I am trying to get an understanding of people's preference for sweatbands for two specific options in relation to dress hats. Width (1 5/8" vs 2") Treated or Untreated My understanding is that treated is a sealer of some kind and keeps the sweatband from absorbing the wearers' sweat, while untreated would soak up sweat. The key difference being that with untreated sweat it is possible to saturate the sweatband and start soaking the felt.
I have a couple untreated sweatbands from Gannon and while very comfortable and quick to conform, they seem to be showing wear fast. Additionally, while they haven’t soaked through to the felt the leather feels pretty saturated after a few hours of wearing them.
I use Sullivans and some of Tim's. Prefer Tim's. The naked ones look great at first but sweat stain really quickly and that I don't like. I use the narrower ones on shorter crowns/ladies hats and the full 2" on tall crowns....suits my sense of proportionality
I called up Singer Sampath today, I believe they are the supplier that Tim uses but I might be wrong. They have been around since the Civil War and Jim is 4th generation owner. Their entire business is sweatbands and they have a good supply chain and as Jim says, their leather was destined to be sweatbands and not shoe leather that someone decided to turn into a sweatband. Minimum order quantity is 4 dozen, which is reasonable. They will do foil stamping of your logo if you want for additional charge per sweat. The cost of the stamp is $75 which is the same that I paid JW for a stamp years ago. I haven't ordered from Sullivan's since he purchased that part of the business. Anyway, I am contemplating a sweatband order and thinking about gold foil stamping on them.
I don't know if Tim's are treated or no, but I like them alot. Very comfy to wear and they look and feel high-end.
soI too like Tim's a lot. His are treated but now he is also offering an untreated natural that is nice but there are order quantities.
Reminds me: How do you like eggs? I like them fine. How do you like them cooked? I like them better that way.
I have sweated through my 2 Gannon hats that have the untreated leather sweats. They fit and feel terrific, but for hats that I wear I prefer treated. It took some big effort to remove the marks from sweating through the leather. The size, for me a short bald guy, I do not have any preference. BTW: I love eggs, but not uncooked. Eric -
I have 2s and 1 5/8s in many different hats and I can't one bit of difference once it is on my noggin. Off my head the 2 inch look a little better for reasons I couldn't answer. Isn't there a bigger choice than treated and untreated? Roan leather, goat leather, natural cowhide and dyed cowhide that might be a treatment and not simply a dye, and maybe dyed black cowhide leather with limited treatment?
For sure there are more options, for my purpose here I had already narrowed it down to roan leather and that is my preference. I have tried cow and calf leathers and they are nice but not as soft. Once I got to roan that left width and treatment. I could have brought up colors but I resigned myself to the fact that I will probably buy 4 or 5 colors. As I see it I need 1 5/8" and 2" widths and treated so far looks to be leading.
I cast my vote for 2" and untreated, however I am actually not sure I know all types of treatment. Some sweatbands that are treated actually feel like plastic, while other are obviously treated but feel very nice. The untreated feel very comfortable and mold to the head nicely - I can see how they could soak through at some point. In general I like a wide sweatband, and I like a sweatband that has some stretch/flex and adjusts.
