A hat can be a delicate thing to store. If you don’t take proper care to maintain their shape and keep them from damage, any hats you own can wind up crushed, misshapen, or even destroyed by the elements.
Fortunately, there are plenty of rules of thumb that can keep this from happening. In this article, we’ll go over a few tips for storing hats and keeping them in tip-top (excuse the pun) shape.
How can I keep my hats in good condition while they’re in storage?
Protect the hat’s shape
If you’re dealing with a hat with a rigid brim or crown, such as a Stetson hat or a fedora, make sure you store it somewhere it won’t be crushed or otherwise lose its shape. One way to maintain a hat’s original shape is to store it on a Styrofoam wig head, or you can purchase hooks and racks to hang your hat over your door while keeping its shape in place.
Save space by nesting hats
You can keep your hats’ crowns supported while saving space by nesting smaller hats inside larger ones. This is especially useful if you plan on keeping a large collection packed away for some time, as you’ll be able to fit much more into a single container.
Keep hats out of direct sunlight
As with any other fabric, long-term exposure to ultraviolet rays can cause hats to degrade over time. Keep your hats in a cool, dry place, but make sure that place doesn’t let sunlight in if you want to keep colors from fading and materials from breaking down.
Store your most valuable hats in boxes
To completely separate a particularly valuable or important hat from other hats and clothing items, you can purchase a hat box to keep it in. However, there are plenty of other, less fancy solutions to boxing up hats, such as clear plastic storage bins. Any box large enough to fit your hat in will work as long as there’s just enough airflow to keep moisture from collecting.
Pro tip: Add a silica gel packet to any bins you put hats in to keep out unwanted moisture.
How do I store hats around my house?
If you’re a regular hat wearer, consider the following solutions to help you organize and maintain your favorites.:
- Hat hooks or hat pegs. For cowboy or fedora-style hats, you can save space while showing off your favorites by mounting some hat hooks or pegs on your wall. There are options available for almost every kind of decor, and when hung up properly, your hat will maintain its shape.
- Hat hangers. Use the closet space you already have and put up a hat hanger or two to store multiple hats. A hanger such as this one from Boxy Concepts gives each hat individual space, and if you’re storing a lot of baseball caps, you can nest them inside each other within each compartment.
- Over-the-door hat racks. Hang a rack such as this one from Perfect Curve over your door and you’ll have space for up to 18 of your favorite hats.
- DIY storage. If you’d rather not purchase new containers to store your hats, you can often make your own solutions using materials lying around the house. For example, hang up some twine on a pair of pushpins inserted into a wall, then attach hats to the twine with clothespins.
- Shoe boxes. If you have leftover shoe boxes, you can put some of your less-used hats inside. Plastic drop-front shoe boxes will be best for this purpose, as cardboard shoe boxes can let moisture in and break down over time.
How do I store hats for a longer period of time?
If you’re planning on putting hats into a storage unit, you’re most likely putting other things in there as well. Make sure your hats go in last so you aren’t stacking boxes on top of them and crushing them, and invest in a climate-controlled unit to protect your favorite hats from moisture, heat, or cold damage.
Looking for the right storage unit for your hat collection? Let us help! Check out Sparefoot’s built-in search tool to compare the best storage facilities near you and filter your search by the features you need most of all.
Anne Wynter
