Best flat cap for London member?

[londonboy]

I live in London and want to buy a flat cap. What is the best quality cap I can get (best quality, not lowest price)? Do I just go to Lock Hatters and ask for a cashmere Gill?

 

[Edward]

I recently bought a couple of Irish-made flat caps from a stall in the Covent Garden Market.... mine are cashmere (I think they usually sell for £20 for cashmere; I got two on offer for £25 the pair), they also do them in tweed. Both regular flat cap style, and newsboy / Gatsby types. Tweed flat caps are I think £14 or so, the Gatsbys are around £20.

Otherwise, the range at www.classic-caps.co.uk looks good - £15-£30, depdning on design / material.

 

[londonboy]

http://www.lockhatters.co.uk/Tweed___Cashmere_Caps-Cashmere_Gill-P93.aspx
Would this cashmere newsboy cap from Lock Hatters be a big improvement?

 

[Salv]

http://www.lockhatters.co.uk/Tweed___Cashmere_Caps-Cashmere_Gill-P93.aspx
Would this cashmere newsboy cap from Lock Hatters be a big improvement?

At £139 I think you'll be paying for the name, rather than the quality. It seems ridiculously overpriced, even for cashmere. There are a couple of Scottish shops at the south end of Regent Street, just before it meets Picadilly Circus, which usually have a good range of caps in cashmere and tweed. I'd try there, or Covent Garden market as recommended by Edward, first before venturing into St. James'.

 

[SMCK]

Flat cap.

Bates hats in Jermyn st. make good caps in a variety of styles. not as expensive as overpriced locks. I have one and am very happy.difficult to discover when its actually open though.

 

[londonboy]

Okay. How do you tell if a cashmere hat is good? Do you just feel it and compare it to a scarf you like, or is there something else you should look for? I just thought that a market would have lower quality hats.

 

[Salv]

I think you'll have to feel a few caps so that you'll be able to judge good from bad, but I would assume that the cashmere in a cap would be somewhat heavier and stiffer than that in a scarf. I'd look for a good tight weave in the wool; good construction with straight, clean seams; good pattern matching at the seams. Some walking around and comparing of caps needs to be done to find the best, and I don't think it's ever a good idea to assume that the most expensive item is necessarily the best in terms of quality. I'd be surprised if Lock's get significantly better wool than any other cap manufacturer.

At least St. James, Regent Street and Covent Garden are close to each other.

For what it's worth, I have a few 8-piece caps, and the best quality one is in a blue Harris tweed from the Edinburgh Woolen Mills shop in Windsor. It cost me £15, and I've tried on caps costing 4 times that amount that didn't look or feel as good.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Are you averse to online purchase? If not, B!Wear makes the best modern production caps around, for my money. Many reviews in the hat section here. I don't remember the price, but they're quite cheap.

http://mariposa.yosemite.net/bwear/

bk

 

[londonboy]

To follow up, which store in Regent Street in particular did you go to? There was this store with sale signs posted all over, but the merchandise was shoddy. There was a Scottish store, but it was closed when I passed by.

There was only one store selling Irish brand tweed and cashmere caps in Convent Garden market, but the seller was out of my size in cashmere.

Herbert Johnson has Borsalino cashmere caps, but they are thinner and overpriced.

Does Bates carry cashmere caps?

 

[cookie]

Newsboys

I recently bought a couple of Irish-made flat caps from a stall in the Covent Garden Market.... mine are cashmere (I think they usually sell for £20 for cashmere; I got two on offer for £25 the pair), they also do them in tweed. Both regular flat cap style, and newsboy / Gatsby types. Tweed flat caps are I think £14 or so, the Gatsbys are around £20.

Otherwise, the range at www.classic-caps.co.uk looks good - £15-£30, depdning on design / material.

what did you think of the quality of the newsboys in the cashmere/tweed for your GBP 25 and what array of sizes?

 

[Edward]

what did you think of the quality of the newsboys in the cashmere/tweed for your GBP 25 and what array of sizes?

I'm pleased with the ones I bought. I'd consider them more of a Spring / Autumn hat (I'd want the heavier Gatsby style for the current colder weather), but they're definitely a nice hat. The sizing is the less exact s/m/l/xl style, and they do come up small - I'm generally a medium in everything (a 57 is just bang on for me), but I had to go up to a large in these. Medium might have been fine if I'd wanted a tight fit that sat high on the head, but the large looked a lot better. Quality-wise, they stand up against any similar hat I've experienced. The tweed I would naturally expect to be much more durable, but I certainly don't feel that the cashmere hats need to be treated with kid gloves. I'd expct mine will get a lot more wear come the spring - ideal companion for a leather jacket when you just don't want to wear a fedora, on windy days, and whatever.

 

[Topper]

Number of styles available from Christys' if you need anything specific please give me a call.

http://www.christys-hats.com/viewtweedcaps.php

pip-pip
Doug

 

[londonboy]

How much are Christys caps? Does anyone have any other leads, maybe to a Scottish or Irish store?

 

[londonboy]

I bought a Cashmere Gill from Lock Hatters. Their service was excellent, and the salesperson showed me the little nook where they display the hats of Admiral Nelson and the Duke of Wellington, and the Queen Mother's hat block. Their cap had the softest, lightest cashmere, and the most comfortable construction. I was told it was sewn by Mr Gill, their capmaker of over thirty years.

Although Lock's hats are perhaps not of very high quality, excepting possibly their bowlers, I think their caps are actually made in England and still quite remarkable.

Bates carried a very small selection of Johnstons cashmere caps. These were nice, but the construction was stiff, particularly the brim, and these ended up not fitting very well. The sizing was eccentric, too.

Christys emailed me that they do not sell cashmere caps.

The Convent Garden stall caps were okay for the price, but they were very coarse and of average construction. I decided that I have only one head to put a hat on, and went with what I felt was most comfortable.

Thank you all for your assistance, and thank you again to AlanC for his original suggestion of Lock's.

 

[Edward]

Sounds great. Enjoy!