by Will N To » Mon Jul 30, 2018 4:37 pm
Costco. Japan the US and probably the UK too. They have wide brim hats that are about $15US. When I was in Japan, I'd already lost two hats by the time my son said let's go to the Yokohama Costco. I figured if I bought two at once, I'd never lose them. And I didn't until my last two days in England.... (that's a goose feather in that hat you found in Canterbury...) I've had Tilly's, very pricey, sure they'll replace them for free if you lose it, but $40 in shipping? How free is that? The cheap Costco hats did everything the Tilly's did.
Also I couldn't find a 600 hole-per-square-inch bug net that fit over the wide brim, so I sewed up my own. The shock cord under the arm pits is a great feature I stole from Ben's. Apparently while I was in the UK and Ireland, global warming went full time, it was always 23° and there were only 14 midges and I killed four of them. So the wide brim really came in handy. And always give 'em a spray of permethrin. I wore the mesh once just to try it out, but I could wave it around in the car if a few midges got in and it would either kill'em, slow'em down or scare them off.
A back flap is a really nice feature if you can get it. And get used to the string around your neck, then you can pop your hat on and off, wear it in the wind.
