Posts Tagged travel hats
Cute Hat Alert! Floppy, Ribbon Style from Dorfman Pacific
Two favorite travel hats of mine are brown ones from Tilley Endurables and Wallaroo. But now I’ve got a darling, feminine, fuschia hat from Dorfman Pacific that’s really great for pairing with light-clored outfits and beach cover-ups this summer.
The hat is made from layered ribbons and a contrasting kelly green ric rac, with a cute bow in the back. The material provides UPF 50+ sun protection. Perhaps its best feature, however, for this frequent traveler is that the hat is totally crushable and packable. I’ve smashed it a tote bag for use at the pool, and it doesn’t lose its shape at all.
The brim of the hat can be folded up a little bit (as the pink one is in the photo at left) or worn a bit more floppy-like (see the fuschia hat). This hat might be floppy and lightweight, but not flimsy. The 4-inch brim provides plenty of coverage. It’s one size fits all, and honestly, it’s a little tight on my (big) head, but absolutely wearable; it’s a little big on my 11-year-old’s head.
Really, this is the cutest hat. I’ll wear it all summer long — I just happen to have that light-blue (fuschia) color in a couple of my bathing suits. It would look good with sundresses, T-shirts and capris or flirty little skirts for sightseeing or al fresco dining on the road.
While Dorfman Pacific makes this hat, I couldn’t find the style LC583 referenced in the Scala Collezione section online. It is for sale at Womens-Hats.com for $30 in the four different colors shown above. I found Dorfman Pacific hats for men and women at Amazon.com, at very affordable prices.
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Posted by Kara in Travel Light on June 14th, 2011
Buy a Chaos Moonshadow Hat, Do Some Good in Peru
The Moonshadow line of hats from Chaos Headwear changes your look—and changes lives.
Most of us first-world consumers don’t think too much about the impact of our purchases when we’re home. Sure, maybe when we’re traveling we might try to stay at locally owned hotels and buy souvenirs direct from the source, but online or in the local gear store? I’m betting a good two-thirds of buyers don’t even look at the “Made in…” part on the tag as they pull their new purchase off the rack.
So I’m always happy to highlight products that are having a direct impact on improving someone’s life outside of the big corporate factory structure. The Moonshadow hats from Chaos are put together by the Head Knitter’s Guild spread across Andean villages in Peru. The work supports families in 35 indigenous villages with year-round employment. This work has taken some from a point of barely keeping the family fed to being able to send all their kids to school, even college.
The story alone is not enough, of course, or otherwise we’d all be whipping out our checkbook for charity donations. When coupled with products actually worth buying, however, it’s a great combination. These hats are much like the ones you can buy in Peru, but without the $1,000 plane ticket to get there. They come in acrylic, merino wool, or Alpaca versions, in a variety of styles and colors.
My wife thought this model pictured was a little too hippy for her tastes, but my daughter dug it and has been wearing it around instead. This is one of the acrylic versions, which looks like a wool hat but doesn’t have the itch. List prices range from $33 to $99 depending on the model and materials. See the whole Moon Shadow collection here.
Unfortunately these Moonshadow hats are almost impossible to find online, so check the dealer locator link at the manufacturer’s site for a store in your area.
While I’m talking about kids though, I’m afraid to even show my daughter the pictures of these other Chaos kids’ hats below. She’ll squeal with delight at the Ugly-Dolls-like designs and then bug the crap out of me until I buy her one. Maybe I’ll surprise her next Christmas…
Related link: Chaos Kids’ Hats from Chaos
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Info on Luxury Travel in Peru
Posted by Tim L. in General Gear, Kids and Family on January 14th, 2011
Reversible Beanie from Headsweats
I love the name of this company, the same way I love Colombia’s tourism slogan. (“The only risk is wanting to stay.”)
I’m sure if the founders had trotted a few high-priced consultants into a conference room that name would have been flushed within the first five minutes. Too negative. Too graphic. Not glamorous enough.
But your head sweats, doesn’t it? Especially when you’re active, like on a bike or when running. Even when it’s below freezing if you’re working hard enough bouncing off moguls or doing snowboard tricks.
This Alpine Reversible Beanie is just the double-duty ticket when going from workout to cool-down, from casual strolls to huffing up a hill. One side of it is fleece for when you’re wanting something warm over your ears. Then if your head starts getting overheated, you can turn it inside out and put the Coolmax surface next to your head instead.
This beanie is warm and comfortable, but you can cram it into a corner of your suitcase and it still looks fine when you take it out. It’s loose enough that you can wear it for hours without getting marks on your forehead or feeling like your head’s in a vice.
My only beef with it is the big white care tag that’s stitched on in the manufacturing process and is impossible to completely remove without the risk of making the hat fall apart. Since this hat is reversible, that’s a dumb oversight. Couldn’t those dollar-a-day Chinese factory workers at least put on a color-matched tag instead, or sew it on separately?
One other note: if you follow the Amazon link below it says this hat is partly made of ground-up coconut shells, but that’s old info as that fabric is being phased out. The hat is 100% synthetic.
The Headsweats Alpine Reversible Beanie comes in three colors and is under $20 right now at both of the following:
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on December 2nd, 2010
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
Sombriolet Sun Hat from Outdoor Research
There are some travel clothing items that are going to brand you as a tourist, like convertible pants and yes, big wide-brimmed sun hats. But you can look cool and have a peeling face a week later or you can look not so cool and be protected.
This Sombriolet Sun Hat from Outdoor Research puts you in the latter camp, but it’s a fine travel hat if you really want to protect your face and neck from the sun. You get UPF 50+ protection from the sun’s rays, so you can pretty much wear this all day long and be fine unless you’re albino. It’s super-light, however, weighing in at only 3.1 ounces (86 grams), plus it stays wrinkle-free when you cram it into your pack between layers of clothing.
You stay cool with this on, however, because the Sombriolet has mesh vents placed around the top that will let some fresh air in—or allow the heat to escape. There’s the requisite dorky string to keep it from blowing off your head when riding a boat or hiking on a windy day, but the string comes with clips that enable you to remove it quickly if you don’t want it hanging around. And if it does fly off your head, the brim floats!
Made of ripstop nylon, I’ve found this travel hat to be somewhat water repellent, it won’t shrink when you wash it, and it dries quickly. It’s going to last for the long haul too: like other Outdoor Research products I’ve tested, it comes with an “infinite guarantee.”
The hat comes in three colors and three sizes and usually sells for around $35. Get the Outdoor Research Sombriolet Sun Hat at RockCreek.com
See other travel hat reviews.
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, Travel Light on August 4th, 2010
