Choosing Between an Open Crown and a Pre-Creased Hat
A felt hat sits on the head differently depending on whether the crown arrives shaped or left for the wearer to crease. For Australians who spend time in the bush, at the races or behind the wheel of a ute on a long stretch of bitumen, that difference matters. The crown is the single largest visible surface of a hat, and how it is formed changes everything from how rain runs off the top to the silhouette framed by the brim.
Open crown and pre-creased styles come from the same felt or straw, the same sweatband, the same brim cut. What separates them is whether the crown has been steamed, blocked and finished by the maker or handed over as a blank canvas. Getting this distinction right helps a buyer settle on what they actually want before the hat lands in the post from the Cardenas Hats workshop.
A Side-by-Side Look at the Two Crown Types
| Feature | Open Crown | Pre-Creased |
|---|---|---|
| Shape on arrival | Smooth, unshaped crown, often with a flat or teardrop peak | Finished crease already pressed into the felt |
| Customisation | Wearer chooses the crease, pinch and finish | Wearer works around an existing crease |
| Skill needed | Moderate - shaping takes practice | Minimal - ready to wear immediately |
| Reshaping later | Easy to re-block into a new shape | Possible but limited by the original crease |
| Typical price | Similar across both styles | Similar across both styles |
| Best for | Buyers who enjoy the craft of personalising a hat | Buyers who want a finished look out of the box |
| Common felt weight | Usually mid to heavy body for clean shaping | Often lighter felt where a sharp crease holds |
| Storage demands | Holds shape well if stored on a proper block | Needs careful storage to protect the existing crease |
What an Open Crown Hat Actually Is
An open crown hat is one that leaves the factory without a defined crease pressed into the top. The felt or straw arrives smooth, often with a gentle dome or a centre dent that the maker has only lightly set. The owner then shapes it at home, in a stockman's hut near Katherine or on the verandah of a Queenslander in Toowoomba, using steam, a hat block and a steady hand.
The appeal is creative. A cattleman heading out to a weaner sale in regional NSW might want a tall centre crease, while a singer playing at the Tamworth Country Music Festival might prefer a classic teardrop pinch. Both hats can come off the same production line. Many felt and straw bodies are shipped out this way by makers such as premium hat makers in Colombia, so the crease becomes the wearer's own signature rather than the factory's.
Open crowns also tend to forgive small mistakes. If a pinch is not quite right the first time, steam and a press will reset the felt without ruining it. That matters for buyers in remote parts of Australia where the nearest hat shop is a long drive away and most shaping is done by torchlight on the kitchen bench.
The Character of a Pre-Creased Hat
A pre-creased hat arrives with the crown finished. The most common shapes in Australia are the Cattleman crease, the Pinch Front and the Diamond, each named for the lines pressed into the felt from front to back. The maker has used steam, pressure and a shaping jack to lock those lines in before the hat is packed, so the wearer takes it out of the box and puts it straight on.
This is the practical choice for people who want certainty. A tradie heading from a job site in Footscray to Friday knock-off drinks does not want to spend twenty minutes over a kettle getting the crown right. The crease is already there, the felt holds the line, and the silhouette is consistent every time the hat goes on.
Pre-creased hats also photograph predictably. Outback photographers, station agents presenting at a regional field day, and presenters on ABC's Landline all tend toward a known crease because the look reads well from every angle. A hat creased well by the maker will keep its shape through years of wear, provided it is rested on a proper block between outings.
Sizing, Fit and How Each Style Feels
Both styles use the same measuring system. A felt hat should sit roughly a finger's width above the eyebrows, with the sweatband gripping without pressure. Cardenas uses standard centimetre sizing, which lines up with most Australian head shapes from Perth to the Riverina.
Where the two styles diverge is how the crown feels through the day. An open crown that has been freshly shaped can sit slightly higher on the head because the wearer has more material to work with above the sweatband. A pre-creased hat, by contrast, tends to feel snugger around the crown because the felt has been compressed into a defined shape during blocking.
Weight is another consideration. A heavy pure-beaver felt holds an open crown crease beautifully but can feel like a load after a long muster near Bourke. A lighter pre-creased felt or a shaped straw is often the more comfortable choice for summer events such as a Christmas raceday at Flemington, where the sun pushes past forty degrees and the breeze off the Maribyrnong does not always reach the lawn.
Shaping, Reshaping and Long-Term Care
Looking after either style comes down to giving the crown a rest. A hat worn hard through a week of fencing or a long-haul drive across the Nullarbor should come off at night and sit on a block or in a crown-supporting box. Felt remembers whatever shape it sits in, and a brim left in a ute for a month will curl in a way no amount of steaming will fully undo.
For an open crown, reshaping every few years is part of the hat's life. A new crease, a deeper pinch or a return to the original teardrop keeps the felt supple and the look current. For a pre-creased hat, the work is preservation. Avoid catching the crease on a coat hook in a pub corridor, do not stack the hat under a saddle, and never leave it in a hot car. The guide on how to store a cowboy hat so it keeps its shape for decades walks through the small habits that protect the felt for a generation.
A soft brush, a clean lint-free cloth and a kettle for steam are the only tools most owners need. Stay away from baby wipes, solvent cleaners and anything labelled for leather, as these will dry out the felt and shorten the hat's working life.
Styling Across Australian Settings
Style in Australia often follows the calendar. In the cooler months a heavy felt hat in the Akubra tradition, or a fedora, works with moleskin trousers and an R.M.Williams shirt for a racing carnival in Adelaide, a campdraft in the Hunter Valley or a day at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney. In summer, a pre-creased straw or a shaped open-crown straw is the natural match for a linen suit at a Christmas party in Noosa or a Sunday session at a pub with a beer garden in Brisbane.
Open crowns shine in settings where individuality matters. A musician playing a set at a regional country music festival, a horseman competing at a campdraft, or a market stallholder at a Saturday farmers' market in Castlemaine will all enjoy the chance to put a personal crease into a new hat. The look is hand-finished and unmistakably theirs.
Pre-creased hats work best where a clean, repeatable look is the point. Sales reps calling on stations across western Queensland, fly-in workers heading to a Pilbara mine site, and tourists wanting a recognisably Australian hat for a photo at Uluru will all benefit from a hat that arrives ready to wear. There is no learning curve, and the crease stays consistent through years of use.
Which Style Suits Your Wardrobe
Choosing between an open crown and a pre-creased hat comes down to how much time the wearer wants to spend on the crown. Buyers who enjoy the ritual of shaping, who treat the hat as part of their kit, and who like the idea of a crease that is unmistakably their own will get more out of an open crown. Buyers who want the hat to look finished the moment it arrives, who wear it often and who value a crease that holds through everything the Australian climate can throw at it, will be better served by a pre-creased model.
Both styles draw from the same traditions of Western and country hat-making, both are made by hand in the Cardenas factory in Colombia, and both can be ordered online and shipped anywhere from the Kimberley to Hobart. The decision is less about quality and more about personality.
A final note on colour: darker felts in black, charcoal and chocolate tend to suit the formal lines of a Cattleman crease, while lighter tones of fawn, sand and silver belly are easier to shape at home because any small error is less visible. Trying both styles against a mirror, a jacket the wearer already owns and the climate they live in will settle the question faster than any spec sheet.