Kuon Boro Bucket Hat

Boro comes from boroboro, meaning tattered, and it names what happened in the cold north of Japan when cotton was scarce and winter was not. A garment or a bedcover was patched with whatever came to hand and then patched again over the patch, held with rows of running stitch, until the thing was a stratified record of its own repair and often the work of three generations. It was read in Japan for a long time as evidence of poverty rather than of skill. This hat is not made from that cloth, and the distinction is worth being exact about. It is made from upcycled fabric produced from the cuttings at sewing factories: the pieces that fall away when a pattern is laid on a length and cut around, which every clothing factory generates by the tonne and which are ordinarily waste. That is the same argument as boro arriving at the same answer from the opposite direction. Boro was assembly under scarcity. This is assembly under surplus.

Why we selected it

The idea is easy to say and hard to make into an object somebody actually wants to wear. A bucket hat is the right size for it: enough panels to make the patchwork legible, small enough that it does not become a statement about itself.

Repair and reuse are the method rather than the theme in this house, and the accessories are where the method is least dressed up.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton, made in Japan. Patchworked from upcycled fabric produced from the cuttings at sewing factories. Interior size adjustment mechanism. Color: Navy.

Sizing and dimensions

We do not hold measurements for this hat. It carries an interior size adjustment mechanism, which is the usual answer to a hat sold in one size and which lets it be taken in rather than let out, so it is worth knowing that the adjustment runs downward from whatever the hat’s built size is. We hold no crown depth and no brim width. Call us and someone will put a tape on it.

Styling

With the Boro Double Ring Belt, which is made from the same kind of cloth and is the other accessory here. Over anything. It is navy and patchworked, so it goes with the indigo pieces without matching any of them.

Care

Spot clean rather than washing, because a patchworked hat has a great many seams and a soaked hat dries out of shape. Reshape it damp and let it dry on something the size of a head rather than flat. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Patchwork Hoodie is cotton built from patches, and the Boro Jacquard Wide Trousers are a cotton cloth that quotes patchwork rather than being pieced. Everything we carry from Kuon is listed together.