The Cowboy Hat
Another informative post for the novitiate western rider.
The cowboy hat is probably the defining symbol of the western lifestyle. It is a wide brimmed hat with a tall crown that comes in a variety of sizes, shapes and styles. Materials used are generally felt or straw, and occasionally leather.
Quite simply the purpose of a cowboy hat is to provide insulation and shade for the wearer. The tall crown provides insulation, whilst the wide brim offers shade. More expensive hats will also offer protection from the rain.
The settlers of the new world and the early western United States came from all over the world, and as such, styles of hat were very varied in the old west.
The modern cowboy hat still comes in a number of styles, but each of these styles tends to be a variation of the common Stetson type or flat brimmed Amish type hat.
It is incorrect to call a cowboy hat a Stetson (unless that hat is in fact a Stetson). Stetson is a brand name, like Wrangler, Ariat, or Coke. There are a number of manufacturers making hats in the familiar cattleman’s crease crown and shaped brim.
All of my hats are Stetsons. but this is not because Stetson is a prestigious brand. In fact the opposite could be said. Every professional horseman I know gets a hat custom made from beaver fur by one of a number of bespoke hat makers. I buy off the peg.
Straw hats are made from Panama straw and to describe it I would say it feels more firm (like a thin plastic) than the kind of straw hat you would see at the beach or music festival.
Felt hats are made from a variety of materials, but predominantly either wool, rabbit fur, or beaver fur.
Wool felt is the cheapest type of cowboy hat. It is the least reliable material as it will by prone to change shape and size with temperature changes and will provide no protection from rain - it wil simply become soaked through.
Rabbit fur felt is better than wool. It is a finer material and produces a smoother feeling hat. It is mildly more water resistant than wool, and will fare better if exposed to temperature changes or getting wet. However rabbit fur felt it is still not a water repellant material and the hat will not fare well with repeated soaking, nor will it keep you dry.
Beaver fur felt is the best quality felt hat you can buy. It is a silky smooth material, and as you would expect completely water repellant. The only downside of purchasing a beaver felt hat is the cost. Expect to pay around $1,000 for a quality beaver felt cowboy hat.
Hat quality is denoted by the number of X on the hat. But there is no industry standard to this so a 4X hat from one manufacturer might be the same quality as a 6X hat from another. 10X is the highest quality of hat. It means the hat has been made with the finest quality of materials available.
Felt hats can also be made of a blend of one or more materials. More often it is rabbit fur and beaver blend to increase the quality of the hat without arriving at the cost of pure beaver felt.
Felt is shaped due to the infusion of a substance called shellac. This is a paste that when exposed to steam will become malleable and shape-able. But upon cooling again it will become hard and set. This is why felt hats have a rigidity similar to cardboard. Shellac can be reactivated with steam heating, allowing a hat to be reshaped or re-stiffened. Hats come in such a variety of styles that it would take another article to describe the shaping of them all.
Straw hats are very light and airy, often braided in such a way to let air circulate into the crown . They will not fare well at all in rain. But are popular in warmer seasons and climates.
Inside the crown of the hat is a sweat band made of leather. The quality of this can vary like the other materials of the hat. Also there will often be a material liner such as silk to cover the inside area of the crown.
In every reputable hat manufacturer will place a small bow at the back of the sweat band. This is in rememberance of previous generations of hatter who would have suffered debilitation and died prematurely due to exposure to Mercury, which was a substance heavily used in hat making in years gone by. The expression mad as a hatter can be attributed to the effects of mercury poisoning on generations of hatters.
On a final note you may be interested to hear than my own hats are all completely waterproof - even the wool one. I achieve this by applying a nano-ceramic hydrophobic solution to my cowboy hats. When dry water literally beads straight off. If you have a hat in the uk and would like it to be completely waterproof, this is a service I can offer.
