Hiking British-Made Men's Hats and Headwear — Voted by the Community

Hats and caps have been a visible and practical part of British dress for centuries. One of the most lasting British styles is the flat cap, a soft cap with a small stiff brim. Its roots go back to the sixteenth century: a 1571 Act of Parliament, meant to support the wool trade, required men and boys over six to wear a woollen cap on Sundays and holidays. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries flat caps were worn across Britain, by working men every day and, in finer cloths, by wealthier men in the country. The bowler hat was made in London in 1849 by the hatmakers Thomas and William Bowler, as a hard, low hat for gamekeepers whose tall hats were knocked off by branches. First popular with working men, it became the typical hat of City of London businessmen in the early 1900s and stayed so until the 1970s. The newsboy cap, similar to the flat cap but with a fuller crown made of panels and a button on top, was widely worn in the early twentieth century. British hat makers today continue to draw on these traditions, using good materials and careful construction.