Hat renovation

[Lorne]

Hello All,

The pride of my small collection of hats, in a 1940's Adams. The hat is in ok condition, but it could use some TLC. I was thinking of having it "renovated".

My question is this, the biggest problem with the hat is that the color has faded over time. Is there anything that can be done about this?


Lorne

 

[duggap]

Lorne, I have heard of hatters taking off the sweat, liner and ribbon and then turn the hat inside out and reblock it. That would be about the only way I know to restore a faded hat to its original color.

 

[Lorne]

I thought of that when I first got the hat, but for some reason the color is very uneven under the liner. Its not stained, just blotchy for some reason.


Lorne

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Art Fawcett or one of the other hat makers/refurbishers online should be able to give you a more definitive answer. I would assume a hat could be redyed to a slightly darker shade so it all matched and wouldn't be too different from the original. But I could be completely wrong in my assumption. Hence - check with the experts.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Lorne, I had the same problem. I tried a re-dye job, myself, Using hair dye. I'm still pleased with the results. This color is brown-black. (I did discover not to use the conditioner that comes in the kit. It lightens and makes the color splotchy! So I had to do it a second time.)

Before:

After:

On the head:

 

[Lorne]

hat renovation...

Hmmm, hair dye. Good Idea!!!


Lorne