When you see the Tilley hat, shoot me!

The Washington Post travel blog has a nice short piece on how ridiculous and old most “travel” clothes look, citing Magellan’s, Travel Smith, and Land’s End as examples. I couldn’t agree more. And what about the Tilley hat? Is anything more ridiculous looking? I love those guys with their multi-pocket travel/photo vests and Tilley lids. Maybe we’ll all be there one day, but I agree that there’s a need for something between old person and hostel-bound hiker fashion. ExOfficio, Royal Robbns, and Columbia are probably the best place to look for a middle ground. You may also find that “regular” clothes work well for travel. I have a normal poly/cotton dress/casual shirt that dries as fast as any tech shirt. Wool and wool-blend stuff is great too.

Comments

[April]

As Brad's sister, I will volunteer to shoot him with a BB gun if he sports this hat too soon!

[bruc33ef]

After buying two tech shirts from Columbia Sportswear for megabucks, while on my last trip I stopped in a Walmart and picked up two superlight, good looking, cotton/poly, short-sleeved shirts for $7.50 each. They were more comfortable than the tech shirts, wrinkled less, and dried just as fast. I also picked up some inexpensive nylon socks there which also dried very fast. So I agree you don't need spend a fortune to go one-bag, hand wash clothes and have them dry fast. Pants, though, may be a different matter. I'm glad I bought my Columbia "Titanium" tech pants which are absolutely terrific.

[Frank@OBOW]

Low-cost solutions certainly abound. I bought my son some cheap Champion nylon pants form the clearance rack at Target, and they were very good for a long transatlantic trip.

[Joy]

I'm guess I'm not a fashionista when I travel. The Tilley hat keeps the rain off my glasses and until they make something better, the Tilley it will have to be. Maybe they will make it in red! Then I can wear it with purple shirts and travel in style.

[Johnny A]

Brad, you're going to far in your vendetta against Tilly hats! It's not that I love the hats, but I'm growing to dislike the sun. I've spent many miserable hours in my dermatologist's clinic having loathsome (and unnecessary) items removed from my carapace.

Every time you see a Tilley hat you should take it as a kind of "memento mori" and receive the warning before you, too, learn words like "squamous cell carcinoma" and "actinic keratosis" the hard way . . .

[Frank@OBOW]

I'm not against hats, really I'm not a hatist. But I'm a very young grandfather now so maybe I need a Tilley...and a cane.

[Wendy]

Okay, the original Tilley hat is unbearably heavy and hot. But for women I highly recommend their crushable hat. Lightweight, breaths great, never need worrying about packing it and best of all, quie fashionable. Have had tons of compliments on it.