Advice on rescuing a rabbit-fur felt fedora

[HMSwolfe]

Hey all. Just received a hat I ordered that’s a passable imitation of the Raiders fedora for the price. Only problem is that it is…kinda reddish. Like, very reddish. Like, how anyone could market this hat as “similar to Raiders” and not see how red it is must be color blind. So my question is, could I reasonably alter the color of the hat myself? Or should I try and return it, even though that means I won’t have a new one in time for Halloween, though that probably won’t mean much the rate this year is going? As far as I know, it’s a 100% rabbit-fur felt.

 

[Lightning]

What brand is it? If you went all out with fullers earth distressing the color might not be so noticeable. It looks reasonably brown on my screen. Is that in natural sunlight?

 

[HMSwolfe]

I got it from Agnoulita Hats on Etsy. And no, that is with the overhead light on. Maybe this picture gives a better idea of how…discordant the color is.

 

[Lightning]

Just looked at the listing, I wonder if you got Cocoa instead of Brown by mistake.

 

[HMSwolfe]

This is why I hate buying stuff online when color is important. It’s so easy to misrepresent color, both during photography and in the post-editing process.

 

[animator]

You might try going to the thefedoralounge.com and posting the question there. Some people on that forum have lots of experience working with felt hats. I'm not sure what type of dye/color might work or if it would require reblocking the hat.

I have a fedora that looks sort of similar to that color which was called oxblood when I ordered it. Mine is a regular fedora, not Indy.

 

[HMSwolfe]

Reviving my old thread to see if anyone has some advice. Well, I managed to get the red hat from the beginning of this thread exchanged for one that’s a more appropriate color. It’s been a good hat, but now I’m facing the consequences of it being dependable.

Earlier this year, I had a job that involved being outdoors for sometimes ten hours a day. I took to wearing my hat to protect my head from the elements, and it rained quite a few times. Subsequently my hat has shrunk. I’m wondering if there’s anything that can be done to reverse the shrinkage, i.e. steam and reshape, or if I’m better off saving up and buying another. This one wasn’t the most expensive, and it clearly wasn’t the most accurate either, so I’d always planned in the back of my mind to upgrade someday, I’m just wondering if that day is sooner rather than later. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[smithjohnj]

Yes. You can use steam and a device called a hat stretcher to expand the hat back to its larger size. Do an on-line search and you should find the simple device and there are also some free pdf files of original, old books on how to resize and recondition hats.

 

[HMSwolfe]

Yes. You can use steam and a device called a hat stretcher to expand the hat back to its larger size. Do an on-line search and you should find the simple device and there are also some free pdf files of original, old books on how to resize and recondition hats.

Thanks, I’ll give it a look!

 

[Lt Dan]

I bought a wooden "Hat Jack" stretcher, as I had a fur felt Aussie slouch hat which was slightly too small. It wasn't very expensive and works really well, but you may need to reuse it every so often, or leave it in place, as the hat may shrink back slightly over time.

 

[HMSwolfe]

Just wanted to update, a lot of steam and a hat stretcher from Amazon seemed to do the trick, thanks so much!

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

The problem is that it's wool. Wool hats aren't bad for the most part, but when you get a proper hat made of animal fur, you'll never want to go back.

Like another has said, it may shrink back over time and you'll have to keep re-block it eventually. If you get another hat that you'd like darker again, one trick I learned is if you mix dye with water into a spray bottle, you can mist it over your hat to change its color. The trick is to do it in light sprays and not to get the hat too wet. You'll want to dab excess off with a paper towel but it's done the job for me and my DIY "Blondie" hat.