Known as the schoolboy cap, or golf hat, this new style strongly resembled the traditional flat cap in shape but was made of eight panels and had a fuller body with a button at the peak. An upper-glass gentleman needed to look the part while teeing off or roaring down country lanes, hence the flat cap – often made in fancier fabrics such as cashmere and tweed – quickly became the ideal accessory. The arbitrary law, intended to encourage domestic wool consumption, was eventually repealed in 1597, but by then, the fashion had well and truly stuck.Īnd so it stayed for around 200 years - until the 19th century and the rise of new leisure pursuits, such as golf and driving. Back then, this round cap was made from a single piece of cloth that stretched over a small, stiff brim and was called a bonnet.īut it was in 1571 that the cap became part of the working man’s ‘uniform’ thanks to a law passed by Queen Elizabeth I’s Parliament, which stated that all men six years old and over (except nobility) had to wear wool caps on Sundays or be fined three farthings a day. The very first iteration of the flat cap emerged some 500 years ago in northern England. Here’s the story of how it's evolved from being a trademark of the working man to 21st-century sartorial statement. So much so that that the humble flat cap made it onto ‘what’s hot’ lists and even into the Office of National Statistics’ 2019 inflation basket of goods and services, a rundown of what Britons spend their money on.įlat caps might be all the rage right now, but this piece of ordinary headgear is no new phenomenon. And thanks to Cillian Murphy and the gang, we all love them now, too.
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