Not a suitable item to wear in combat.
Description
The Leather Hat is the basic light armor headgear in Final Fantasy IX. It is the weakest hat that everyone but Steiner and Freya can wear. The player can replace it as soon as they gain something better, as it does not contain any unique abilities. It can be used in synthesis.
Obtain[]
The Leather Hat can be stolen from Steiner during the first battle against him. As the player has a party of thieves for this battle, getting it should be easy. Later on a Leather Hat is found in the Prima Vista crash site 
and bought for 150 gil in Dali and Black Mage Village (before the entering the Shimmering Island portal).
Mechanics[]
The Leather Hat provides 6 Magic Defense, minorly mitigating damage from magic attacks.
Use[]
The Leather Hat is starter gear the player can equip onto Zidane, Vivi, or Garnet until they can buy the superior Feather Hat from Dali. The Leather Hat teaches Fire to Vivi, but the player does not need to prioritize him for it as his default weapon already teaches him Fire at fast enough pace to master it before his next weapon becomes available.
The Leather Hat can be used in synthesis to make the Desert Boots add-on. As this is a much better item to have than the Leather Hat, the player can safely expend all their hats at the first synthesis shop they find to make as many Desert Boots as they want.