New Unisex Two-Tone Winter Beanie

The cold gets in through your head first.

Four in the morning waiting on a pre-start, or first light at a camp up in the high country, and it is the same story. Hands and feet you can do something about. Your head is the bit left bare, and once the cold is in it you spend the first hour hunched up, distracted and not thinking properly. That is the hour people make their worst decisions in.

This is a cuffed knit beanie with a plush fleece pile lining through the crown, so there is a real layer between your scalp and the air instead of a single layer of knit you can see daylight through. The ribbed turn-up cuff pulls down over the ears and stays put. One size, five colours, and four of the five are genuinely two-tone — a marled crown against a solid contrasting cuff.

Warm is all it is, and that is worth saying up front. It is not waterproof and it is not windproof. A knit beanie in steady rain wets out and stops working. Buy it for cold and dry, not for weather — and have a read of the Limits section before you buy it for a job it cannot do.

What It Does

• Gets you through a pre-start: standing around in the dark at four in the morning waiting to be signed on, with the fleece doing the work instead of your hood.
• Covers the ears properly: the ribbed cuff turns down and stays down, so you are not pulling it back over your ears every ten minutes in the wind.
• Lives in the crib bag: it squashes into a side pocket and springs back, so it is actually with you on the morning the temperature drops instead of sitting at home.
• First light at camp: the coldest part of a night away is the twenty minutes between getting out of the swag and getting the fire going.
• Walking the high country: holds heat on an exposed ridge without the bulk of a hood, and you can still hear what is going on around you.

Key Features

• Fleece lined crown: a thick plush pile bonded to the inside of the crown — this is not a single-layer knit.
• Ribbed turn-up cuff: a double-thickness rib band that folds up, sits over the ears and grips.
• Acrylic and wool outer: the supplier states both fibres but does not state the ratio, so we do not either.
• Two-tone knit: a marled, flecked crown against a solid contrasting cuff on four of the five colours.
• Five colours: Black, Navy Blue, Grey, Coffee and Black White — the pairings are listed in the Specs table.
• One size: one size fits all, no sizes to pick between and no size chart to get wrong.
• Unisex fit: a plain cuffed shape with no gendered styling either way.
• Small cuff patch: a leather-look tab stitched to the cuff reading “CO.” — that is the supplier’s branding, not BushLine’s.
• Packs flat: rolls into a jacket pocket or a glovebox and takes up next to no room.

Limits

This is a warm hat. It is not protective equipment and it is not weather gear. Here is what it will not do.

• Not waterproof: there is no membrane and no coating. In steady rain or sleet the knit wets out, the fleece soaks, and a wet beanie pulls heat off you faster than no beanie at all. Carry a hood for weather.
• Not windproof: a knit beanie breathes, which is why it is comfortable, and it is also why a hard wind cuts straight through it. On an exposed ridge or the back of a ute at speed you will feel it.
• Bulky under a hard hat: the fleece lining is thick, and thick is the whole point. It will lift a helmet or a hard hat off its proper seat and it can put the harness out of adjustment. If your site requires a hard hat, wear a thin liner under it and keep this one for the walk to the crib room.
• Not flame resistant: no FR rating is claimed and none should be assumed. Acrylic melts. Keep it away from hot work, welding, cutting and open flame.
• The blend is not published: the supplier states acrylic and wool but gives no percentages. If you specifically want a high-wool or merino beanie, this is not the one to gamble on.
• Black is not two-tone: four of the five colours have a contrasting cuff. Black is a single colour top to bottom. If you want the two-tone look, pick one of the other four.
• One size only: there are no fitted sizes. It is a stretch knit that suits most adult heads, but if you know standard beanies are tight or loose on you, that will not change here.

Q & A

Is it actually wool, or is that just the collection name?
Fair question, and it is one worth asking. The supplier lists the fibre as an acrylic and wool blend, and that is what our product data says too. What nobody states is the ratio, so we will not put a percentage on the page. Treat it as a blended acrylic beanie with some wool in it.

Is it fleece lined, or is it just a thick knit?
Properly fleece lined. There is a plush pile lining bonded to the inside of the crown — you can see it in the product photos where the cuff is folded back. The ribbed cuff itself is knit only, double thickness where it folds. So the crown is lined and the cuff is a double layer of rib.

Will it fit under a hard hat or a helmet?
Not comfortably, and we would rather tell you now. The lining is thick enough to lift the shell and throw the harness out. For under a hard hat you want a thin single-layer liner. This one is for before the hat goes on and after it comes off.

Which colours are actually two-tone?
Navy Blue, Grey, Coffee and Black White. Each of those has a flecked, marled crown against a solid contrasting cuff — navy crown with a solid navy cuff, grey crown with a charcoal cuff, brown crown with a cream cuff, black-and-white crown with an ivory cuff. Black is a single solid colour with no contrast.

Will it keep me dry in the rain?
No. It is not waterproof and not windproof, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Knit beanies wet out. It is a cold-weather hat, not a wet-weather one.

What size is it and how do I know it will fit?
One size fits all — there is only one size sold, listed as 55–58 cm (550–580 mm). It is a stretch knit with a rib cuff, which is why beanies are sold this way. There is no size chart because there are no sizes to choose from.

How do I wash it?
There is a care label stitched inside the crown — go by that. The supplier does not publish washing instructions to us, so we are not going to invent a set. As a general rule a fleece-lined acrylic knit does not enjoy hot water or a tumble dryer.

How long will it take to get here?
Delivery is 10 to 14 days from the day you order, and we ask you to allow up to three weeks. Regional and remote addresses take longer again. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand.

Specs