Filson Caps & Hats

Filson cap and hat fabrics

Filson has been outfitting for wet cold since 1897, when Clinton C. Filson opened on First Avenue in Seattle to supply prospectors heading north to the Klondike. Two materials from that period are still doing the work here. Tin cloth is a heavy cotton finished with oil and wax: it starts stiff, sheds rain rather than absorbing it, and moulds to the shape of your head over a season or two rather than staying box-fresh. Mackinaw wool is the other — a dense woollen that holds warmth even when damp, which is the property that made it worth carrying into the Yukon and still makes it a better winter hat than anything synthetic.

Choosing between a cap and a brimmed hat

A cap keeps sun and rain off your eyes and nothing else, which is usually what you want in a town or under a hood. The trucker caps here are the lightest option, with a mesh back that actually vents; the low-profile logger caps sit closer to the head, which suits people who find a standard baseball cap too tall in the crown. A full brim is a different proposition — the packer hat and the tin cloth bush hat both keep rain off the back of your neck and out of your collar, which a peak cannot do, and both take a knock and come back into shape. The trade-off is that a brim catches wind and does not fold into a pocket.

Insulated Filson caps and winter hats

Watch caps are the simple answer: knitted wool, a turned cuff, and nothing to go wrong. Beyond those, the range gets more specific. The insulated tin cloth caps put a lining behind the weatherproof outer, so they hold heat as well as shedding rain, and the Mackinaw cap adds fold-down ear flaps for genuinely cold days. The blaze orange pieces are there for a practical reason rather than a fashion one — they are shooting and hunting colours, made to be seen at distance, and they will do that job in a British field just as well as an American one.

Browse Filson jackets and coats, look at Filson shirts, or see Filson bags.