Nicholas Daley Rebel Hat

Unspun wool is not a yarn. Spinning is what turns loose fibre into a continuous thread by twisting it, and everything knitted or woven begins there. Leave the fibre unspun and work it directly and you get something closer to felt: dense, matted, structurally continuous, with no stitch pattern and no direction to it. It is how the oldest textiles on earth were made and it is very rarely used at this weight now, because it is slow and cannot be automated.

That is what this hat is. Heavyweight, oversized, and charcoal, it holds its own shape without a wire, a stiffener, or a block, because the material is the structure. Daley works the way he works everywhere: he chooses a process first and lets the object follow from it.

Sizing and how it is worn

Oversized and worn loose on the head rather than gripping it. A felted, unspun wool has give and will mould to a head over time rather than fitting one exactly on the first wearing. It does not pack flat and should not be crushed, because the shape is held in the material and a hard fold will stay in it.

We took this because an unspun wool hat is a genuinely rare object and because it is the piece from this house that reads as sculpture before it reads as clothing. It is also, unexpectedly, easy to wear.

Hand-worked and low-technology processes run through Nicholas Daley's accessories, and the hats are where they are least diluted.

One hundred percent wool, unspun, made in England. Colour: Charcoal.

With the Oversized Rain Coat or the Railroad Parka, both cut large enough to carry it. Charcoal will go with everything he makes, including the tartans. It is a decided object, so let it be the decided one.

Brush it, air it, and reshape it by hand. Do not wash it, because water and agitation are how wool felts in the first place and an unspun piece will shrink and harden. Keep it away from heat. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

The Patchwork Tam O Shanter is the patchworked cotton hat, the Hand-Crocheted Bucket Hats are crocheted in jute, and the Utility Bucket Hat in cumin is hand dyed. The Railroad Parka is the outerwear in pressed mohair. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.