Hat Storage: Don’t Get Bent Out of Shape

A century ago, you wouldn’t have been caught in public without your hat. Whether it’s due to style or skin protection, hats seem to be making a comeback, and that brings up an age-old question: Where do you hang your hat? In years past, people would have understood that phrase to mean “where do you live?” For the purposes of this article, we mean it quite literally; in other words, how do you store your hat?

Closet Case

The problem is that as styles have evolved, closets have changed as well. Many aren’t equipped with space that can easily accommodate hats. In this closet by Fiorentino Group Architects, shelves store a large collection of baseball caps. But brimmed hats (like a fedora or sun hat) present another set of problems: They are large and often too big for a standard shelf, and that leaves them with the back of the brim squashed against the wall and the front hanging over the shelf’s edge. Sitting on a shelf also puts the brim in an unnatural position, and it eventually loses its shape.





Hat Tricks

For ideas on solving the dilemma, we went to Ben Goorin, owner and CEO of Goorin Bros., a company that’s been making hats since 1895. Goorin is the great-grandson of the cofounder of the company. In other words, he knows headgear.

A hatbox is a hat’s best friend, Goorin says. “The better hats come in a hatbox, but you can also buy them separately,” he says. “You want to put the hat in the box upside down, with the crown down and the brim up.” By doing this, you are preserving the shape of your hat. “What people don’t think about is that the crown is more stiff and strong than the brim,” he says. “If you store your hat with the brim down, you will flatten it.”

The hat maker notes that you can put multiple hats in one box, but put the heaviest hats on the bottom.


Goorin says that hatboxes also keep hats clean and dust free.


Of course, hatboxes can be space eaters. But Goorin points out that many of our forebears didn’t have closets at all, let alone large closets — and it’s likely they wore more hats.

“You can store your hat on a deep shelf or cubby, but it’s still best to store it on its crown,” he says. “You will have to fight dust, but it will keep its shape.”


Hang It All

For some people, hatboxes aren’t a desirable option. “A lot of people like to see what they have and have it readily at hand,” Goorin says. There’s a solution for that: hooks and hangers. The trick is to choose the right kind.





“You want to avoid sharp, pointy hooks,” Goorin says. “These will stretch out your hat and ruin its shape.”

Instead, opt for hooks that have a tip that’s broad — for instance, one whose “point” is shaped like a doorknob or a crescent (that type is shown here). These hangers don’t put the same kind of focused pressure on a hat’s crown, and help them keep their shape.


Fun fact: Our great-grandparents were also concerned with hat storage. Goorin says that top hats, such as the one seen in this photo, originally were troublesome in theaters and other public venues, as they blocked views and were hard to store. They were then made with springs that allowed them to be collapsed into a flat disk, and thus easily stacked in a hat check.


Apparently, the hat-wearing people who came before us had figured out the “broad is better” hook strategy, and had many appropriate hangers. Many such vintage and vintage-style hooks are on the market.


This Eames rack shows that the issue might have been on the minds of the modernists as well.


Goorin notes that for people who like soft hats (baseball, felt or canvas hats), keeping the shape isn’t as much of a worry.


“The hats you should be concerned about bending or stretching are the more rigid hats, such as straw hats or fedoras,” he says.


“Soft hats can be hung or stacked any number of ways, as you can’t harm their shape,” he adds.


If you have hats that have been stacked or stored improperly, take heart: Most headgear has a good memory.


“If you have a hat that’s misshapen, try steaming it with a clothes steamer or putting it in the bathroom while you take a shower,” Goorin says. “Many of them will spring back into their blocked shape. If they need a little coaxing, you can gently mold them with your hands.”

Hats off to that!

Your turn: Summer is hat season — and one of the most popular hats is the baseball cap. Do you have a clever way of storing and organizing your cap collection? Share it, along with photos, in the Comments section below.

More: 10 Smart Storage Hacks for Shoe Lovers

URL: Hat Storage: Don’t Get Bent Out of Shape http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-26297.html