much or more work as making an all-new one. About all that would make it any easier is that the felt body on an existing hat wouldn't require the level of finishing a new body would. What would make it more difficult includes (for a start), stripping the old hat down; cleaning the felt (quite the challenge, often); reinforcing the old body at its weak points (being handled by the crown a few thousand times will do that to a hat); getting it on a block without tearing it (it'll happen); replacing the trashed-out pieces (ribbon, frequently; sweatband, almost always; liner, sometimes); et cetera, et cetera.

Most hatters would rather make new hats because it's generally more pleasant and more worth the time invested. Customers might balk (rightly, perhaps, depending on the particulars) at spending what a hatter might reasonably ask for all the effort and materials involved. But a truly refurbished old hat is, by my way of seeing things, essentially a new hat, built around an old hat body. If you can get all that done for less than a hundred bucks, know that the hatter is giving you a bargain.

 

[ValEag]

Henry the Hatter

I recently picked up a Knox Admiralty from eBay that needed more work than I thought at the time of purchase - mainly a good cleaning and a new ribbon. The liner and inside of the hat looked to be in very good shape, but the outside was dirty and the ribbon stained, I believe simply by the way the hat had been stored over the years.

I sent it off to Henry the Hatter (https://www.henrythehatterdetroit.com/). Unfortunately, the felt was not in as good as shape as I thought. HtH suggested a clean, reblock and a new ribbon. The price I was quoted was very reasonable. I should receive it back in a week or so. They called me the same day they received the hat and were very helpful. Their web site has their renovation prices listed.

 

[Spats McGee]

Spats,
Thanks for the info. I know that quite a number of the fellas have made friendships with Mr. Moore, and his work looks wonderful, but his website gives no mention of refurbishment of hats that I could find.
I have a Champ custom quality hat that has a loose sweat and ribbon so stained that I won't wear it. I'd love to have it rejuvenated!
I've been meaning to ring him to discuss, and you've given me impetus to do so, Thanks!

While I've only sent the one hat to Mike, I'm pleased with the work he did. He was also really good about answering all of my questions, responding to emails, etc. If I had another hat that needed work, I wouldn't hesitate to send it to him.

 

[Spats McGee]

. . . . The pricing is strange. A Stetson Chatham for only $299.99 (!). . . .

This is exactly what I noticed. Some of their prices seem perfectly in line with other online retailers, while some prices seem ridiculously high.

tonyb, of course, is right. Sometimes a new hat will cost less than refurbishing an old one. For those of us with larger melons, that often makes new hats more appealing. A new size 7 1/2 costs the same as a new size 7. That does not hold true for vintage lids on ebay, though.

 

[tonyb]

Sounds much like restoring a vintage car... Very easy to end up spending more than the cost of a new one!

Very good analogy. Having owned collectible vehicles myself, I can only concur. Yes, it is possible (likely, even) to spend more on restoring a car than it will be worth when done. Depends on the car, of course, and the condition it was in at the beginning of the restoration process.

None of this is to say that spending more on restoring a car (or a hat) than it will arguably be worth means it shouldn't be done, though. I've obviously spent much more on my daily drivers than they will ever be worth, but they've gotten me where I've had to go, which is the entire point of owning them. And the old cars gave me the satisfaction of having made something good out of something less good. And, like a well-restored old hat, they have a certain something the new ones just can't match.

 

[cptjeff]

All I really need is a sweatband, and the hat cost me 75 cents, so I'm just going to send it off. If they screw it up, no great loss. I'll report when I get it back.

If it needed a complete restoration I probably wouldn't have bought it. That's not in the budget right now...

 

[cptjeff]

Just got the hat back today, the guy there, Pablo, did a nice job with it. Nice band too. Thick Lambskin, quite soft. That's all I wound up having done, so I can't vouch for his other services. But I'm satisfied with the sweatband job.

 

[ScottF]

Very good analogy. Having owned collectible vehicles myself, I can only concur. Yes, it is possible (likely, even) to spend more on restoring a car than it will be worth when done. Depends on the car, of course, and the condition it was in at the beginning of the restoration process.

None of this is to say that spending more on restoring a car (or a hat) than it will arguably be worth means it shouldn't be done, though. I've obviously spent much more on my daily drivers than they will ever be worth, but they've gotten me where I've had to go, which is the entire point of owning them. And the old cars gave me the satisfaction of having made something good out of something less good. And, like a well-restored old hat, they have a certain something the new ones just can't match.

I finally sold my '67 Firebird after owning it for over twenty years, for the reasons you mention - it was a blast working on it over the years, and the periods when it was running great and looking 'close to great', were very memorable. But there came a time when I was ready to either do it right, or sell it - I realized that I could sell it and if I wanted another one later, buy it in the condition I wanted, for less than it would take to do the work myself. So...bye-bye Firebird. Now I own a parking space that I sometimes have to fold the side mirrors back to get a VW Golf into, so no classic GM's for a while , but someday I'll get another one just like it.