Men's Caps and Flat Caps Made in Northern Ireland — Voted by the Community

Caps have a long history in Britain. The best known is the flat cap, which can be traced to sixteenth-century northern England, when it was more often called a bonnet. In 1571 an Act of Parliament, passed to protect the country's cap makers, required most men and boys to wear a woollen cap on Sundays and holidays. The law was repealed in 1597. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, flat caps were commonly worn throughout Great Britain and Ireland, and wealthier men wore finer versions for country wear. The cap picked up many names along the way, including the bunnet in Scotland, the Dai cap in Wales and the paddy cap in Ireland. The newsboy cap is a related style, with a fuller, rounder body made from eight panels and a button on top. At the end of the nineteenth century it was known as a golf cap, and it was widely worn in the early twentieth century. Many British caps are made from wool tweed, including Harris Tweed, which by law must be handwoven by islanders in the Outer Hebrides.