Wide Brim Hats

All brims on these pages have a minimum brim width of 3 3/4 inches.

Wide brim hats serve as protection from the harmful effects of the sun. By shading the ears, the back of the neck, and more of the face, wide brims differ – in these critical ways – from ball caps or stingy brim hats. For decades, The Village Hat Shop, through our “Hats Are Healthy” campaign, has been calling attention to the need to apply sun screen and wear protective clothing, including hats, when venturing outdoors.

This article from the Great Bend Tribune references a University of Noth Carolina skin cancer study stressing the importance of adding wide-brim hats to one's wardrobe.

Wide brim hats, not coincidentally, are now very fashionable. A wide brim frames the face beautifully and this fact has not been overlooked by headwear designers. These past couple years have seen an upsurge in materials, workmanship, features (like flexible brims that the individual can manipulate to her or his liking), etc.