Time for some Tilley-experimentation

One of them, the oldest, seems like it was never worn once.  Not a spot on it anywhere.

The other T1 is stained in that way that you can barely see it unless/until the hat gets wet.  This is the one I will try to bleach white.  I’m already noticing something interesting that I had not anticipated… the primary source of the hat band staining appears to be on some sort of non-fabric interior band.  Might be foam or some type of nylon.  Starting to wonder if THAT is the thing that reacts poorly to bleach.  

I might have to do a little surgery to explore what’s inside the hat band.  

The T3 will be the one I dye, most likely.  It too seems little used but has some spots on it.  Thinking it might be interesting to see what might be accomplished with a few of my old tie dye tricks.  Made it back and forth across the country in a bus living off the proceeds of that skill set back in the 90’s. Never tried it on canvas duck before tho.  

Found this

Okay, so I decided to see what non-chlorine bleach (aka “hippie bleach” to my wife) would do to some old Tilleys.

First up, a very mildly stained T1 circa late 80’s:
  The stains on this hat are just perceivable but once the fabric is wet, it becomes possible to see that the hat has been worn and absorbed some sweat into the band with a few similar yellowish spots elsewhere on the brim and in the crown.
i removed the cord and soaked both the hat and cord for about 10 minutes in a solution of 59/50 nonchlorine bleach and water.  Afterwards, I rinsed it carefully and put it out in the sunshine for some blanching.  

next up, an early T3 circa late 80’s 
   More noticeable staining, even when dry.  The brim was lightly browned top and bottom and with a lightly stained head band.
Once wet, the stains again became more noticeable and it is clear that something inside the sweat band itself, a non fabric material, is yellowed. T1 has a similar situation, but not as noticeable, perhaps because the band material seems lighter.
Soaked it for almost 20 mins in a slightly stiffer solution with more bleach.

Finally, a new T3, probably circa 2000, with dark green under brim.
  Noticeable staining even when dry.  When wet, the staining again becomes more evident.  There are also noticeable white stains against the green underbrim suggestive of salt intrusion.  Further, there is, once again, an interior material in the headband which seems to be a color other than white.  In this case, (and another T5 I have from the same era) the material appears more pink than yellow/gold.  This one I soaked for 25 minutes.

Results:
Well, for the most part, not a lot.  There may have been some lightening of stains.  Certainly the bowl of bleach I used was noticeably yellowed after dunking three hats in it.  As per usual, the hats do tend to get white again as they dry.  As I type they are still in varying stages of drying.  One notable change was a bit of the fabric inside the older T3 did indeed drastically change in color after the bleach… see pics.  This fabric seems thinner than the duck cotton of the majority of the hat, but it definitely took on the sort of mustard yellow that I had heard might occur.

The other two hats…. I would say they seem brighter as they are drying.  Looks like the dark underbrim of the newer T3 has been cleansed of the white stains but I will know more when it is fully dry.  

Im sorry for forgetting to take before pics but maybe the eBay sales photos will provide a baseline for analyzing this experiment.
Here are some pics of the hats, post dunking, in the sunshine.
Note the pink hat band visible at the back of the newer T3 and the visible yellow/gold headbands in the other hats.

Yes I heard there could be yellowing on a hat if they were whitened.



Will you try to retore the yellowed one? Or try to repair with other cleaners?