Club Obi Wan

I have to ask, whats the best way to remove dark sweat stains from the outer band? I know its not the most savory of subjects, but one of my bandmates, lets say, "borrowed" my hat for a solo performance on the street corner, and he sweat like the blue-blazes in it....all day ....on the hottest day of the year.
When he returned it to me, I gotta say the thing was drenched. After giving him the look of complete and utter shock, i immediately began wiping it down, inside and out. The band was soaked completely, and i tried to get it absorbed with a damp cloth, but it didn't get it all out...there are obvious, dark stains on the front of the band that wont seem to go away. And as this happened during the Summer, it's obviously been that way for a while now.
I'm hopeful there is a way to just clean the outer band, without having to get the whole hat dry cleaned or something. I keep thinking that if i send it to the dry cleaners, it might change the texture of the hat ultimately...i could be way off base there, but i just want those stains out of the band.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

well my hat got sweat stains this spring--- since the band was sorta brown in color---- i ordered from todds an blackish (or dark brown ) band and had it re-ribboned ----- they did a great job in doing that and it looked great. and if its hot they also put in some sweat guards in the inside rim of the hat to protect it on the outside ----now i live in chicago, and the company i went to was optimo , so i hope that helps

I'm not sure if it will work in your case, but this will do no harm; Wet the entire ribbon with water that you trust (such as distilled water). Then, with a clean toothbrush, scrub the ribbon. Be sure to scrub both with and against the grain. Then let it dry.

Make sure you clean the entire ribbon this way, not just the parts with the stains, otherwise the color will still look uneven when it dries.

If this does not work, a professional cleaning may be called for, or a new ribbon.