The Will & Bear guide to finding your perfect hat
Will & Bear hats come in various designs, each with unique characteristics and uses whether you're looking for something formal, rugged, or casual, there's a hat style for every occasion from fedoras, cowboy hats and rancher hats, to floppy hats and wide brim sun hats.
This guide aims to help you find the perfect felt hat that suits your style and needs, making you feel confident and inspired every time you wear it. Dive in to explore different styles, stiffness ratings, and tips on selecting the right fit and storing your hat.
Proper fit and sizing are essential for both comfort and style when choosing a hat. To ensure the correct fit, measure your head by wrapping a soft measuring tape around your forehead, just above your ears, and over the bump at the back of your head. This measurement helps you select the right hat size, preventing discomfort and ensuring your hat stays in place. Additionally, the fit of your hat affects the shape of the brim; a tighter fit can cause the brim to bend more, creating a more pronounced curve - the right fit enhances your hat's appearance and ensures a comfortable and secure wear.
Basic Anatomy & Key Measurements
A Crown Height - Effects overall appearance of hat
B Brim Width- Measured from edge of crown. Confident hat wearers wear wider crowns
C Fit Depth - How deep the hat feels when worn can be different from crown height depending on styles
D Internal Circumference or Size - What you need to match when measuring your head ie 57cm (Size Medium)
Your Will & Bear hat stiffness
Understanding stiffness ratings is crucial for choosing the right felt hat, as it affects fit, comfort, and packing ability.
Soft hats are flexible and comfortable, conforming to your head shape but may lose their form more easily. Softer hats are easier to pack without damaging their shape, while stiffer hats need careful handling.
Medium stiffness offers a balance of comfort and shape retention, suitable for various occasions.
Stiff hats are purposefully stiffened to maintain their structure well, providing a stronger look but can be less comfortable when initially tried on. Luckily our felt hats will soften and mold to you your head over time rather than shrink.
Which felt is best for felt hats?
Felt is a versatile material used in hat-making, available in various types, each with its own unique properties and benefits.
Beaver Felt: It is made from the dense underfur of beavers. Hats made from beaver felt are often more expensive due to the premium quality of the material.
Rabbit Felt: It is made from the fur of rabbits and offers good water resistance and durability. Rabbit felt hats are generally less expensive than beaver felt but still provide a high level of quality and comfort.
Wool Felt: Wool felt is a popular choice for hats due to its excellent properties. It is made from the wool of sheep and is known for being lightweight, breathable, and durable. Wool felt hats are versatile and can be worn in various climates, providing comfort even in summer.
Will & Bear choose wool felt for their hats because it is light and breathable, making it ideal for year-round wear. Their wool felt is also renewable and sourced from waste fibers that the fashion industry discards, ensuring minimal environmental impact. By using these waste fibers, Will & Bear support Australian wool growers and create high-quality hats that are both eco-friendly and supportive of the local economy.
Felt Hat Storage
Proper storage is essential to maintaining the shape and quality of your felt hat. Wool felt is a durable material that remembers its shape, but it still needs to be stored correctly to prevent damage. Will & Bear recommend using hat walls, which not only keep your hats in pristine condition but also turn them into a stylish display. It's important to avoid storing your hats in direct sunlight, as prolonged exposure can cause fading and weaken the fibers. By storing your hats on a hat wall or using dedicated hat stands and boxes in a cool, dry place, you can ensure they remain in excellent shape and are always ready to wear.
Reasons to love Will & Bear
Will & Bear began in 2015 with a simple idea: to create a practical, good-looking hat that felt natural to wear. Bear (Alex), a first-time hat buyer, was looking for something durable that suited the Australian outdoors but couldn’t find anything that felt quite right. So, together with Will (Lauren), they decided to make their own. The first Will & Bear hat collection was designed with styles for men and women, focusing on timeless shapes and natural materials.
Will & Bear design, develop and craft their wide range of hats using traditional hat making techniques, and employing naturally regenerative materials like wool, straw, hemp and cotton.
Will & Bear are B-Corp Certified
Proudly Australia's first B-Corp certified hat company with a score of 108.9, Will & Bear have been assessed as a business with the highest verified standard across social and environmental impact. Will & Bear aim for continuous improvement in operating ethically and responsibly.
Will & Bear give back 40% of their profits
Over the last 5 years, Will & Bear have donated 40% of annual profits to organizations like Australian organisations Odonata Foundation and Rejuvenation Tree, and global organisation Trees for the Future supporting tree planting projects in Africa, helping people with food security while transforming degraded farmlands into fertile forest gardens.Will & Bear also support Australian farmers that practice regenerative farming, boosting their land health and biodiversity.
Use of natural fibres for their hats
Will & Bear use wool sourced from small lot farms, and focus on short low-quality fibres that the fashion industry doesn't use. Not only does wool look and feel great, but it’s also natural, biodegradable, recyclable, renewable & water-resistant. When wool is disposed of, it will naturally decompose in soil in a matter of months or years, slowly releasing valuable nutrients back into the earth. They also use hemp, cotton, straw, palm straw, and Tencel (which is a fibre made from wood).
Will & Bear hats are really great!
We love the range of styles and the fashionable fits... check them out!
