A hat that sits perfectly on the head and does not blow off with a slight gush of breeze is the right fit for you. However, there is no reason to believe that holding the hat in place is the only reason for giving importance to fit. How well a hat sits on your head contributes to your face shape’s overall look and style because an ill-fitting hat could look funny. The kind of fit also ensures how comfortable one feels to wear the hat to wear it for a long time. Regardless of the occasion for wearing hats or part of your daily attire, you cannot compromise with the fit, and every kind of hat in your wardrobe, including the straw fedora hat, must sit perfectly on your head.
As hats are in vogue again and one of the most important fashion accessories for both men and women, you must learn a few things to ensure that hats fit correctly irrespective of the design and style. When choosing hats, you must know the size of your head that corresponds to some hat size, and by matching the parameters correctly, you can be sure of getting the right size of the hat. Besides measuring your head size, which is a certain way to get the right fit for your hat, another indirect way to judge the fit is by how you feel about wearing the hat. Place the hat at different angles and positions on your head to understand which point you feel most comfortable. But the method being subjective might not always work well.
Measure your head
The technique of measuring your head is the same as that of a tailor taking the measurements of your body with tape. Wrap the measuring tape around the largest part of your head to ensure that the two ends meet at the center of your forehead, a little above the eyebrows. Adjust the firmness of the tape by changing its position slightly so that it is neither too tight nor too loose but gently sits on the head and feels most comfortable. Note the measurement at this point which is the size of your head.
Match with the hat size chart
There is a hat for every head size, and you need not worry if your head is too big or small. All hat makers and hat sellers follow the hat size chart that lists the head sizes and the corresponding hat size. For adults, the head size starts from 211/4 inches or 54 cm, which denotes the circumference of the head and goes up to 25 inches or 63.5 cm.
The hat size nomenclature starts from small (S) followed by medium (M), large (L), Extra large (XL), and the largest size is XXL that you will find in the hat label.
Consider your face shape
The fit is just one of the factors that determine how the hat looks on wearing it. The other important factor is your face shape because all hats do not go well with all kinds of face shapes. Knowing the shape of your face, whether it its round, square, oval, rectangle, or diamond shape, should help to restrict your choices of hat styles. Since the hat style and design help offset some of the undesired dimensions of the face to produce better looks, matching the hat with the face shape is critically important.
Fabrics affect the fit
The fabrics of hats impact the fit during different times. Some fabrics like cotton have considerable flexibility over leather or suede or straw and, at first, might feel a little tight but loosen up after using it a few times. A woolen hat that is slightly loose in the beginning can become a tight fit after some days. On the other hand, wool tends to shrink, and you must factor in this aspect when choosing hats with the perfect fit. The better you are aware of the composition and characteristics of the hat material, the easier it will be to understand the best fit for your hat.
Instead of looking for the best fit, try to get the ideal fit of hats that sit just above your eyebrows around the middle of the forehead without obstructing the view. If you find that your head size does not exactly match with the sizes mentioned in the hat chart but falls somewhere in between, choose the next size instead of the slightly smaller one.
The right size and fit of the hat allow passing a finger smoothly between the hat and your head. Even after choosing the right hat size, you might need some minor adjustments for which you can use a heat tape or hat size reducer, a foam strip with adhesive on one side that you can fix on the sweatband for a snug fit.