Moisture & Cooling Management
Hats are often worn for long periods of time in varied conditions so a mandatory requirement for us was a hat that must fit well and also be comfortable. One of the most important factors when designing for comfort is moisture management.
Our foreheads and head areas sweat and more so as temperatures rise or physical activity increases. Our primary goal with moisture management is to remove as much sweat as possible and as quickly as possible from your head.
We have designed an integrated moisture-wicking and cooling system that accentuates the movement of moisture away from the head and provides a cooling capability around the sweatband.
Moisture:
The materials that are used in the Wala Hat™ have been chosen for their properties to be breathable and promote moisture wicking. They are then applied in a unique way to enhance this process. The sweatband and the crown are tightly coupled to the brim which provides a greater surface area and heat sink that amplifies the rate of evaporation. This rate is increased further when the wind and/or the ambient temperature rises.
The construction of the sweatband allows moisture to be drawn efficiently to the outside of the hat providing a drier and more comfortable sweatband.
Cooling:
Our efforts for cooling are based around the fundamental principles of both fluid and thermal dynamics and they are shown in several ways.
Moisture is not only drawn horizontally across the sweatband from your head but it is also drawn up through the inner adjustment band in a process called capillary action which occurs from the forces of cohesion, adhesion, and surface tension.
This action assists in providing an environment from where cooling can take place but requires a further stimulus to make it effective.
The sweatband adjuster has hollow vertical tubes that allow air to be drawn in from the bottom of the hat. As it rises through these tubes latent heat is removed and an evaporative cooling effect takes place that reduces the temperature of the sweatband whilst allowing cooler air to move into the crown space surrounding your head.
- The temperature differential of the sweatband in the right conditions can be upwards of 3°C
- Our skin is the largest organ in our body and it has receptors that feel changes in temperature. These receptors then send messages to the processing center of the brain called the hypothalamus which controls your body temperature.
- Our bodies are able to detect temperature changes as small as 1°C