Speaking of Mallorys: my new Stowaway...

[Snrbfshn]

Following the interest of the Mallory thread below, here's a look at my new/old Stowaway, which I assume is named so because it's a foldable or crushable hat.

This is very thin, dense felt. Notably lightweight, it weighs 82 grams. Brim is 2.5" with a 1.25" ribbon and crown height of 4.25" at the front and 4.5" at the side.

I have only brushed it since arrival, and it's in very good shape. That said, I can see the beginning of damage along the ridge of the bash, especially right at the front of the pinch where the hat was grasped too frequently. But it's not yet broken through, and you really have to zero in on it to even see the trouble.

Originally purchased in Green Bay, WI, the hat has the Stowaway logo stamped in the crown, with the brand and Pliafelt logo on the sweat, and an embroidered cloth size tag:

The sweat is in very good shape, still very soft and flexible. Reorder tag gives no hint of age, just confirmation of size and the model number 761151.

Anybody got an old ad featuring the Stowaway that can help me figure out the era?

 

[feltfan]

Cool hat. Thanks for showing it.
Never seen one before.

It looks a bit like my Mallory Nokabout, which
I always assumed to be WWII era. That sweat band
has an unusual color. The typeface looks 40s to me.

 

[maintcoder]

A very sweet looking hat, Snrbfshn. It cleaned up nicely with just a caring brush out. :arated:

 

[tonyb]

Is there something a good hatter could affix to the underside of the crown, right where it's getting weak? Maybe some sort of fabric that would add a bit of strength and also prevent further flexing, or at least spread out that flexing action to a wider area?
This occurs to me cuz I have a few beater straws that it seems just about everybody wants to handle by the crown. (They think they're being helpful and polite, I suppose, when they hand my hat to me on my departure.) These hats aren't particularly valuable, so I don't let it distress me when I see them so abused. But they cost SOMETHING, and I'd rather they last a while. So on a couple of them I've placed wide cellophane tape (the kind you'd use for closing a shipping box) on the inside top front of the crowns, right where they're pinched. I suppose that duct tape would be even better, seeing how it's cloth, essentially, and pretty darned strong. On a hat with a sufficiently tight weave, it wouldn't show from the outside.
I wouldn't do this to my new/old "good" straw, and I don't know that it does any actual good. But I can't see what it hurts, either, and it doesn't cost more than a penny or two.
Could the duct tape thing be done with Snrbfshn's Mallory felt? Would it do more harm than good? It's a pretty cool-lookin' lid, and I'd like to see it last a few more decades.

 

[Snrbfshn]

I was thinking along the same lines...

I'm toying with the idea of cloth iron-on tape, though it needs to be pretty thin so it doesn't affect the pinch. Truth be known, I'd rather no nothing and be careful since it will damage (to me, anyway) the integrity of the hat.

But if it looks like it's going to crack through, I'll do it in a heartbeat. I've also considered whether I could "lubricate" the felt with lanolin at the critical points to lessen the chance of the dry felt cracking.

A straw I've got -- one of my oldest -- developed a crack at the point of the pinch. About 10 years ago I carefully spread silicon sealant on the underside along the crack to prevent further damage. It worked like a champ for a long time, but the crack worsened last summer and I don't think there's much I can do now since the fibers are broken through.

 

[tonyb]

Breaks in good straw hats can be repaired, or so I've been told. It requires considerable skill, I'd imagine, and it probably wouldn't be worth the time and trouble (and money) to fix a cheap hat. But when I see the prices those super-duper-ultra-fino-fino-keeno jobs fetch, well, it becomes another matter altogether.