Sustainable hats off to you and your sustainable fashion journey! Hats made from virgin plastic and unethically-sourced wool have us feeling like the Mad Hatter: “A dream is not reality, but who’s to say which is which?”.
But who’s to say something can’t be both?
Our dreams of (stylishly) messy hat hair that’s better for people and the planet are becoming a reality, with several brands creating everything from ethical felt hats to eco-friendly trucker hats that will kick your fashion game into head-high gear.
We tip our hats to our Brand Rating System and we’re so excited to use it in coming weeks to reexamine these brands. It utilizes 22 criteria, such as climate action and product performance, to provide a comprehensive and objective looks at what brands are truly the best. Learn about it here and stay tuned for an update to this article soon.
We independently research all featured brands and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. Learn more here.
The Best Hat Brands Tip Their Brims To Mother Nature
It should come as no surprise that we head right to prAna, who won’t let you lose your head with a wide range of sustainable hats made out of recycled materials.
Storied Hats isn’t telling tall tales with its catalog of responsibly manufactured, ethical, sustainable snapback hats. They’re not just one of the coolest hat brands, but one of the most conscious thanks to their ethical factories.
Index: Ethical & Sustainable Hats
- prAna Jump to brand
- tentree Jump to brand
- Storied Hats Jump to brand
- Cuyana Jump to brand
- Patagonia Jump to brand
- Eileen Fisher Jump to brand
- Accompany Jump to brand
prAna
About prAna
Price Range: $16–$49
prAna has you quite literally covered with sustainable bucket hats, beanies, headbands, and other women’s and men’s eco-friendly sun hats from high-quality, sustainable fabrics.
The Fair Trade-certified unisex Kootenai Bucket Hat is a fan favorite, made entirely out of recycled polyester, but we personally love their winter line like the Trapper hat that we own. It’s long earflaps with a recycled polyestery fleecen lining keep us super cozy!
prAna’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Organic cotton and recycled polyester make up the bulk of prAna’s fair trade hats. They also use hemp, recycled cotton, wool, nylon, acrylic, and some elastane/spandex in the headbands.
Supply chain & labor practices:
prAna works with several Fair Trade-certified factories, aiming to make 100% of its sustainable yoga clothes and more in certified factories by 2028. They partner with facilities in Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam adhere to their Code of Conduct, which follows the FLA and ILO labor standards.
prAna started the Clothing for Positive Change (C4PC) movement to ensure fair wages, living conditions, and workers’ respect across its supply chain.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
prAna is a founding partner of The Renewal Workshop, where discarded clothing and fabrics are turned into renewed products, upcycled materials, or recycling feedstock. They also have a manufacturing climate goal of a 30% reduction in emissions by 2030 and use packing materials with recycled content and FSC-certified paper.
Community & charitable giving:
prAna makes sustainable hats for a good cause by partnering with organizations like Outdoor Outreach, The Conservation Alliance, and 5 Gyres (fighting microplastic pollution, by the way!).
tentree
About tentree
Price Range: $25–$55
tentree: the name says it all. This tree-planting brand uses earth-friendly materials and carbon-negative practices to make “earth-first apparel.” Besides apparel for our bodies, tentree also keeps us outdoor-ready with sustainable trucker hats, sun hats, and other durable hats for men and women.
Us and our self-sufficient homestead have us digging Taylor Felt Rancher Hat, which features a wide, fully protective brim and is made of 100% recycled wool. The wool is both warm and breathable, which means it’s almost a year-round go-to when we’re out doing work in the garden.
tentree’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Some of our favorite favorites also happen to be those used by tentree in their sustainable beanies and baseball caps, including hemp, recycled polyester, organic cotton, recycled wool, and TENCEL™ lyocell.
tentree uses a little spandex/elastane to get that perfect fit on your noggin.
Supply chain & labor practices:
In each product description, you’ll see where the sustainable caps are crafted. Most are made in Vietnam, and some in China. The Certified B Corp’s manufacturing partners adhere to high standards and a Code of Conduct based on ILO standards. Many are also backed up with additional certifications like WRAP, BSCI, SA8000, and Fair Trade.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Because they use some of the planet’s best materials, you can see the impact each piece has on our planet (water, waste, and CO2)—which is much less than it would be with conventional materials.
Community & charitable giving:
tentree should change its name because it’s more like “fiftymilliontree.” Alright, we suppose ten is still okay because they plant ten trees for every order—well on their way to a billion by 2030.
Storied Hats
About Storied Hats
Price Range: $28–$44
Storied Hats produces bright, fun, sustainable baseball hats. The designs are crafted in Portland and San Francisco offices, where they comb through countless fabrics to find the best sustainable materials.
If you appreciate retro graphics and punny names as much as we do, the Saved by the Bill perfectly CAPtures those carefree Saturday morning in the 90s vibes we all miss so much.
Storied Hats’ Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Each hat is made from fabrics like recycled and organic cotton, hemp, recycled polyester, recycled wool, and ramie.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Storied Hats sources its materials from the United States, Taiwan, India, and China. The sustainable custom hats are manufactured in a WRAP-certified facility outside Shanghai.
Community & charitable giving:
Storied Hats is a member of 1% for the Planet and created the Belief Line, a collection of custom eco-friendly hats to spread awareness and raise money for various social issues.
Cuyana
About Cuyana
Price Range: $48–$128
We’ve got more Quechuan language to translate: Cuyana means “love,” and this brand loves people and the planet. Their love for us is driven by a “fewer, better” mentality, meaning they responsibly design their clothing and accessories to maximize wearability.
The same applies to their ethical and sustainable straw hats, like the earthy and ultra-protective Wide Brim Ecuador Hat that will have you both standing out and fitting in at the farmer’s market.
Cuyana’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Stay elevated and cool in Baseball Cap made from OCS-certified organic cotton. The rest of their Boleros and eco-friendly Panama hats are made from sustainably harvested toquilla straw. These Ecuadorian palm fronds are harvested without harming the main tree.
Supply chain & labor practices:
The straw hats are woven by women using UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity techniques. All manufacturing partners agree to a Code of Conduct and are regularly visited and audited.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Their products are made to last, and that’s not just a marketing gimmick—a two-year warranty backs them and can be sent back to Cuyana for repair. They partner with the thriftng site thredUP to encourage reselling, and recently launched their own Revive resale site.
Cuyana aims to make 100% of its collection from sustainably-certified materials sometime in 2023 and 100% neutral packaging by 2025.
Community & charitable giving:
A portion of the sale gets donated to HEART (Helping Ease Abuse-Related Trauma).
Patagonia
About Patagonia
Price Range: $35–$59
Does Patagonia even need an introduction? After 50 years of improvements and environmental initiatives, Patagonia has become one of the best sustainable hats brands in the fashion industry.
As with all their clothing sustainable backpacks, and more, their hat range is extensive and includes sustainable sun hats, trucker hats, beanies, baseball caps, and a range of other adventure-ready hats for men, women, and kiddos. Our P-6 Logo Trucker Hat has been a wardrobe staple for years, which we grab whether we’re heading to the beach, on a run, or to the supermarket on a bad hair day.
Patagonia’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
While we especially love their 100% organic fair trade cotton hats, we don’t mind seeing recycled nylon mesh (from fishing nets) in their snapback hats, ethical wool in their winter hats, or recycled polyester components.
Most are bluesign®-approved, meaning they’re produced without harmful chemicals.
Supply chain & labor practices:
At the bottom of every product listing, you’ll see the “Footprint Chronicles”, which include how and where it’s made. Most eco-friendly hats for men and women are produced in a fair trade factory in Shanghai.
Patagonia is a Fair Labor Association founding member with many certified fair trade hats and partners to their arsenal. They’re still working on ensuring everyone gets a living wage per their Code of Conduct based on ILO core labor standards.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
For happy pockets and planet, Patagonia’s Worn Wear line accepts, sells, and transforms used Patagonia clothes and gear! Of course, if you don’t want to get rid of your jacket because it ripped, you can also send it back for free repair… FOR LIFE!
More than three-fourths of their line is made with recycled materials, and 100% of their cotton is grown organically.
Community & charitable giving:
Our planet is # 1 for Patagonia, which is why they started (and still participate in) 1% for the Planet, and invest ALL profits into either improving their practices or funding climate-oriented organizations.
Patagonia Action Works connects everyone with grassroots groups in their local communities.
Eileen Fisher
About Eileen Fisher
Price Range: $118–$125
If you’re looking for the best winter hats for women, sustainable also means oh-so-comfortable with the cashmere beanies from Eileen Fisher. While their collection is small, they cover all seasons between these beanies and the delightfully summery Mar Y Sol floppy hat.
That’s all topping off their whole catalog of sweaters, cardigans, jackets, pants, jumpsuits, dresses, and other sustainable work clothing essentials.
Eileen Fisher’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
The Silk Bliss sustainable knit hat is made from cashmere, silk, nylon, and a bit of spandex. The Mar Y Sol is made from responsibly sourced raffia palm fiber, with an interior cotton band and brim.
Supply chain & labor practices:
As a Certified B Corp, Eileen Fisher adheres to strict standards regarding ethical production and environmental practices. They’re also a Fair Labor Association and Fair Factories Clearinghouse member, with partners adhering to SA8000 and the ETI ethical manufacturing base standards.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
The Waste No More take-back program transforms returned and recycled garments into new products (like upcycled accessories or carpet pads), in addition to their Renew vintage and resale platform.
EF utilizes renewable energy and carbon offsets and consistently looks for more sustainable production practices and fabrics to further reduce its footprint.
Community & charitable giving:
Among many other charitable initiatives, the Eileen Fisher Foundation funds grants for women entering environmental justice fields.
Accompany
About Accompany
Price Range: $30–$200
Accompany is on a humanity-focused mission to change our world for the better through accessories like ethical felt hats and straw hats. Instead of quick fixes and temporary solutions, they’re working to create permanent change in some of the systems and cycles that keep people in poverty.
Our favorite is the Made In The Shade Hat, which is their only vegan ethical hat available.
Accompany’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Straw, cotton, woven palm leaves, vegetable tanned leather, and wool are the materials you’ll find across Accompany’s hats. Although the Night Reversible sustainable wool hat blends alpaca wool with acrylic, the Paresi Hat contains 100% felted wool.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Accompany is accompanied by two artisan groups who provide sustainable wool hats and straw hats range Artesano and Shupaca, both collectives of Ecuadorian artisans rhat focus on using sustianable materials and empowering the communities in whic they’re based. All artisans are fairly and directly compensated for their work.
Community & charitable giving:
Some of the brand’s artisan partners are performing philanthropic work of their own. Accompany works on a larger scale to support these efforts by providing donations, training programs, low-interest loans, and infrastructure for marginalized communities.
