Attaching a Chin Strap or Stampede String to Your Akubra Hat

Hold on to your hat! Chin straps, known in cattle country as stampede strings, ensure against loss of your hat in wind or brush. We offer two types of hand braided kangaroo leather chin straps, our own production. Our Chin Strap has leather tabs for easy attachment to hats with chin strap hooks, such as most of the Akubras we sell. Our Stampede String has cotter pins which can be slipped between the sweatband and body of hats without chin strap hooks, such as Akubra’s Heritage Collection and our Panamas.

If you did not purchase your hat from us, you will have to check to see if it has chin strap hooks inside the crown. The chin strap hooks are put on the Akubra hats especially for us, and many Akubras available elsewhere do not have the hooks.

Instructions for attaching our Chin Strap and Stampede String are given below.  We also offer Akubra’s Breakaway Chin Strap for use with Akubra hats. Please refer to these instructions for attaching the Breakaway Chin Strap.

Attaching a Chin Strap

Please watch our video or follow these steps to attach a Chin Strap to an Akubra with chin strap hooks.[List Akubras with chin strap hooks]

1. Locate the general position of the chin strap hooks from the grommet on either side.

2. Locate the small opening between the crown and sweatband, indicated here by the Akubra tag.

3. Slip the flat end of the chin strap through the opening.

4. Slip the chin strap onto the chin strap hook.

5. Make sure the chin strap is flat against the crown.

6. Tuck the lining back under the sweatband.

Attaching a Stampede String

Please watch our video or follow these steps to attach a Stampede String to your hat. [List Akubras without chin strap hooks].

1.  Our Stampede String has two cotter pins which slide between the sweatband and the hat body for easy attachment to a hat.

2.  Hold the cotter pins tightly together and push them through the stitching where the sweatband meets the body.

3.  Pull the pins completely through the base of the sweatband until the braid is firmly against the sweatband.

4.  Spread the pins outward, as close to horizontal as possible.

5.  Check by tugging on the braid.

If you prefer our Chin Strap to our Stampede String, the best way to attach a chin strap to a hat without hooks is by sewing small shirt buttons to the inside of the crown about 3/4 to 1-1/4 inches above the brim (making sure the stitching will be hidden by the hat band). A space must be made so the end of the chin strap may be slipped through between the leather sweatband and the crown and then put over the button. In order to make this space the stitching that holds the leather to the crown must first be bar-tacked or oversewn on each side of the space needed.

For more information …
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