Sweatin' with the Indys

Dekker · Post by **Dekker** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:23 am

I'm gearing up to do The Oxford 'Town and Gown' Fun Run in May, in aid of Muscular Dystrophy...and was considering doing it in some of my Indy gear. My concern is that sweating in my hat for an hour or so (it's only a 10k run) will do some permanent damage to it...does anyone know if this is likely to affect the hat in any serious way?

Erri · Post by **Erri** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:46 am

Only a hour of sweating wont give it any damage

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:50 am

The sweatband might shrink a little due to the sweat and the body heat, but that's about it. I prefer my own hats a notch too big to start with and than they will shrink to fit once I've worn them for some months.

Regards,

Marc

Dekker · Post by **Dekker** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:53 am

Marc wrote:The sweatband might shrink a little due to the sweat and the body heat, but that's about it.

That might work out quite well actually, as the sweatband is packed a little at the moment

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:32 am

I did plenty of sweating in my AB while in Mexico last year, and it held up great. The sweatband did conform to my head quite nicely, though, but not too tightly.

Havana · Post by **Havana** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:51 am

I have an Akubra Cattleman that I have worn extensively all over Africa and worse, I wear it while doing hours of lawn work each week (in the summer) here in the hot & humid southern USA. I sweat a lot and sometimes the brim is literally dripping with sweat. Not a pretty picture I know. After all of this extensive sweating, my hat , which is fawn/medium brown, has become discolored where my sweat has been absorbed by the felt. The cattleman has a minimal hat band so the discoloration on the crown is more visible. On an Indy hat, the hat band would probably hide any discoloration. I believe stains would only occur after hours of heavy sweating. If your hat is wet when you're done, don't let it dry in the sun or it could shrink.

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:01 am

On the flip side, the sweat stains on the outside would just make it more SOC accurate!

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:04 am

Havana wrote:I have an Akubra Cattleman that I have worn extensively all over Africa and worse, I wear it while doing hours of lawn work each week (in the summer) here in the hot & humid southern USA. I sweat a lot and sometimes the brim is literally dripping with sweat. Not a pretty picture I know. After all of this extensive sweating, my hat , which is fawn/medium brown, has become discolored where my sweat has been absorbed by the felt. The cattleman has a minimal hat band so the discoloration on the crown is more visible. On an Indy hat, the hat band would probably hide any discoloration. I believe stains would only occur after hours of heavy sweating. If your hat is wet when you're done, don't let it dry in the sun or it could shrink.

I've got a Stockman, which I ordered a size to big. Why? Felt pads during winter to keep it on tight, and during the hot and humid missouri summer, more than enough space to tie on a bandana underneath the hat to absorb all the sweat

Erri · Post by **Erri** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:37 am

It's weird how people looking at me in summer always tell me... "wow how can you wear it? Isn't it too HOT for a felt hat?"

Actually, apart from forehead sweating on the sweatband, my head stays very fresh under the sun (= I don't get headaches for too much sun... which are not hard to get in July in Florence).

Personally I've never seen my sweat anywhere else but the sweatband (in the summer)... i doubt the felt could get damaged anyway by sweating for some hours.

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:31 am

erri_wan wrote: Actually, apart from forehead sweating on the sweatband, my head stays very fresh under the sun...

Now you won't have to keep it in the refridgerator.

Post by **Ken** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:59 am

I hiked for 4 days in Kawaii in my hat - dont worry about

Ken

Kaleponi Craig · Post by **Kaleponi Craig** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:17 am

I noticed stains on my ribbon when I sweated in my Keppler and Miller hats. So I cut a piece of cotton towel, about 1 inch by 5 inches, and put it between the sweatband and hat. The towel absorbed the sweat, not the felt, and has taken care of the problem...KC

Dekker · Post by **Dekker** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:02 pm

Thanks for the reassurance, folks - now all I need is some Alden-esque running shoes....

Dekker · Post by **Dekker** » Fri May 19, 2006 9:57 am

Well, apologies for the thread necromancy, but the run is 2 days away...and the forecast is for RAIN.

I'm now facing something of a dilemma. One of my main motivations for doing the run was to use my gear for something interesting, but I'm concerned about the effect on the hat if it gets soaked. Now I imagine there's many here that would say a little rain assisted reshaping wouldn't hurt HJ's latest offering but I've grown attached to the hat and don't want to absolutely wreck it. On the other hand this could be the ideal excuse to get it reblocked and bashed by one of our resident experts or even buy myself an AB...

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Fri May 19, 2006 11:25 am

Don't sweat it.(pun intended). A hat worn in the elements will become distressed, along with the sweat stains. I like them. Hats are intended for protection, first and foremost. I am speaking of the way Indy and other adventurers wore their hats, along with the cowpokes. Then, there are folks that want a hat to look dapper, etc. Just buy two hats. One for the elements and one for looking cool. (figurtively speaking,

)

I wear my felt hats year round. Sure, I sweat loads in them as I am a heavy perspirer, but my straw Montecristi hat is practically just as hot. And unlike the felt hats, the fine Montecritis abhor water, of any kind. They turn into wet noodles when damp, or wet. Unlike felt hats, you must wear the panamas in fair weather. But, they make dandy fair weather hats. Fedora

Dekker · Post by **Dekker** » Fri May 19, 2006 11:42 am

Thanks Steve, this is pretty much the state of mind I'm in now. I didn't buy it just so it could sit on the shelf looking fancy and if it's gonna look like an adventurers hat, then dagnammit, it's gonna smell like one too!

(Plus if it does get ruined you might get a chance to get your hands on a new HJ

)

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Fri May 19, 2006 1:48 pm

A hat should be like an old friend. You can get attached to them, especially if they turn into lucky hats. I find it amusing that the old cowpokes would literally wear their hats until they were worn out, to the degree that hardly any survived, to be sold later on on ebay. This is unlike the dress hats you see there. Indy was more of a cowpoke than a city gentlemen, although I am sure he could pull the urban deal off as well. I am sure he would have had his "grave robbing" fedora, along with a few nice ones to wear when he was getting spiffed up. With that said, I can recall one of my anthropology proffessors back in the 70's wearing an old panama styled hat, but in oil cloth, totally distressed, with holes. And he wore it with an old tweed dress suit. Of course, the suit had holes in it as well, but still..........

He was the perfect example of eccentricity, and I loved the guy because of this. He hated camels, and once got on a train that took him inside one of the Soviet states.(a story right out of a 3 Stooges film. Was brilliant, in a bookish sense, but lacked what most folks call common sense. Prof. Pine was his name. A more colorful fellow would hard to be found. Fedora