Headgear by Three Stroke Productions
In recent years flat caps seem to have experienced a huge resurgence, also thanks to the TV series “Peaky Blinders”, becoming a fashion icon worldwide.
Let’s have a few words about this stylish piece of headgear: the first traces of the flat cap, sometimes known as scally cap can be found in Northern England in the 14th century, when it was known as a bonnet, a name by which it’s still called in Scotland, although crippled in “bunnet”. In Wales it’s known as a Dai Cap, while in Ireland as a Paddy Cap.
In 1571, to stimulate domestic consumption of wool, an act of the English Parliament obliged all males aged 6 and over, except nobles and persons of degree to wear it on Sundays and public holidays. Although this was no longer mandatory by 1597 the flat cap had become a distinctive feature of the men belonging to the working-class.
It was not until the 19th century that the finest versions of the flat clap became a distinctive feature of the country gentlemen of the upper-classes, to the point of becoming a status symbol. This led to the 1920s when this type of headdress became the most worn by men of any social class in the United Kingdom. In the meantime it spread on a large scale in the United States where it’s known by the name of Driving Cap, in New Zealand it’s called a Cheese-Cutter, and in Southern Italy by the name of Coppola, initially bought almost exclusively by British servicemen.
Of course, such an iconic garment could not but have a vast success even in popular culture. It being so closely connected to the working-class led it to become the iconic headgear of comic book character Andy Capp, as well as being well recognisable in the TV series “EastEnders” and “Only Fools and Horses” and in the movie by Quentin Tarantino “Jackie Brown”. It’s also often worn by AC/DC singer Brian Johnson, as well as iconic characters such as David Beckham, Guy Ritchie, and the Prince of Wales.
It’s a garment that was also a must of the stadium terraces, worn by skinheads, casuals and common fans, but also an iconic garment on golf courses, to demonstrate the extreme ductility of the flat cap.
As said at the beginning, flat caps are back in vogue thanks to the series “Peaky Blinders” in which members of the gang hide a razorblade inside the headdress, so you can use it as a weapon.
The flat cap has made its way through the centuries and anticipating fashions, without ever being unprepared through the passage of time.
Over the years we have enjoyed exploring the wide tradition of British and Irish headgear by teaming up with an Italian family run company specialising in high quality hats.
For this AW23 season we concentrated on four styles of caps: “Modern”, “Charlie”, “Archie” and “Bonnie”
This season’s special feature lies in the inside pocket containing a business card including a few words about “good manners and nice clothes” and a QR code linking this web page
Modern
Our “Modern” flat cap is a “Duckbill” whose peaked brim is shaped rather like a duck’s beak. This hat developed in design from the popular British flat caps in the nineteenth century, and it is similar to an Ivy hat but with a leaner and probably more contemporary shape.
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Archie
What’s new this season is undoubtedly the archie hat which is very similar to the Modern (duckbill) with the difference that while the Modern hat has longitudinal seams joining the panels while Archie has a segmented construction with the seams starting from the centre of the top of the hat. Due to the different way the hat is constructed, the Archie is slightly less tight-fitting than the Modern.
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Charlie
Introduced in our collection last year the Charlie hat is an eight panel “newsboy” cap (also known as Gatsby cap)
This hat was named after the people who wore it: the newsboys, kids on street corners selling newspapers. Most of them adopted taht hat which became an iconic symbol of that era.
A real headgear icon !
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All our hats come in a variety of high quality tweed fabrics and are complimented by a metal signature button.
And no need to say that they are all padded inside to provide more warmth and comfort during the cold season
Finally, although it is not a flatcap, we want to tell you about the Bonnie: it is a baseball cap with a short visor similar to a jockey hat. The Bonnie is also made in the various virgin wool patterns offered this year by Three Stroke Productions
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Would you like to know how our friend Samuele and his family make our hats?
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