Storing a hat is actually a good idea to help extend its life. It helps to keep it from getting too dirty or dusty and minimizes exposure to other elements that might harm it.

The ideal way to store a hat is in hat box. Place it upside down in the box. This will help keep the brim from flattening out. If your hat has a snap brim, make sure the brim is snapped up all the way around the hat. This helps the brim to keep its shape. It also helps to keep it from flattening out if it somehow gets dropped or flipped and restored right-side up.

Store the box on a clean, flat and dry surface. Remember that heat and moisture help to shrink hats. Keep your hat from being stored in the sun or near a heating vent.

Even if you don’t have a hat box, just follow these simple rules, and your hat should be okay on top of a closet shelf or some other place safe from children, pets, etc.

Hat firmly back on your head, you don’t worry about it until you’re back on your front steps. “Wait a second,” you say to yourself. “Snow is just frozen water. Water isn’t good for felt hats. What do I do?”

It is true that water and heat are your hat’s two biggest common enemies. Both can shrink or deform your hat in a hurry. While most dress hats or fur felt hats aren’t considered water resistant, keeping them safe is relatively easy.

Before you go inside, shake off as much snow as you can. Be careful not to brush or grind and melt the snow into your hat. Once in your home, find a flat, clean, dry surface to place your hat without fear that Fido or the cats will get to it. Then turn down the leather sweatband. Rest the hat on the sweatband, making sure not to let the brim touch the table top. Let the hat dry slowly and naturally.

DO NOT place it on the stove, over a heating vent or radiator or under very hot lights. Although heat will dry your hat faster, it also will shrink it.

DO NOT let the felt touch any surface. If you rest the wet hat on its brim to dry, the brim will most likely lose its shape. If your hat has a snap brim, you might even want to snap the brim up as you let it dry.

As we move forward on this segment, we might offer greater details about more difficult challenges, but for now we’ll stick to the basics.

DUST.

No matter how many filters they put in our cars, offices and homes, we just can’t avoid it. Your hat is bound to get dusty at some point.

The good news is, dust is fairly easy to remove from most any kind of felt hat.

HAT CLEANING RULE #1
Never, never, never use water or other liquids to clean your hat.

To clean the dust and loose dirt from your hat, take a soft brush and gently stroke the hat from the left counter clockwise to the back and around again. Work slowly without a lot of pressure. Repeat until you are satisfied.

If you do not have a soft hat brush, then you can use a lint roller or tape that isn’t too sticky. Be mindful of the grain of the fur felt in your hat. Work the lint roller in the same direction to avoid causing any damage.

Prefer a hat brush, Hat’s Plus sells them for only $10 a piece. Please contact the store for more info.

Many of our dress hats and straw hats come with feathers, but not everybody likes feathers in their hats. Some people we’ve found really hate feathers in their hats: “I’m not a musketeer!”

Through the excellent construction of our hats, you might not guess that the feather is actually an accessory that is neither necessary nor permanently affixed to the hat. If you do not like the feather, it may be gently plucked from the hat band.

The same principle holds true for hat pins, too. Many Stetson, Dobbs and Capas hats come with branding pins in the dress band or bow band. Unlike a Nike Swoosh, these pins slide right out and are not necessary.