Something I've Never Seen in a Sweatband

[Not-Bogart13]

As many of you have already seen, no doubt, I have that NOS Trinity from Johnnyphi. While inspecting it, I noticed that there is clear plastic behind the sweatband, going all the way around. It seems to well attached, but given how long it's been sitting in there, it might just be very stuck.

Does anyone know if it should be removed? Does it serve a purpose? Did Russians spies hide microfilm in my hat sixty years ago that has now faded completely?

 

[tonyb]

It's a moisture barrier, I'd bet, there to prevent sweat from transferring though the leather sweatband and into the felt. I have a few hats with that very feature. It ain't exactly commonplace, but it ain't all that unusual, either.

 

[barrowjh]

I have a few hats with a thin, clear, slightly textured plastic liner the width of the sweatband. It has an almost leather-like feel to it. I think it must be late 1940's or early 1950's and represents the very best of hat construction / manufacturing techniques. My hats with that liner typically also have the separate plastic liner across the top of the crown, it is a reeded sweatband, and the felt is always really nice. It may not have beaver in it, but it is really nice felt and finished nice also. I say early 1950's because I see this treatment in fedoras with 2.5 inch and wider brims, before the stingy-brims took over the fashion scene.

 

[handlebar bart]

Alot of the fedoras I have bought off ebay have had brittle bits of discolored plastic in the hat and bottom of the box. I believe that has been the remains of the vapor barrier that hasn't survived the years. Seems Johnny's hats have survived storage much better.

 

[Marc]

I used onion skins on my first sweatbands, but decided against it when I switched over to using roo hide in opposite to goatskin. I've found it to be more comfortable (read: less warm) when there's no onion skin on the the backside of the sweatband. Of course that's my personal experience only.

Regards,

Marc