Free domestic ground shipping $100+
How to pack a hat without ruining it
Not every hat packs the same way, and most people find that out the hard way. We rate every hat we make on a five-point scale, so you know before it goes in the bag.
The fold
Packing in Action
Not every hat should be folded. The bottom two ratings mean wear it on the way, not pack it. The rest do fold, and they don't all fold the same way. Here are four of our favorites to travel with, each doing the move it was built for.
The crease fold. Pinch the crown where it already creases, fold the brim up around it.
Shop the HudsonSkip the fold. Turn the brim up against the crown and set it in a roomy tote. Nothing on top of it, nothing to fix later.
Shop the IpanemaThe half fold. Brim over on itself, then into a roomy bag. It folds easily. It just won't take weight on top.
Shop the Lina Sun HatYou won't find braided wheat straw in here. Fold one and the plait cracks, and a cracked plait stays cracked. Braided raffia looks near enough identical and folds without complaint - two very different hats, one very similar look.
The scale
Five ratings, and what each one actually means
Travel-friendly doesn't mean indestructible. Most of our hats are made from natural fibers that behave in particular ways, and the rating tells you which way.
The method
Packing a hat, properly
Five rules. The first one saves more hats than the other four combined.
-
1
Fill the crown
Socks, a scarf, a rolled t-shirt. An empty crown collapses under anything; a filled one holds its own shape and doubles as packing space. If you only do one thing, do this.
-
2
Crown up, never brim down
A hat travels crown-up or crown-down depending on how it's built, but it never travels brim-down under weight. The brim is where the shape lives.
-
3
Nest, don't stack
Two hats traveling together go crown inside crown, largest on the outside, with something soft between them.
-
4
Pack it last, unpack it first
It goes in on top and comes out within an hour of landing. Twelve hours compressed is a different thing from twelve days.
-
5
Give it a day
A folded hat that looks tired usually isn't. Set it crown-down on a flat surface overnight and most of the shape comes back on its own.
The reason
Why two straw hats can pack completely differently
This is what the ratings are actually built on. It isn't a judgment call, it's how the material behaves.
Crochet raffia
Worked in loops that give and recover. Packs extremely well, which is why most of our raffia buckets sit at five dots.
Braided raffia
A flat plait sewn in a spiral. A hard fold cracks the braid, and that crack doesn't come out. We never call these packable, however much they look like the ones that are.
Wool felt
Depends entirely on the brim. Brushed or unwired folds and recovers. Sewn or wired is holding a shape on purpose, and folding it fights the construction.
Mesh
The most forgiving thing we make. Built to compress and spring back, which is why our mesh panamas and caps sit at the top of the scale.
Wheat straw and toyo
The middle of the scale. Fine to pack flat with care. Not fine to crush.
Questions
The ones we get asked most
Can you pack a straw hat?
Some. It depends entirely on how the straw is worked. Crochet raffia and mesh pack extremely well. Braided raffia and fine flat braid crack under a hard fold and we don't recommend packing them at all. Every Wyeth hat carries a travel rating on its product page, so you don't have to guess.
How do you pack a hat in a suitcase?
Fill the crown with something soft, lay it crown-up on top of everything else, and put nothing heavy on the brim. It goes in last and comes out first. A hat that spends twelve hours packed is fine. One that spends two weeks under a pair of boots is not.
Will a packable hat lose its shape?
Not permanently, if it's rated for it. Anything at four or five dots is built to fold and recover. If it looks tired when you unpack it, set it crown-down on a flat surface overnight and it will usually come back on its own.
Can you take a hat as carry-on?
Yes, and it's the safest way to travel with anything under three dots. Wear it through security, then put it crown-up in the overhead bin, on top of the bags rather than under them.
What's the most packable hat material?
Mesh, then crochet raffia. Both are built to compress and spring back. Braided raffia is the one to keep out of a bag, however similar it looks on the shelf.
Can a crushed hat be fixed?
Often. Steam relaxes the fibers enough to push the shape back by hand: hold it over a kettle or a hot shower for a few seconds, reshape while it's warm, then let it dry on a flat surface. Straw responds well. A cracked braid doesn't, because the fiber is broken rather than bent.