Bickmore Kahl Hat Stiffener - Great for Fabric & Felt Hat Brims - Will Not Affect Tone, Texture, or Color

This stuff works great . Shaping after spraying it was so easy and it held its shape, I put in it. This was a rapture Stetson hat that comes totally flimsy and not shaped. This product allows you to shape it anyway you want.. highly recommend.

nice

It is a good product.

My Stetson Temple was all fluffy and uncomfortable; I had to keep fixing the brim at all times. I was tired of the flying fluffy brim. I applied the Khal stiffener a couple of times, using a teapot to steam after the sittener dried for a couple of hours. After the teapot steaming, I could feel some residue in the fur felt. I reasoned that the starch did not have enough time to diffuse inside the felt. I tried then another approach to steaming. You can see my approach in the picture. I used a humidifier, with a trash basket on top, and the hat on top of the basket. I left the hat there for several hours, removing the condensed water with a towel from time to time. After the process, presumably all of the Khal Stiffener was absorbed by the felt. I could not feel any residue anymore. I brushed the hat when dry, and the texture was not affected. The brim took a nice shape, just a little bit stiffer. The effect of the product is not dramatic. The felt acquired a nice malleable body. I decided to give the brim a snapped up shape everywhere but at the front of the hat. The brim shape has prevailed after a couple of wears. This Khal Stiffener product solved my problem. I did not have to do a professional hat restoration. I must admit that part of the success was the slow steaming process. I applied the same humidifier steaming, over several hours on another Stetson Temple, without using the Khal Stiffener product. That second hat looks again like new. Overall, I am happy with the outcome. The brim now has a steady shape (I cannot play with brim positions anymore, but I prefer such). If you use this product, make sure you give enough steaming time for the starch to diffuse into the fabric. I am guessing that people complaining about white spots is due to starch buildup after several applications. Again, starch buildup does not occur when steam acts on the hat for a long time. Hats need some steaming from time to time to help them keep shape, just like shirts need ironing.

Works great! You will require a steamer of some kind however. Can't just throw on and forget it.

It is true that this product will not affect the tone or texture of the item it is sprayed on, the stiffness that it adds is miniscule. I have sprayed this 12-15 times over three days on the hat, but it did not do much. Maybe my issue was that the hat was a crocheted straw hat which initially had nice stiffness to it but after having been soaked in the rain once lost that "sturdiness" and became floppy for lack of a better description. Maybe for felt this product would work better but it doesn't do much for straw.

Use it all the time on my Stetson. Good product.

I've used this stiffener to successfully reshape a straw hat and a beaver felt hat. Applying the steam and manipulating the shape was nerve-wracking, but the spray is easy to use and holds well.

Works great! I had never tried anything like this and so, I wasn't sure what to expect. One of my oldest western hats had been all crushed up at the bottom of a box, for decades. I wondered if I could get it back into shape and order some Bickmore Kahl Wool Hat Stiffener. Wow... it works great, and I now have my old hat back to looking like a hat, again, instead of a crushed up mess -- it doesn't look brand new but again, considering how damaged it was and that it is about 30 years old, I think it is good, and any flaws in the hat are due to age, not product used to re-shape it. I didn't think I would be doing a review and so, sorry, I didn't take a before picture... but I have included a picture, after using Bickmore.

Great product. Have learnt to reshape my own hats

Bought a really floppy crushable felt hat. Wanted it stiffer. Purchased this. Worked like a charm. It does wear out over time but application is easy and quick

Un bon produit, je l'utilise en wet felting, sur chapeaux, fleurs etc....Une bonne odeur. Il ne faut pas laver.

This is GREAT for reshapeing or shapeing cowboy hats !!!