I’m at my brother-in-law’s house in Florida winding down from a Disney vacation and was musing about my choice of headwear for the trip. Those who know me know that I’m almost never without a hat… not a cap, but a hat. Generally, I wear a fedora of some sort, but always a hat with a brim that goes all the way around.
Since it’s summer, all my felt hats have been put away in storage and (almost) all my straw hats are out for the wearing. Montecristi Panama hats are my preferred headwear in the summer since they provide sun protection, are lightweight, and look good whether the situation calls for casual or dressy.
They are, however, not good in the rain. Since the weather forecast in Florida at this time generally includes an afternoon rainshower, I decided to take my Tilley T4 hat instead of one of my Montecristi Panamas because it can get soaking wet with no ill effects.
Other than its water indifference, the Tilley also provides better back-of-the-neck sun protection than most of my Montecristis, so overall, it was probably a pretty good choice. What I did notice, however, is that the Montecristis are signficantly cooler (from a temperature standpoint) than the Tilley. Cotton duck versus toquilla straw evidently makes a big difference.
Not that the Tilley didn’t serve me well, but as it turns out, we didn’t get caught in a single rainstorm the entire trip, so my concern about ruining a hat ended up being a moot point. So I sweated a bit more, but got better sun protection on my neck.
Generally speaking, I’ll pick a Montecristi over any other hat in the summer unless I’m doing something that will potentially beat the crap out of it. The Tilley is perfect for just such cases.
It’s all about the tradeoffs.