I just bought a brand new 5950 fitted MLB hat (size 7-1/4) and while it looks good, it's a bit too tight on my forehead. I used to have an old wool fitted hat at the same size and it seemed to be the right size. But the new hat leaves a little bit of a red line on my forehead after I take it off. If I go to the next size up (7-3/8) it's way too big.
Any idea on how I can stretch-out and loosen my hat a little bit?
Well Dressed Sports Guy also wears a 7 1/4 and has also thought about going a size up. We're like twins. New Era might not like to admit this, but their sizing can be a bit off from time to time. People who have purchased a lot of hats over the years know that not every hat of the same size wears the exact same. The rule of thumb with the old, wool hats used to be to just get a hat a size too large because, heck, you can always shrink it to fit your dome.
I searched for about three months to find an Iowa Cubs hat (the Chicago Cubs AAA affiliate). When I finally got it, the damn thing was too small.
For DJs problem specifically, I might try working in the hat a bit more by sweating in it (wear it to the gym or whatever). I'd also consider curving the bill a bit - when I get new hats they tend to irritate the front of my forehead until they are more broken in and loosened up.
There are a few things you can do to loosen new 5950s that have varying degrees of severity and will offer you limited success. I'm all ears for other suggestions from readers that I'd be happy to post.
1.) The first is the most basic and the least dangerous. Depending on the exact model, the inside of your hat will have three or four labels in the back (on the sweatband - the size of the heat, the New Era logo and the MLB or MILB logos). If you only wear the hat forward, you can just slice out those labels, giving you a fraction of an inch more space. If you frequently wear your hat backwards - this might itch a little - so make sure to cut the whole label out. If you
turn the sweatband inside out - you'll notice there is some labels and more stitching in there. You can carefully remove that as well.
2.) A little more severe is to cut out some of the sweatband on the inside to save space. I cut squares on each side of the cap to save a bit of space sometimes.
3.) You can also cut a small line on the side of the hat, right behind your ear, stretching it out. Visually, this kind of drives me nuts - but if you're not going to wear the hat otherwise, this can do the trick. The higher you slice up the side of the hat, the more room you'll have. I'd only use this as a last resort.
I'll leave it up to the readers to e-mail more suggestions!
