Can you stretch vintage hats?

[Mark Brody]

And while we're on the subject, do hat stretchers ever permanently stretch a hat, or do you always need to reinsert the stretcher when you're not wearing it?

[toobacat]

I have stretched a couple of hats at least one size and they seem to be permanently stretched. I use an old aluminum stretcher that stretches the whole crown. I think this works better than the smaller stretchers.

[binkmeisterRick]

You can generally stretch most any hat, new or old, but the general rule is to only stretch it by one size larger. But with vintage hats, it depends on the hat. If it's a nice, pristine vintage fedora, I usually like to keep it as is, especially since they're getting harder to come by as the years roll on. If the hat doesn't fit me, I usually leave it for another buyer whose head it will fit upon. If it feels like a fragile hat, there's no way of telling if it will hold up to the stretching or not. If it's been around the block a few times or is a real beater, then I might be more inclined to tinker with it.

Keep in mind if you stretch a hat to make it larger, you will always compromise the brim and/or crown. So if you are 100% in love with the exact brim and crown measurements, these will shrink to an extent, because as you make the hat larger, the hat needs to accommodate the added space needed for it to fit your noggin.

Also, you may get different results from a block/stretcher (looks like a hat block, but it opens up to allow you to stretch the whole hat) versus the kind of stretcher which only fits along the sweatband. With the latter, you are only stretching one portion of the crown, and not the entire crown, so you may end up with a tapered stretch to a degree.