How to Clean Your Cap Properly and Keep it Crisp

Man wearing a New York Yankees '47 navy cap.

When you wear a cap regularly it can quickly build up marks and stains that damage the clean look and overall aesthetics of your look. Common stains like sweat marks, salt lines and city grime can quickly build up.

That doesn’t mean you should be throwing your caps out or simply buying a replacement, if your caps are high-quality they should last for years with the right care, so knowing how to clean them correctly and lift out these stains before they set for good is the difference between a cap from the ’47 Headwear collection lasting years and one that goes stiff, patchy or misshapen after a single rushed wash.

When not cleaned correctly you can easily ruin a cap, and most get ruined the same way: soaked too hot, scrubbed too hard, or just thrown in the washing machine. The simple fact is, these methods aren’t going to cut it and you need to be using cool water, a mild soap and a soft brush to do the work. The rest is in the method.

With the right cleaning routine you can have a favourite cap that's picked up a summer's worth of sweat, refreshed and looking close to new with one careful wash.

What You'll Need to Clean Your Cap

You don't need anything special, most of what you need to clean your cap properly can be done with what's already under most households' sinks. To clean your cap you’ll need:

Cap Care List

  • Some form of mild soap or a washing detergent
  • A soft brush or even an old toothbrush
  • A clean cloth or tea towel
  • A bowl, sink or bath
  • Some cold water

How to Clean a Cap by Hand, Step by Step

Then it’s just down to the method. We suggest taking six individual steps, in order, and taking your time with each one.

Step 1: Check the care label and the brim

Start with the label inside the crown, if there's one, then check the brim. Depending on your hats’ silhouette and structure, you may have to change your cleaning method. For instance, THE ’47 CLEAN UP has a soft, unstructured brim that takes a hand-wash easily. In comparison a stiffened or structured hat like THE ’47 MVP needs a gentler touch so that you don’t damage the build. With structured hats make sure you never soak it for too long, and never bend it while it's damp.

We’d also recommend testing the soap or soap you plan on using at this stage. Dilute it and rub a small amount onto a hidden patch in the band and leave it a minute. You need to make sure that your cleaning solution doesn’t react badly with that cap's material. Skip this and a dark cap can bleed onto its own sweatband, or a brim can warp before the wash starts.

Step 2: Brush off the loose dirt first

Before any water comes near your cap, we’d suggest you give it a brush down while it's still dry. A soft-bristled brush or toothbrush work best here. Go over the crown, the panels and the brim, brushing in making sure to match the direction of the fabric, and you'll lift any surface dust, grit or loose fluff that's settled into the weave.

Most people skip straight to the wash, but this step matters. Add water to a cap that's still covered in dry grit and the brush just grinds that grit further into the fabric with every pass. A couple of minutes with a dry brush first saves you a much harder job later.

Step 3: Spot-treat marks and the sweatband

The sweatband is the spot that usually takes the worst of the damage. Because it sits against your skin all day, sweat dries into the same spot over and over, and over time that can build into a pale, salty line that a normal wash won't be able to shift on its own.

Before getting to the full wash, we'd recommend giving sweatband, and any other tough marks, a bit of extra attention.

Mix a teaspoon of your soap with a cup of cool water and work it gently into the band using small circles from your soft brush, giving each mark around thirty seconds. Make sure not scrub too hard or reach for harsh cleaners. It might feel like it will work faster, but you risk fraying the stitching or damaging the fabric.

Step 4: Hand-wash in cool water

Once the worst of the marks are pre-treated, get your cool water and mix in a small cupful of your cleaning solution.

Then submerge the cap fully in the water and move it gently through the water with your hands, working through the crown, the panels and the brim so the solution can reach any grime that's built up over time. Soaking for two or three minutes is usually enough at this stage, especially if you've already spot-treated the worst bits.

Whatever you do, don't be tempted to reach for the hot tap. Hot water undoes everything you've just done in seconds. It shrinks cotton unevenly, throws the fit out of shape, and can pull colour out of a dark cap almost as soon as it goes in. There's no fixing any of that afterwards, so cool water really is worth the extra patience

Step 5: Rinse thoroughly

Once you're happy the grime has lifted, it's time to rinse. Hold the cap under cool running water, or refill the bowl two or three times, until the water runs clear and there's no trace of soap left anywhere in the fabric.

Make sure to pay a bit of extra attention to the sweatband and the seams, they can gather pockets of your cleaning solution that might dry awkwardly and cause staining if not washed properly.

It's easy to rush this bit once the hard work feels done, but it's worth the extra minute or two. Any soap left behind dries into a faint, chalky film as the cap dries out, and it's most obvious on black and navy hats, where it shows up as a dusty grey haze across the crown.

Step 6: Press out the water and reshape

Once the rinse runs clear, resist the urge to wring the cap out the way you might a tea towel. Lay it flat on a clean towel instead, fold the towel over and press down firmly to draw out the excess water, repeating with a dry section if you need to.

While the cap is still damp, this is also your chance to reshape it by hand: ease the panels back into their natural curve and smooth the brim back into its usual line. How much this matters depends on the silhouette. A fitted style like THE ’47 FRANCHISE needs its crown gently supported while it firms back up, whereas an unstructured style like THE ’47 CLEAN UP is far more forgiving and tends to reshape itself as it dries. Whatever you do, don't wring it. That's the single fastest way to crush the crown and distort the brim, undoing months of shape in one go. We'll cover the full drying process in more detail further down.

Common Mistakes when Cleaning a Cap

Most of what ruins a cap isn't down to one bad wash. It's usually the same few habits, repeated over time without anyone noticing.

Washing in hot water

It feels like hot water should clean better, but it's actually one of the quickest ways to ruin a cap. It shrinks cotton unevenly, throwing the fit out of shape, and pulls colour out of a dark cap within seconds of going in. Stick to cool water even on the toughest marks. It takes a little longer, but it's the only temperature that won't undo the rest of your hard work.

Scrubbing too hard

A stiff brush and a heavy hand feel like they're getting the job done faster, but they're more likely to fray the stitching along the seams and flatten an embroidered crest until it loses its shape for good. The soap is what actually lifts the dirt. All your brush needs to do is work it in gently and let it get on with the job.

Putting it in the washing machine

A cap might come out of the machine looking clean, but it rarely comes out the same shape it went in. The spin cycle crushes the crown and can warp a stiffened brim permanently, since nothing is there to support it while it's being thrown around the drum. A hand-wash takes a bit longer, but it's the only method that keeps the shape properly intact.

Drying it near heat

A radiator, a tumble dryer, even a sunny windowsill: they'll all dry a cap fast, and ruin it faster. Heat shrinks the fabric unevenly and can warp a brim before it's had the chance to properly set in its reshaped position. Leaving it to air dry away from direct heat takes longer, but it's the only method that protects the shape you've just worked to restore.

How Often Should You Clean a Cap?

There's no fixed schedule to stick to, clean your cap whenever it actually needs it. A quick brush-down and a check of the sweatband every few wears will catch most problems long before they set in properly. A full hand-wash once every few months, or whenever sweat marks and grime start to build up, is usually enough for most caps.

Little and often really does beat waiting for one big annual clean, and it's a lot gentler on both the fabric and the shape in the long run.

How to Clean a Cap by Material and Style

The method above will see most caps through, but a few materials and styles need a slightly different approach. Here's how the material and style might change the process:

Material or style How to clean it Watch out for
White or light colour hats Same cool hand-wash, let the soap do the brightening for you Cleaning can yellow the fabric over time rather than restore it, always test colourfastness first
Dark coloured or black hats Cool water, a reasonably short wash, no overnight soaking Test wherever two colours meet, that's usually where bleeding shows up first
Wool material or knit hats Cold water only, a brief wash, dry flat Never machine wash, even on a gentle cycle, the agitation felts the fibres for good
Suede material hats A dry suede brush for everyday dirt, a suede eraser for scuffs Avoid water where you can, it tends to leave dark marks that don't fully lift
Corduroy material hats A cool hand-wash like cotton twill, brushed with the ridges rather than against them Wringing crushes the pile, press the water out instead
Denim material hats Cool water, washed on its own rather than with lighter caps The indigo dye keeps bleeding the longer it soaks, so keep the wash short
Mesh style hats A light hand-wash, dries quickly thanks to the open weave The panel stretches or tears easily under a stiff brush, go gently
Hats with soft, curved brim Tolerates a light hand-wash without much fuss The most forgiving brim type, hard to get wrong
Stiffened flat brim hats Needs more restraint: keep water off the underside, dry flat rather than propped at an angle Bending it while damp can leave a permanent kink
Fitted hats Prop the crown on something close to head-shaped while it dries No strap to adjust if you measured wrong, worth double-checking the Franchise size guide before you buy
Unstructured hats Ease the crown back into shape by hand as it dries Very forgiving, it settles back into place with barely any help

How to Dry a Cap Properly

If we're honest, drying is where most of the remaining damage tends to happen, often without people realising it. Once you've pressed out the excess water and reshaped the crown by hand, leave the cap somewhere cool and out of direct sunlight, propped on something close to head-shaped, or resting brim-down on a flat surface if it's unstructured.

Give it a full day or two to dry properly. There's genuinely no shortcut here, however tempting one might seem. Keep it well away from radiators, direct sunlight and tumble dryers, all of which will speed things up at the expense of the shape you've just worked to restore

Can You Put a Cap in the Washing Machine?

It's best avoided if you can help it. A washing machine's agitation crushes the crown and frays the stitching, and there's very little you can do to reverse either. If you really must use one, a structured-brim cap fares best inside a dedicated cap-washing cage, run on a cold, gentle cycle, then left to air dry well away from a tumble dryer.

Key Takeaway

In our experience, what actually ruins a cap is rarely the dirt itself. It's the hot water, the hard scrubbing, the wringing out, or drying it flat against a radiator that does the real damage. Avoid those four habits and the method stays genuinely simple: cool water, a soft brush, a gentle rinse and a bit of patience while it dries.

Do that, and a cap that's picked up a full season of sweat and city grime will come back looking close to its original shape and colour. ’47 hats are built to look worn and to earn their shape properly through wear, not to sit in a drawer for fear of a bad wash going wrong. Clean it properly, and it simply goes straight back on.

Woman wearing a New York Giants '47 red cap and checkered jacket standing in front of a building.