Collection: Tweed Flat Caps

Tweed is a rough, hard-wearing woolen cloth from Scotland and Ireland, woven to stand up to wind and damp on farms and open country. Herringbone is not a different fabric but a way of weaving it: the twill changes direction every few threads, so the lines form a broken V, like the bones of a fish. That change of direction is why the pattern looks lively up close and calm from a distance. Depending on where you are, the same cap goes by other names: flat cap, ivy cap in the US, scally cap in New England, paddy cap in Ireland and bunnet in Scotland.

It became the classic pattern for caps because it is forgiving. A herringbone weave hides small marks and everyday wear far better than a flat color, and it sits with a wool overcoat, a waxed jacket or a crewneck sweater without competing with them. Ghelter's flat caps come in herringbone across several fibers, from wool to cotton, linen and acrylic, and this collection keeps to wool and wool blends, the ones that behave like traditional tweed when it gets cold. Our flat cap style guide has more outfit ideas.

An Irish tweed flat cap and a Harris Tweed flat cap differ in where and how the cloth is made. Harris Tweed is a name protected by law: it can only be cloth handwoven by islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, finished there, and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun there, and it carries the Orb mark of the Harris Tweed Authority. Irish tweed is a broader term, and its best-known family is Donegal tweed, recognizable by the colored flecks of yarn scattered through the weave.

So a Harris Tweed cap is certified at the source, and the Orb label is the proof. None of the caps in this collection carries the Orb, so we do not present them as Harris Tweed. What you will find here are herringbone and flecked wool weaves from the same country tradition, with the material stated on every listing.

A tweed flat cap should sit level and low, with the band resting just above your ears and the short brim about a finger width over your eyebrows. It should stay on in a breeze without pressing a line into your forehead. Because the crown lies flat and close, there is no slack to hide the wrong size: too big and it slides toward your eyes, too small and it perches on top.

Measure the widest part of your head with a soft tape, just above the ears and across the middle of the forehead, keeping it level, and use the larger of two readings. Ghelter sizes these caps in centimeters: adult models run from 54 to 63 cm (21.3 to 24.8 inches), some in fixed steps and many as an adjustable span such as 55-60 cm. If you fall between two sizes, take the larger one, because wool gives a little but never enough to fix a cap that is too tight. The full chart with US hat sizes is on our sizing page, and our guide to hats for big heads covers the top end of the range.

A wool tweed flat cap is warm enough for most winter days and handles a light drizzle. Wool fiber traps air and a tight herringbone weave cuts the wind, which is why these caps grew up outdoors in damp climates. Light rain tends to sit on the surface of wool before it soaks in, so a short walk in drizzle is fine.

It is not waterproof, though. In a steady downpour the cloth will get wet, and a tweed cap is no replacement for a hood. For real cold, pick one of the models with folding earflaps or one with a soft inner lining. Warmth comes from the fiber more than from the pattern, so a wool cap will do far more in January than a cotton or linen one with the same weave.

Brush a tweed flat cap with a soft clothes brush instead of washing it. Go over it after wear, in the direction of the weave, to lift dust and bring the texture back up. Treat marks by dabbing, not rubbing, with a barely damp cloth, and let it dry at room temperature. A washing machine will shrink wool, soften the structure and bend the short brim out of shape.

If it gets caught in the rain, reshape it by hand while it is still damp and leave it to dry on a clean towel, away from radiators and direct sun, which dry wool out. Store it flat or on a hook, never crushed at the bottom of a drawer, and in the off-season keep it in a breathable cotton bag with a cedar block against moths. Our hat cleaning guide covers wool, cotton and the other fibers step by step.

Ghelter dispatches every order from its warehouse within 1-2 business days, by tracked and insured international shipping that takes 5 to 12 business days for most orders. Shipping is free on orders over 50 EUR.

If the size is wrong, you have 30 days from delivery to request a return. Write to support@ghelter.com with a photo of the cap and of the shipping label; the cap needs to be unworn, with its tags and in its original packaging. For a cap in the wrong size we send you a free return label, except on sale items or orders placed with a discount code, where the return shipping is yours to cover. The fastest way to change sizes is to return the first cap and order the right one separately.