Camouflage Neck Gaiter - Drawcord Face and Neck Cover

Keeps the wind, dust and sun off your neck.

Long day in the open and it is your neck that cops it. That strip between your collar and your hat brim gets sun all day, wind all afternoon, and every bit of grit the ute in front kicks up. By knock-off it is red raw, and you are still picking dust out of your teeth on the drive home.

Most face covers are a plain tube. They sit fine until you look down or turn your head, then they slide off your nose and you spend the rest of the day hauling them back up — usually with the one hand you needed for something else. This one runs a flat elastic drawcord through the top hem with a barrel toggle on it. Cinch it once and the top edge stays where you put it.

It is a thin single-layer knit tube, printed on the outside and plain on the inside, with one overlocked seam and a hemmed top. Pull it up over the bridge of your nose when the wind turns, drop it round your throat as a collar when it does not. That is the whole trick, and it is enough.

What It Does

• Covers the gap nothing else does: from the bridge of your nose down over the throat and the back of the neck — the strip a hat brim misses and a collar never quite reaches.
• Stays up when you look down: the drawcord and toggle pull the top edge in behind your head, so bending over a job does not drop it off your face.
• Dust off the haul road: pull it up when a vehicle goes past, drop it when the air clears. One hand, no fiddling, no straps behind the ears.
• Fits in a shirt pocket: it is one thin layer of knit, so it rolls down to nothing and lives in the crib bag or the glovebox until you want it.
• Six patterns to pick from: four camouflage prints, a blue scale pattern and a white and grey, so you can match it to the country you are in or ignore that entirely.

Key Features

• Drawcord and cord lock: flat elastic tape threaded through the top hem, with a sprung barrel toggle to hold the setting.
• Single-layer knit: print on the face, plain pale on the reverse — one layer of fabric, not a lined or doubled tube.
• One overlocked seam: it is cut and sewn into a tube, not a seamless knit. The seam runs vertically and is overlocked flat.
• Hemmed top, overlocked bottom: the top edge is turned and stitched to form the drawcord channel; the lower edge is overlocked.
• 450 mm long, 250 mm wide: measured flat by the supplier, who states a 20 mm tolerance either way on a hand measurement.
• One size, unisex: the supplier's own spec panel lists it as one size fits all, for men and women.
• Nothing hard on it: no clips, no velcro, no ear loops — the toggle is the only fitting, so there is nothing to catch on a collar or a pack strap.
• Six supplier codes: SW-SP-101 through SW-SP-106, one for each colourway, so a re-order matches what you already own.

Limits

Worth knowing before you buy, because a tube of fabric gets sold as more than it is.

• It is not a mask: it filters nothing. There is no filter, no valve and no seal against your face, and no filtration rating of any kind is claimed for it. Do not buy it as respiratory protection, medical or otherwise.
• No UPF rating: the supplier states no UPF or UV figure anywhere, and there is none printed on the product. What we can tell you is what it physically covers — opaque fabric over the neck and lower face. That is coverage, not a tested rating, and we are not going to dress it up as one.
• Not a thermal layer: one thin layer takes the wind off, and that is about the size of it. In real cold you want fleece or merino doing the work and this over the top.
• Fabric is not stated: the supplier does not publish the fibre content and there is no care label visible in any photograph they supply. We are not going to guess it off the look of the cloth.
• Camouflage is a print: it is a pattern on fabric. It is not military issue, it is not made to any defence specification, and we make no claim that it is.
• One size only: there is no size chart and no size options. The drawcord takes up slack at the top, but the tube itself is one width for everyone.

Q & A

Will it actually stay up over my nose?

That is what the drawcord is for, and it is the one real difference between this and a plain tube. Cinch the toggle so the top edge sits in behind your head and it holds when you look down. A plain gaiter with no cord will creep off your nose every time you bend over.

What is the fabric?

The supplier does not say, and there is no care label readable in any of the photographs. What is visible is a fine, smooth stretch knit, printed on the outer face with a plain pale reverse. We have marked it "Not specified by supplier" in the table rather than put a fibre name on it we cannot stand behind.

Is this any good as a dust or virus mask?

No. It is a single layer of open knit fabric with no seal, no filter and no rating. It will keep the worst of the road dust off your face and out of your mouth, which is a comfort thing, not a protection thing. If you need respiratory protection, buy a rated respirator.

Will it fit a big bloke?

It is sold as one size, unisex. Laid flat it is 250 mm across, so the tube is roughly 500 mm around before you stretch it — that figure is us doubling the supplier's flat measurement, not a number they publish. It is a stretch knit, so it gives well past that. The drawcord only adjusts the top opening, not the body of the tube.

Can I wear it as a beanie or a headband?

The supplier's photographs show two ways: up over the nose and mouth, or down around the throat as a collar. You can cinch the top shut and it will sit on your head, but it is hemmed and drawcorded at one end, so it is not the do-anything seamless bandana tube that gets sold twelve ways. Buy it for the neck and face job it is built for.

How long will it take to get here?

Ten to fourteen days from the day you place the order, and allow up to three weeks. Regional and remote runs longer again. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand.

Specs