Summer Women Men Mesh Baseball Cap

Your head cooks under a solid cap by smoko.

Midsummer, no shade, and an ordinary cotton cap turns into a lid. The crown traps everything your head puts out, the sweatband goes heavy by mid-morning, and eventually you pull it off and carry it — which is when it goes down behind the seat and stays there for a fortnight.

This one is net. Not a solid front panel with a bit of mesh at the back like a trucker cap — the whole six-panel crown is a single layer of open-weave mesh, and so is the peak. Hold it up and you can see daylight straight through it. Air moves through the crown instead of sitting in it, and the back is open, with a webbing strap bridging the gap, so there is no closed band wrapped around your skull.

That openness is the whole point of the cap, and it is also the trade-off you need to know about before you buy. The 70 mm peak shades your face and your eyes properly. The crown does not block sun off the top of your head — light comes through the weave, because it is a net. If you are thin on top or you burn easily, a solid-crown hat or a broad brim is the better pick for a full day out in the open. This one is built for airflow first.

What It Does

• Moves air through the crown: the whole shell is open mesh, so heat and sweat vapour go straight out rather than building up under a solid panel.
• Shades your face: a 70 mm peak is a proper cap peak, long enough to keep sun and glare off your eyes and off your nose.
• Fits 560 to 600 mm: flat webbing and a side-release buckle at the back, so one cap covers most adult heads without a size to choose.
• Packs down to nothing: no buckram, no foam, no stiffening anywhere, so it squashes into a pocket or a crib bag and comes back out without a crease set into it.
• Sheds water quickly: an open net holds far less water than a cotton crown and a padded sweatband, so a soaking is not the end of your day.
• Stays quiet in colour: black, navy and two greys, plus a cream-beige, so it sits with the rest of your kit instead of announcing itself.

Key Features

• Six-panel open mesh: a single layer of open-weave netting across every crown panel, with the seams bound in tape on the inside.
• Mesh peak, 70 mm: soft and flexible, mesh on the top and the underside, finished with a contrast honeycomb mesh binding around the edge.
• Open back: the two rear panels stop short of meeting, leaving a vent gap that the adjuster strap crosses.
• Side-release buckle: a squeeze-clip plastic buckle on flat woven webbing. Not a press-stud snapback and not hook-and-loop.
• Unstructured crown: no stiffened front panel, so it sits soft and low on the head rather than standing up off it.
• Crown height 110 mm: a close-sitting profile rather than a tall trucker crown.
• Vented apex: a metal eyelet at the top of the crown, under the fabric-covered button.
• Two badge styles: the colours listed as Cap 1 carry a tan leather-look patch marked EDIKO; the Cap 2 colours carry a small black rubberised patch marked TUTUPAI LUCK. Same cap underneath.
• Nine colourways: black, dark grey, light grey and navy in both badge styles, plus beige in the EDIKO style.

Limits

Straight up about what this cap is not, so nobody is surprised when it turns up.

• No sun rating: there is no UPF or UV number printed on the cap and the supplier states none, so there is none on this page. The peak shades your face. The open crown lets light through onto your scalp. Sunscreen still does the work sunscreen always did.
• Not head protection: soft mesh over your skull is not impact protection of any kind. It is not a bump cap and not a helmet, and no safety standard is printed on it or claimed for it.
• No warmth at all: an open net in wind is exactly as cold as that sounds. This is a hot-weather cap and nothing else.
• Nothing to print on: there is no solid panel anywhere on the shell, so it will not take embroidery or a printed logo the way a standard cap front will.
• Not literally one size: the strap runs 560 to 600 mm. That covers most adults, but it is not a child fit and a genuinely large head will run out of webbing.
• No care label sighted: the supplier's photographs show no neck or care label, and no fibre content or washing instruction is stated, so this page does not quote one.

Q & A

Is this a trucker cap with a mesh back?

No, and this is the thing worth being clear about. A trucker cap is a solid front panel with mesh behind it. This is mesh the whole way round, peak included, in a single open layer. Hold it up to a window and you will see through the crown.

Will it keep the sun off my head?

It shades your face and your eyes, which is what the 70 mm peak is for. It does not shade the top of your head, because the crown is an open net and light passes through it. If scalp coverage is the job you are buying for, a solid-crown cap or a broad-brimmed hat is the right tool and we would rather you got the right one.

How does it do up at the back?

A flat woven webbing strap with a plastic side-release buckle — the squeeze-clip type. Pinch the sides to release it, slide the webbing through to set the size. It is not a press-stud snapback and there is no hook-and-loop tab.

What is the difference between Cap 1 and Cap 2?

Only the badge on the front. Cap 1 colours carry a tan leather-look patch marked EDIKO with a small figure on it. Cap 2 colours carry a black rubberised patch marked TUTUPAI LUCK. The shell, the peak, the strap and the sizing are the same on both.

Will it fit my head?

The strap adjusts between 560 mm and 600 mm, which is most adult heads. Run a tape measure around your head just above your ears and across the middle of your forehead, and see where you land in that range.

Can it go in the washing machine?

No care label appears anywhere in the supplier's photographs and no washing instruction is stated, so there is no manufacturer's instruction to quote. General practice for a light synthetic mesh is a cool hand wash and air drying rather than a hot cycle and a tumble dryer, which would be the cautious way to treat it.

Specs