The Best Hat for Long Hair
If you have long hair, you already know the problem. It's not finding a hat you like. It's finding one that actually works with how your hair sits. Snapbacks dig in. Plastic closures pull at...
The Travel Hat Solution
the hat that survives the bag
You pack the hat last. Wedge it into whatever space is left. Pull it out three days later looking like something you found on the side of the road.
Or you wear it on the plane, spend the whole flight with it in your lap, and arrive somewhere warm having already lost interest in it.
Most hats aren't designed for travel. They're designed to look good on a peg hook in a store. A structured brim that holds its shape perfectly on a shelf is the same structure that cracks when it gets jammed under a seat. A rigid crown that photographs well is the same crown that leaves a crease when folded and never fully recovers.
The solution isn't a special "travel hat." It's a hat built from materials that survive compression without losing their shape. Soft brims. Crushable fabric. Construction that comes back to form when you pull it out of your bag.
We've been making headwear for 25 years. Here's what that looks like in practice.
What actually makes a hat packable
Not all packable hats are equal. The word gets used loosely. Here's what to actually look for.
Brim material. This is the thing that determines whether a hat survives the bag. A plastic brim, the kind in most structured caps, is rigid by design. Compress it and you get a crease or a warp that doesn't come out. An EVA foam brim is different. EVA is the same material used in performance footwear: lightweight, compressible, and built to recover its shape. You can fold it in half, stuff it under a jacket in your carry-on, and pull it out looking exactly the same.
Crown structure. Highly structured, stiffened crowns hold a shape, but only the one they were made in. Unstructured or lightly structured crowns compress without damage and reshape on your head. This is the difference between a hat you pack carefully and one you just throw in.
Fabric. Technical polyester and cotton twill both travel well. What doesn't travel well is anything with an internal wire brim or rigid interfacing. Those hats are finished the moment they get compressed.
The hats below pass all three tests.
The options, matched to your trip
The Banks — The Packable Bucket Hat
The Banks is a bucket hat that rolls down to almost nothing. Tuck it into a side pocket, a belt bag, a jacket pocket - it doesn't need its own space. Pull it out and it's ready.
UPF 50+ sun protection. A shorter brim that sits clean and close without the wide overhang of a full sun hat. The kind of hat that works on a boat, at a market, walking a city in 85 degrees. It doesn't look like a hiking hat. It looks like something you meant to bring. For a full breakdown of what UPF means, read our guide here.
For trips where sun is part of the picture but you're not spending all day on an exposed ridge, the Banks is the call.
The Stillwater — The Full Brim Option
Same packable construction as the Banks, wider brim. The Stillwater is what you reach for when sun protection is the whole point of the hat: beach days, boat trips, hiking in open terrain, long walks in cities where there's no shade to find.
UPF 50+. The larger brim covers ears, the sides of your face, and the back of your neck in a way a cap or shorter-brimmed bucket hat doesn't. It packs flat, reshapes fully. If you're going somewhere genuinely sunny and you're going to be outside for real stretches of time, this is the one to bring.
The Provo — The Technical Cap
Five-panel technical polyester, UPF 50+, floatable EVA brim and available in a mesh back option. The Provo is the cap version of this conversation — crushable, packable, built to go from the bottom of a daypack to your head without a thought.
The floatable brim is worth noting for travel specifically. If you're near water — a kayak, a boat, a lake, any situation where the hat could end up overboard — it comes back to you. Not a feature you need until you need it.
Shock cord and cordlock closure means it adjusts over any hair situation and fits any head. It's the hat that goes everywhere and fits everything: hiking, walking a city, sitting at an outdoor cafe, getting back on the plane. One hat for the full trip.
The Hayes — The Casual Option
Cotton twill, mid-crown, five-panel, strapback clasp closure. The Hayes is the hat you bring when you want something that looks intentional with whatever you're wearing — not a technical cap, not a sun hat. Just a well-made everyday cap that happens to pack down without ruining.
Soft construction means no rigid structure to crack or crease. The strapback closure adjusts cleanly. The cotton twill wears in, not out — it looks better with use, which is exactly what you want from a travel hat.
For city trips, short flights, any situation where you want a hat that works with your clothes as much as it works against the sun, the Hayes is the one to reach for.
Which one to bring
Beach, boat, or anywhere with serious sun exposure: Stillwater. Full brim, UPF 50+, maximum coverage.
City trip with warm weather: Banks or Hayes. The Banks gives you sun protection in a compact bucket style. The Hayes gives you a classic cap that works with more outfits.
Active trip - hiking, running, mixed outdoor days: Provo. UPF 50+, floatable brim, crushable, built for movement.
Can't decide / want one hat for all of it: The Provo handles more conditions than anything else on this list. Pack it first and add a second if the trip calls for it.
The thing most people get wrong
Buying a hat for a trip and treating it carefully the whole time.
A packable hat should be an afterthought in the best possible way. Stuff it in, pull it out, wear it, stuff it back. If you're being precious about a hat on vacation, it's not doing its job.
The hats above are built to be used that way. Not displayed. Not handled gently. Grabbed from the bottom of a bag and put on without a second thought.
That's the version of packable that actually matters when you're traveling.
