Winter Hattage.

You'd be hard pushed to find me out and about without some kind of lid on this time of the year, and as Britain currently lies under a thick sheet of sleet it makes perfect sense. Did you know exposure to extreme chilly weather can lead to serious illness? did you also know that most of our body heat is lost through the head? well there you have it, as good an excuse as any to spunk fifty odd quid on this years smartest hat.
Here's a look at a mixed bag of some of this years best winter hats, from the luxurious to the budget, the hand crafted to the hard to find :-

Heritage Research Watch cap in Oatmeal and Navy Marl with lots of lovely speckly bits from superb British brand Heritage Research - Hand loomed in Scotland from local wool, this makes me feel a bit like Captain Oates at Terra Nova. £50 Oi Polloi.

Saint James bonnet de quart - I'm not quite sure what that actually means but it sounds good anyway. Made from tightly woven 'windproof' wool, available in black and red stripes or plain red if you want to look a bit like Steve Zissou, Jacques Cousteau or Marvin Gaye. £25 available from Saint James.


Christys, two looks for the price of one here from original hat pioneers Christys' a bucket hat in reversible cotton and moleskin, coming in a dark olive on one side and a dapper country check on t'other. £19 available from Not Addicted.

Benetton I picked this up from the store near Oxford Circus, they had a selection of colours, navy, green, black, grey and red if I remember rightly, a nice ribbed wool hat for a very reasonable price. £12 from Benetton.

Penfield Agawan hat, classic trapper hat from Penfield, a superb tweed checked hat with fold down ear protection in corduroy, with adjustable chin strap - cord and tweed, like rice and peas, sea and sand, they are meant to be together. £39 available from Hanon Shop.

Blackbird's Bird boy hat, a tightly ribbed cap as they say over the water, a replica of the one worn by the real Bird Boy of Ballard who's not actually real, with a removable Bird Boy pin badge and poem ona satin ribbon, suave. $24 available from Blackbird.

The Casual Connoisseur's the Weir bobble hat takes it's name from Scottish broadcaster/bobble hat endorser Tom Weir, this years limited edition hat sold out within 24 hours this year, as did the next version, but there's several new colours out again post Christmas. £20 available from The Casual Connoisseur.


Barbour Tyne tweed bobble hat, made from Shetland wool, old reliable Barbour have done a sterling job with this well toasty heavyweight ribbed hat with a massive big bobble, £29 available from Shed Menswear.

Norse Projects 100% wool beanie with woven label from Copenhagen's finest cool viking folk, they've done loads of these in different plain colours, non branded ones and contrasting striped ones, mega £35 available from Norse Store.

Artesania in Alpaca wool and lined in fleece, hand made in Bolivia using the cottage industry and nothing but all natural fibres. I bought this from a woman in Peterborough who brought it back from a whole foods store in New York city. This probably the most unobtainable hat here, found on eBay, but they are nice.

For more on this buy issue ten of Proper Magazine.