N
Nomad
Guest
I like my Tilley T4. A lot. As you can see from this photo...
...it's nearly white, and this is just the ticket if you're trekking across the savannah in the baking, brain-stewing heat. However, I live in Scotland and tend to be in cooler, green places with rather less of the white-hot sun belting down on me. Apart from that, I think it looks a bit odd when I usually wear various shades of green from shoulder to foot anyway. I also question the sense of a very light coloured hat against a bunch of green when indulging in a spot of casual bird watching - seems a bit silly to have a white beacon moving around when everything around it isn't white.
So, I perused the Tilley web site in search of a green Tilley. Unfortunately, the T4 only comes in the light colour (with dark underbrim). There's a T3 in green, but I'm not so keen on the narrower brim, and don't like the poppers at the sides. There are also the waxy Outback ones and I mused on those for a while. And then I thought, if the shop had had the T4 in green on the day I bought the white one, I would have bought the green one. If I had done that, I would probably not have a white Tilley now.
On reflection, it seemed that 60 quid was an expensive way to get the green hat I would have bought in the first place, had they actually made a green verision, so I spent £3.50 on a packet of olive green Dylon hand wash dye instead. That, a pile of salt, and a bucket of warm water later, and I got this...
This is it just out of the washer after the spin cycle, so still wet and darker than it would be once dry. (It's starting to dry now and looking a bit lighter.) For a while, as I was mixing the stuff, I wondered if I was doing the right thing - after nearly 6 years of daily wear, it's only just broken in, and part of me felt I was ruining a perfectly good hat. But I bit the bullet, manned up, and dunked it in. Once it started sooking up the colour, I knew there was no going back, and that the only escape would be to buy a new Tilley in the normal searing heat reflective white - but I always wanted a green one, so maybe this was just apprehension about whether the dyeing would work out okay.
A few bits didn't take the dye, which can be seen on the underside...
As you can see, - the stitching, lace, sweat band and label kept their colour. The dark underbrim is still a bit darker than the rest of it. I would have liked the stitching and lace to have gone green, but overall, it all looks more intentional than home modified.
Verdict? Very pleased indeed with the result. Next step is to get a can of Fabsil and reproof it.
A tip for anyone considering doing the same: Tilleys are designed to float, so use something to keep it under the water. I used a bit of cane jammed against something, which was also handy as a stirring rod for the 45-minute steep and stir phase (rubber gloves for the initial constant stirring phase).
...it's nearly white, and this is just the ticket if you're trekking across the savannah in the baking, brain-stewing heat. However, I live in Scotland and tend to be in cooler, green places with rather less of the white-hot sun belting down on me. Apart from that, I think it looks a bit odd when I usually wear various shades of green from shoulder to foot anyway. I also question the sense of a very light coloured hat against a bunch of green when indulging in a spot of casual bird watching - seems a bit silly to have a white beacon moving around when everything around it isn't white.
So, I perused the Tilley web site in search of a green Tilley. Unfortunately, the T4 only comes in the light colour (with dark underbrim). There's a T3 in green, but I'm not so keen on the narrower brim, and don't like the poppers at the sides. There are also the waxy Outback ones and I mused on those for a while. And then I thought, if the shop had had the T4 in green on the day I bought the white one, I would have bought the green one. If I had done that, I would probably not have a white Tilley now.
On reflection, it seemed that 60 quid was an expensive way to get the green hat I would have bought in the first place, had they actually made a green verision, so I spent £3.50 on a packet of olive green Dylon hand wash dye instead. That, a pile of salt, and a bucket of warm water later, and I got this...
This is it just out of the washer after the spin cycle, so still wet and darker than it would be once dry. (It's starting to dry now and looking a bit lighter.) For a while, as I was mixing the stuff, I wondered if I was doing the right thing - after nearly 6 years of daily wear, it's only just broken in, and part of me felt I was ruining a perfectly good hat. But I bit the bullet, manned up, and dunked it in. Once it started sooking up the colour, I knew there was no going back, and that the only escape would be to buy a new Tilley in the normal searing heat reflective white - but I always wanted a green one, so maybe this was just apprehension about whether the dyeing would work out okay.
A few bits didn't take the dye, which can be seen on the underside...
As you can see, - the stitching, lace, sweat band and label kept their colour. The dark underbrim is still a bit darker than the rest of it. I would have liked the stitching and lace to have gone green, but overall, it all looks more intentional than home modified.
Verdict? Very pleased indeed with the result. Next step is to get a can of Fabsil and reproof it.
A tip for anyone considering doing the same: Tilleys are designed to float, so use something to keep it under the water. I used a bit of cane jammed against something, which was also handy as a stirring rod for the 45-minute steep and stir phase (rubber gloves for the initial constant stirring phase).
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and I agree, it's a big improvement 
