Posts Tagged Tilley
Travel Hats from Tilley, Wallaroo and The Real Deal Brazil
Who doesn’t travel with a hat these days? For me, it’s certainly a necessity, not only for function (keeping sun out of my eyes while adventuring in the outdoors) but for my health (keeping harmful sun’s rays off my head, face and neck). This week as my husband and I are biking and kayaking in and around Sanibel Island and Fort Myers, Florida, we’re armed with these fun, versatile hats.
Tilley Airflo Hat for Men: We’ve reviewed Tilley Endurables hats here at Practical Travel Gear before, and I previewed some Spring 2011 designs at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in August (cute stuff to come!). I’m a big fan of the brand because the hats are durable and well constructed. This particular style, the LTM61S Tilley Airflo Hat with tuckaway neck protector, actually repels bugs with Insect Shield technology (repelling flies, chiggers, mosquitoes and the like up to 70 washings).
My husband found out the hat holds up well in a torrential downpour on our Sanibel Island bike ride yesterday. When the heavens opened up and we were halfway between our beachfront cottage and the Sanibel Lighthouse, we just pedaled on through. He didn’t even have to tie it around his chin with the hidden ties when the wind picked up. The hat also dried quickly and retained its shape.
This hat does come with a hidden-in-the-brim “cape” that can attach under the chin to protect the neck from the beating sun. I have, however, forbidden my husband from wearing the cape unless a) we’re trekking across the Sahara Desert or b) we’re in Africa, and must protect ourselves from malaria-infecting mosquitoes. (The neck flaps are a bit on the dorky side. To wit: this photo.) The hat retails for $89 on the Tilley site (do take time to browse all of the styles for both men and women).
Wallaroo Casual Traveler for Women: Here’s another company I connected with at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market last month; what a treat to meet the two dynamic women who founded the brand more than a decade ago. I’d worn a canvas Wallaroo hat (whose style is now discontinued) around the pool and to sun-centric destinations when my children were babies and toddlers. I was so pleased to become reacquainted with this Colorado company that turns out many different styles of canvas, raffia and microfiber hats; so much so, I had to purchase the original Wallaroo: the Casual Traveler.
This particular style — like many of the designs — is rated UPF 50+. This means the material blocks 97.5 percent of the sun’s UV rays. Further, my cute Casual Traveler hat in Chocolate has a 4-inch adjustable brim that gives great coverage to my face and neck. The crushable microfiber fabric ‘s malleable enough to adjust the brim up or down, but also stays in place once you decide how you want to wear your hat. A hidden interior drawstring ensures one size fits most (and this hat absolutely fits my large head). This is one hat that is at home on a chaise lounge or a hiking trail; it’s one of those pieces of travel gear that pulls double duty and then some.
I wore this hat biking (yes, in the downpour) and it, too, kept its shape afterward and stayed on my head in the wind. The hat is so wonderfully lightweight that I felt so comfortable kayaking in it during mid-day heat, as well. The Casual Traveler comes in many different colors in the synthetic microfiber. In canvas material you can opt for reversible fabric: wear it white on top with bright Hawaiian print underneath, or vice versa. Purchase it on the Wallaroo Hat Company website for $34.
The Real Deal Brazil Hat for Men and Women: This hat is just plain cool. Really cool. It’s crafted from recycled tarps of Brazilian cargo trucks. That means the material on my head likely traveled on crude roads and in extreme weather conditions from the Amazon to Sao Paulo and back again. The Real Deal Brazil folks say that the material has already been abused by the elements, so there’s little you can do to your hat to ruin it. “Don’t take care of this hat,” reads the interior of my hat. “It will take care of you.”
Because hats are all handmade from discarded material, every single one is unique. Mine is especially nifty because of the letters stamped on the brim (I do wonder what Portuguese word the letters were once a part of). I’ve also got a little patch of fabric on the side, adding to its character.
The hat isn’t perfect: it sits a little high on my large head, even though I ordered a size large, so I’m not sure it would have stayed securely put during the aforementioned bike ride in the sudden rainstorm. Still, I dig my Real Deal Brazil tarp hat because it’s so different; no one else in the world has a hat just like me. And I can personalize it even more by “bending the brim to suit my whim,” according to the irreverent company. (Check out all the shaping suggestions; the Gomer made me giggle.) You’d sooner find this hat on someone riding a camel, than at a country club pool. It’s definitely rugged, with its frayed edges, plus the stitching is erratic — but that’s all part of the charm!
The recycled tarp hat is currently on sale for $39.99 at the Real Deal Brazil website.
Posted by Kara in Travel Light on September 24th, 2010
Tilley Organic Airflo T5MO Hat
Tilley sun hats. Those words seem to go together like Osprey and backpacks, like Teva and water shoes, like Swiftwick and biking socks, like Coghlan’s and camping gadgets.
For those who want a well-constructed hat that is going to hold up well over the years, buying something from Tilley Endurables has long been the obvious choice. My colleague Kara loved the Tilley hemp hat she tried out last year. I’ve been trying out one of their models for a month now—the organic cotton Airflo hat—and I get what all the fuss is about.
The company makes it clear that this is not your average afterthought sun hat made on the other side of the world. “Handcrafted with Canadian persnicketiness,” these even come with their own instruction manual. Your hat will fit if you measure your head before ordering: they make them in 13 standard hat sizes. Their guarantee says they’ll replace it if something falls apart, but they bet you won’t be able to wear it out. Here’s what happens if you do:
“If you ever succeed in wearing out your Tilley Hat (and some have), send us the remains and we will replace it free. If you want to keep your faithful, old, worn-out friend, tell us and we’ll return it to you. We understand.”
If you lose it, they’ll even replace it for 50% of the cost. They trust you.
But anyway, what about this particular model? Well the air flow part of the Airflo really works. Mesh along the top allows a breeze to cool your sweaty brow while the solid part on the top keeps those of us with sparse follicles from getting a sunburn. There are shoelace-type straps to keep it on your head when it’s windy, but it’s easy to tuck them away or even remove them completely when not needed. As you can tell from the model photo here, the brim on this one is not as huge as with many sun hats. That may mean a little less protection, but your brim doesn’t bang people in the face in a crowd.
This model is made from organic cotton, but it’s been aggressively pre-shrunk so you can wash it without worry. As someone who has had several travel hats become too small to wear anymore, I can promise this is a big deal when it comes to longevity. It does a reasonably good job of keeping your head dry in a drizzle and there’s a secret pocket inside for that extra stash of cash. And it floats!
Tilley Endurables makes a wide variety of travel hats for men and women, so if you don’t like this model there are plenty more to choose from. Different brim sizes, different properties, and different fabrics. You can get a hat with a neck flap, one with InsectShield protection baked in, or one made of waterproof nylon. All carefully designed and constructed and built to fit perfectly.
Naturally all this care means a higher price point than some knock-0ff hat made in China, but this Airflo T5MO one lists for $77—about what I paid for my last pair of sneakers. (Which were made in China.) Visit your local retailer to see different styles in person, or order from one of these online shops.
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear on April 29th, 2010
My New, Favorite, All-Purpose Travel Hat from Tilley Endurables
I’ve bought and worn many a so-so hat over the years, in styles ranging from cowgirl straw to preppy canvas to wide-brimmed cotton. I’ve never found myself particularly enamored with any of them — especially when they’ve shrunk in the wash or gotten squished in my luggage, never to be reshaped properly again.
But I think I’ve finally found a hat that will take me from the desert to the jungle to the beach … and back to the mountains again. And it’s cute: the TH8 Hemp Hat for women by Tilley Endurables. I love this hat. Here are the highlights:
It’s made of hemp. The material is sturdy like heavy cotton, but looks like linen. It’s got that “I can be dressed up with a gauzy black dress or worn with hiking boots on the trail” sort of flexibility. From the chock-full-of-information Tilley website, I learned that hemp is the strongest natural fiber in the world, and it’s breathable and naturally resistant to UV light, mold, mildew and salt water.
It offers excellent UV protection: In fact, all Tilley hats have been certified to block 98 percent of the sun’s harmful rays. It’s as if you’re wearing SPF 50 on your head. (That’s not to say you shouldn’t wear sunscreen on your face and neck, however; a little tag reminding you to “practice safe sun” is attached to every Tilley hat)
It comes in S, M, L and XL: This is key for me; I’ve got a big head, and many women’s hats just don’t work for me comfortably. But I was able to order just my size in the Tilley TH8. All Tilley hats come in multiple sizes for a perfect fit, and the online hat sizing chart is nearly foolproof for sight-unseen ordering.
A wind cord keeps it on your head: Again, this is another key feature for me, since I’ve been known to lose hats off of houseboats, jet skis and catamarans. The shoelace-like wind cord is easy to adjust around your chin, and can stuff into the top of the hat when not in use.
It has a four-page instruction manual: How many hat companies really want you to take good care of your hat, practically love and care for it like a member of the family? Tilley does. The instructions for care and use, tucked into a useful pocket inside the hat, are written by company founder Alex Tilley himself. They are personal, slightly irreverent and downright fun — not to mention helpful. My favorite piece of advice: How to find the front of the hat. Answer: “If you can read the ‘THE TILLEY HAT’ label upright, you are about to put it on correctly.” Thorough, right? My hat also came with a tag with washing instructions specific to the TH8 Hemp Hat — super thorough!
It packs well: I smashed it in my luggage for a two-day road trip from Colorado to California. When I arrived at my destination, it popped back up without being misshapen at all.
The hat is guaranteed for LIFE: All Tilley hats come with a lifetime guarantee — if mine ever wears out, I can mail it to the company with $7.50 for shipping costs, and I’ll they’ll replace it. Plus, if I lose my hemp hat in the next two years — or if it’s destroyed or stolen — the company will replace it for 50 percent of the current catalog price.
The Tilley TH8 Hemp Hat retails for $79 online. That’s more than I’ve ever spent on a hat — but maybe that’s why I’ve had such rotten luck with past travel hats. With its lifetime guarantee, made-to-fit sizing and quality workmanship, I think that’s money well spent.
Get the men’s Tilley TH4 Hemp Hat or the women’s TH8 Hemp Hat at BeltOutlet.com, where there’s a great Tilley selection.
Search Tilley Endurables hats at REI.com
Posted by Kara in Adventure Gear, General Gear on December 29th, 2009
