I like real, full-brimmed hats, and I’ve got a lot of them. Many that I own are the traditional fur-felt type, which is a highly-evolved (if now mostly abandoned) technology with its own body of lore accumulated over literally thousands of years. They are what I prefer when it’s convenient, and even to some extent when it’s not convenient (not only do public establishments now lack hat-check girls or coat rooms, but you’re very lucky to even find a hook large enough to hang your hat on).
There are a lot of circumstances, though, when a traditional felt hat just doesn’t work well, including just about anytime that you need to pack it away.
And so, over the years, I’ve ended up with a lot of Tilley hats as well.
I first became aware of Tilley by realizing, somehow, that my favorite brimmed fabric hat, one that I think I found in a surplus store, was indeed an imitation of something else… something famous. I eventually tracked down the “original” back when there was pretty much just one model, in canvas, in one color. I ordered direct from Canada, lucked out in that the fit was pretty good (more on that later), and over time became impressed with just how much better made it was than my previous favorite.
Over the years, Tilley has added more types of hats to their line, synthetics with brim-edge stiffeners as well as cotton canvas, some with mesh-ventilated crowns, even winter hats, and, as I say, I’ve bought a number of the new models more or less as they came out.
Unlike felt hats, which are meant to be worn a lot and carried little, Tilley hats generally pack well, which is an enormous advantage.
Famously in most Tilley hats there is a pocket in the crown, with an overlapped opening and a little Velcro closure. They come with some paper and cardboard marketing bits in there, but the main purpose of the compartment is to hold a circle of thin, flexible closed-cell sheet foam plastic that they say is so that the hat will float if dropped in the water.
I’m sure it works for that and has saved many hats, and I wouldn’t think of changing it for boating, but that isn’t its only purpose.
One of the differences between caps and “real” traditional hats is that the fabric of caps lies right against the top of the wearer’s head, whereas the felt (or straw or whatever) “crown” of a real hat stands up on its own, so that there’s a “dead air” space between the crown and the wearer’s head. In intense sunlight and heat this can make a huge difference, when wearing a cap the sun beats down on the fabric that is lying on top of your head and proceeds to cook your head. In this circumstance reason is the first casualty, thoughts become fuzzy and slow, and the chance of making wrong or fatal decisions is greatly increased.
Being fabric, the crowns of Tilley hats are inherently more like caps and don’t have much tendency to support themselves, so Tilley has innovated their way around this in a couple of respects. One is the carefully-chosen taper of the crown, which gives the low crown the illusion of a bit more height and makes the proportion more pleasing… but it’s not the same as the traditional, taller straight-sided cylindrical crown that good felt hats had until the mid-1950’s or so. Since then even the manufacturers of felt hats have pulled the same trick, tapering and lowering the crowns, originally probably to make the hats work better in cars (where the roofs got steadily lower over time) but shortly thereafter as an economy measure. This is why, as so many men have found out, you can buy a “modern” felt fedora that looks more or less like the originals you see in old movies and photographs when it’s on the shelf, but when you put it on it looks all wrong- and makes you look all wrong when you actually wear it.
So now we have a situation where some face-shapes look better with Tilley or later-era “modern” felt hats, but a great many look better with old traditionally-proportioned felt hats, and few look equally good in either.
The other way Tilley compensated for the material of the crown was, of course, the foam panel. Aside from flotation and providing critical insulation from the killing sun in some conditions, it helps keep the crown of the hat flat instead of letting it drape on the skull, enhancing the illusion that the crown is taller and more substantial than it is.
Biggest point here: because of the insulation value of that foam panel it should be removed only with caution and thought, since doing so can greatly decrease the survival value of the hat in some circumstances. For woodland trips with no great altitude involved I’ve replaced some with a folded-up mosquito head-net, which also acts as insulation while in place, but then there’s the possibility of needing the net in the direct sun and having to make an unfortunate choice. I suppose you could put a folded a bandanna or something similar (Buff?) in there.
Here are some things I’ve learned over the decades about living with Tilley hats:
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Whenever possible, buy in person. I’m sorry to have to say it, but one of their drawbacks is inconsistent sizing. Even two Tilley hats of the same model and size and color that come off of the same rack may fit differently. With the one single exception every single Tilley hat I’ve bought other than at a B&M store had to be returned for size.
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The older-style canvas Tilley hats are good, but a little heavy, and have a tendency to shrink when soaked. You can stretch it out when wet and let it dry (which is excruciatingly slowly) and it will retain that size until the next soaking. It’s been a long time since I’ve bought one, but I still have a couple stashed here and there.
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The canvas and nylon Tilley hats stand up well to crushing and rolling up for packing; unfortunately the winter hats, which I really like otherwise, do not. While they are made of wool there is some sort of synthetic film on the back of the fabric, and once it creases it tends to stay that way. I had some words for Amazon for shipping my first one in a (not even padded) envelope like a dish rag. I doubt it ever looked right again.
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Many of the newer hot-weather nylon Tilley hats have ventilated crowns. You’d think this would make them useless in the rain, but they still work surprisingly well in anything less than a downpour, and even then I’ve worn them over the thin nylon hood of a rain jacket. This sounds stupid and may look odd but it’s quite comfortable, and the hat brim keeps the rain out of your face, and the air space between the hood and the crown provides a little warmth.
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I’m saddened to have to recommend that you stick with only hats from the company. I bought a padded shoulder bag from them once to carry my notebook computer in for the commute to and from work, and a major seam ripped open after only a few months. I returned the bag to the company (it was no good to me), got no response, sent emails, eventually I did get a somewhat irritated response saying that the hat warranty did NOT apply to other things that they sold, and what did I want them to do about it? I explained what had happened, they said they would examine the bag and get back to me with a decision.
Weeks passed. Several.
I started sending emails again, eventually I got a reply, then there was more back-and-forth. They had forgotten about the entire thing, then it turned out that they had also lost the bag that I returned. Very reluctantly they agreed to send another, making it clear that they were doing me a big favor. I still have it.. I haven’t used it much, I’m not sure I trust it and just looking at it brings a bad taste to my mouth. I really should just give it to charity. Maybe they just don’t really like Americans.
Trust me, stick to the hats. Because of that experience, it grates a bit to even recommend the hats, but there are none better that I know of.
– Robert the Wombat
Tilley Endurables (Tilley Hats)