Camo Brimmed Breathable Bucket Hat

The sun finds the back of your neck by smoko.

A cap shades your forehead and nothing else. By mid-afternoon your ears are cooked, the back of your neck has gone pink, and you are squinting into the glare the whole drive home.

This is a wide-brim boonie. The brim runs about 70 mm the whole way round, so it puts shade on your face, your ears and the back of your neck instead of just your eyes. Two mesh panels are set into the crown, one forward and one at the rear, so the heat has somewhere to go when you stop moving.

The sewn-in label states 65% polyester and 35% cotton, and the reinforcing ripstop grid is visible in the weave. That is why it takes being stuffed into a crib bag and comes back out without a permanent crease. A drawcord and cord lock sit around the crown and a chin cord runs underneath, so it stays on your head in a breeze off the back of a ute.

One size only, and the label calls it 57 to 60 cm (570 to 600 mm). Run a tape around your head above the ears before you pick one — the drawcord takes up slack on a smaller head, but it cannot add room to a bigger one.

What It Does

• Shades right round: the brim is the same width on every side, so your ears and the back of your neck get the cover a cap peak never gives them.
• Lets the heat out: two mesh panels in the crown, one at the front and one at the rear, instead of a solid cap of fabric sitting on your scalp.
• Stays on your head: a drawcord with a sliding lock around the crown, plus a chin cord underneath with its own slider.
• Packs flat: soft brim and a collapsing crown, so it lives in a crib bag, a glovebox or the lid pocket of a day pack rather than getting left behind.
• Takes a patch: a hook-and-loop panel on top of the crown, and sewn loops around the band for foliage.

Key Features

• Fabric blend: 65% polyester and 35% cotton, stated on the sewn-in label.
• Ripstop weave: the reinforcing grid is clearly visible in the supplier photographs of every colourway.
• Brim width: about 70 mm, stitched in concentric rings that give it body without stiffening it.
• Crown height: about 75 mm.
• Two mesh vents: panels set into the crown at the front and the rear.
• Drawcord fit: cord and sliding lock around the crown, sized 57 to 60 cm (570 to 600 mm).
• Chin cord: runs through a slider under the brim, so it sits under your chin, behind your head, or pushed up out of the way.
• Webbing hat band: a band around the base of the crown with sewn loops for foliage.
• Crown lining slot: a shallow pocket in the lining, which the supplier artwork describes as being for small flat items.
• Sixteen colourways: multi-tone and digital camouflage prints, through to plain Black, Grey, Khaki, Brown and Military Green.

Limits

It is not flame resistant. The fabric is mostly polyester, and polyester melts rather than chars. No part of this hat is tested or marked to any flame-resistant standard. Near welding, grinding, a hot work permit or an open flame, wear whatever your site FR standard calls for and leave this in the crib bag.

It is not head protection. Soft fabric, no shell, no harness. It is not tested or marked to AS/NZS 1801 and it will do nothing at all in an impact. Where the site calls for a hard hat, this is not a substitute for one.

It is not waterproof. There is no coating on it and no rating printed on it. It will hold off a light shower for a few minutes and then wet through, and a wet poly-cotton brim goes floppy until it dries out.

It is not hi-vis. None of the sixteen colourways are fluorescent and none carry the retroreflective tape required by AS/NZS 1906.4. Camouflage makes you hard to see, which is the whole point in the bush and exactly the wrong thing around moving plant.

It will not fit every head. The range on the label is 57 to 60 cm (570 to 600 mm) and there is no larger option. The drawcord takes up slack on a smaller head; it cannot add room to a bigger one. Over 600 mm and it will perch rather than sit.

The brim is soft, not stiffened. The concentric stitching gives it some body, but in a decent wind the front will fold up against the crown. That is the trade for a hat that packs flat.

No neck cape, no patch included. There is no drop-down flap for the back of the neck, and the hook-and-loop panel on the crown ships bare.

Q & A

How do I know it will fit before I order?

Run a tape measure around your head, just above the ears and across the middle of your forehead. If that lands between 570 mm and 600 mm you are in range. There is one size only, so there is nothing larger to step up to.

What is the loop panel on top of the crown for?

It is a hook-and-loop patch panel. It takes a standard hook-backed patch, a name tape or a marker panel. No patch comes with the hat.

Will it pack down without wrecking the shape?

Yes. The brim is soft and the crown collapses, so it folds flat into a crib bag or a day pack. The ripstop grid in the weave is what stops a fold turning into a permanent crease.

How should I wash it?

The sewn-in label carries the fibre content, the country of manufacture and the size range, and nothing else. There is no care symbol on it and the supplier states no washing instructions, so we are not going to invent any. Cold water and air drying is the conservative way to treat an unmarked poly-cotton blend.

Are the camouflage patterns the genuine licensed prints?

No. These are commercial camouflage prints in the style of well-known patterns, not licensed reproductions of them, and nothing about this hat is issued kit, contract stock or made to a defence specification. If you need an exact licensed pattern to match gear you already own, buy that pattern from whoever holds the licence for it.

Can I wear the chin cord behind my head instead?

Yes. The cord runs through a slider, so you can sit it under your chin, drop it behind your head, or push it up over the brim and out of the way when there is no wind about.

Specs