Once, almost everyone walked around with hats. These days, hats aren’t necessary for people to feel dressed, but are fun accessories that many people collect. Are you a hat collector? In that case, you probably have trouble storing them. As hat as no longer ubiquitous, home designers don’t really design closets with homes in mind. As soon as you have two, you might wonder where you can keep them. How do you store a lot of hats? Especially without damaging them? We’ll details lots of interesting, flexible options for you below.
The Basics of Hat Storage
How you should best hang your hats will depend on whether you want to wear them regularly, so you need them to be accessible, whether you’d like to store them away, or whether you’d like to store them as a display. The basics of all three a similar though. You want to place the hats in a way that reinforces their natural shape, not one that deforms them. Hanging baseball caps by their back, for example, can eventually deform their shape. Similarly, piling straw hats on top of each other can crush the straw and deform the top.
The Best Way to Store Any Hat
Ultimately, the best way to store any hat to protect it and its shape is in the hat box that it came in. Not all hats are sold in boxes, but those that are often need them the most. How do you store a hat in a hat box? The hat is supposed to be placed upside down in the box, and then closed to protect from dust. If you choose to do this remember to keep your hat boxes somewhere safe from moisture, and don’t put anything heavy on top of them. If the box is flimsy, you might put it alone in a hard-shelled travel case. It can take the weight of anything stacked on top without stressing the hat box.
However, there are many downsides to this most basic hat storage method. It’s not very accessible for daily use, which might mean you wear your hat less often, or end up with an empty pile of boxes whenever you want to wear one and need to find it. You can’t display hats in a box so if you have a collection you want to show off, you probably don’t want to use the box. And, even if you don’t want to wear or look at your hats, all those boxes take up a great deal of room in your closet. Lastly, some hats don’t come with a box at all. What do you do in all these cases? We have options for your below.
How to Store a Hat Collection for Wear
When all you want to do is quickly look at and then choose your hat for wear, you have quite a few options to integrate your hats into your clothing storage to make it convenient. Here are some of those options:
- Coat stands with hat sections
- Hat hooks
- Hanging closet organizers
- Hanger and hook combinations
- Cedar closets
- Behind the door on hooks
- Shower curtain rings
Many of these solutions mean you’re putting your hats in a drawer. How to organize hats in a drawer? The first thing you need to do is ensure that the drawers are big enough for the hats. You don’t want to fold or stress them. You can stack hats, but ideally, you’d only put slightly smaller hats beneath larger hats. Forcing a hat over another can result in deforming its shape.
How to store baseball hats without ruining them? Similarly, if you have a large collection of baseball hats you likely do not want to smush them into a drawer, or hang them for too long either. The best way to store them is flat on a surface, sometimes stacked, even though this takes up a lot of room.
How to Display a Hat Collection
What about when you want to display your hat as much as you want to wear it–or even more? You can display your hat while also protecting it. How do you store a hat collection? Here are some options:
- Shelving
- Dedicated armoire
- Hat hooks
- Nails
- Command strips
- Clothes pins
When you’re storing hats out in the open, be especially careful to consider moisture and sun exposure, both of which can damage your hat. If you place your hats in or near the bathroom or kitchen, they may collect excess moisture. If you place your hats near the window, the direct sun exposure can cause them to fade. Try to pick a spot that is in the shade most of the time.
How to Store Hats
So, you’ve inherited your uncle’s baseball cap collection. Or, you have a personal collection of hats that you don’t wear, and that you don’t want to display, the best way to store them is in a storage unit. You can get small units that will fit just your collection or you can add your collection to a larger space that you want to use to store other items as well.
When storing your hats in a storage unit there are a few items you may want to add in with them. Moth balls are a smart option to avoid moths that could damage the hats. Desiccants, or moisture absorbers, are a smart option to limit the effect of high humidity on the fabric of the hat. Throwing in a few dryer sheets doesn’t hurt either, as it can keep the hats smelling fresh for when you want to take them out again.
At UNITS East Bay we take storage seriously and we hope out tips on how to store your hats will help you. If you are looking for a larger storage solution for your home or office or need help for your next move, please consider portable storage for your needs.
We offer portable storage in San Jose portable storage in Santa Clara and the rest of the South and East Bay Area.
