Self Conforming?

[Lumelux]

Hello everyone,

As a "newbie" to hats, there a lot things I don't know or understand. Can anyone explain the meaning of self conforming?

mike

 

[MAB1]

WHat are we talking about? One size fits all ???

 

[GWD]

I assume you're referring to Resistol's. I think it means "If you wear it long enough it will break in".

 

[Ande1964]

Yeah... as far as I can tell, it was a marketing ploy more than anything.

Anj

 

[Lumelux]

I was referring to Resistol. Thanks for the info. This is a great site.

mp

 

[Stoney]

Not just a marketing ploy

Some sweatbands are made to shrink as the wearer perspires. The result is that the sweatband shrinks to the exact shape, conforms, to the wearers head simply by the act of wearing the hat. Self Conforming. This is one nice thing about the replacement sweatbands that are made by Fern Thatcher and sold by hatsupply.com. Although they are not particularly supple, they do conform to your head shape after wearing them for a day or two. Note that these sweatbands shrink about 1/8" down in size so you need to make them a little loose when they are installed.

 

[Ande1964]

Cool... hadn't thought about that.

Anj

 

[Marcus Brody]

Seems more like a marketing ploy since most sweatbands will eventually shrink due to moisture and heat anyways. Some people have intentionally done this to make hats fit better. Consider it a slower version of the lampshade or hairdryer trick.

 

[Stoney]

Seems more like a marketing ploy since most sweatbands will eventually shrink due to moisture and heat anyways. Some people have intentionally done this to make hats fit better. Consider it a slower version of the lampshade or hairdryer trick.

Agreed that this is true in most cases. However, the sweatbands that I am referring to do not merely shrink in size, The actually mold to the contour of your skull and retain the shape, rather than fitting only in size. This makes for a hat that fits perfectly.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

This tag was in one of my Resistols. They describe it as a "floating" or "suspended" sweatband. I checked mine and found a significant gap between the felt of the inner crown and the leather of the sweatband. Seems the idea was that it would stretch slightly, for a supposed precise fit. It was, of course, a "marketing ploy." (Right out of the box, some of them felt a little too tight, compared to other hats. Cowboys seem to have loved it, though.)

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

That's a great tag, J.T.

I have a Resistol fedora which is, incidentally, one of the softest examples of felt in my collection. It is also marked "Self-Conforming".

Now, I was in the advertising and marketing business for over twenty years and while it's almost beyond my ability to believe that any of us folks would put on the public with a gimmick lol I have to say that I was actually quite surprised that this hat actually DID conform quite easily to my rather odd head shape.

I don't wear this hat much but one day when I went to hang it up and I saw that the shape of the sweatband was retaining a rather significant hump shape which is off center on the back of my head. And it wasn't deforming the brim in doing it. I thought, "There must be something to this, but I dunno' what.

 

[Marcus Brody]

Hmm, very interesting about the floating sweatband, it does make sense, since the sweatband's shrinkage would be given more freedom to deform away from the shape of the hat itself.