Nicholas Daley Utility Bucket Hat- Cumin

Natural dyeing is slower, less predictable, and less colourfast than the synthetic kind, and those are all reasons it is rarely done. What it gives in exchange is a colour with variation inside it. A pigment taken from a plant or a mineral does not deposit evenly across a cloth, so the shade sits deeper in some places than in others and the piece has depth a vat of synthetic dye cannot produce. It also means no two come out quite alike.

Cumin is the right name for what comes out of it. It is a warm mid-yellow with brown underneath rather than a bright one, the colour of the spice rather than of anything manufactured, and it sits close to the turmeric Daley uses across the collection. Two functional details finish the hat: a cord at the neck, so it stays on in wind, and a small pocket closed with a snap. Neither is decorative, which is the pattern everywhere in this house.

Why we selected it

We took this because a hand-dyed cotton hat with a neck cord is the correct object for a Santa Fe summer and almost nobody makes one. The pocket is a genuine oddity. We would not have bought the hat for it, but it is the detail people ask about.

Hand dyeing recurs across Nicholas Daley’s work, and the hats are where it is done in the smallest quantities and shows most.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton, hand dyed with natural pigments, made in England. Adjustable neck cord, snap-fastening pocket. Colour: Cumin.

Sizing and how it is worn

A bucket brim, worn down. Cotton has less give than a knitted or crocheted hat, so it is less forgiving of head size, and the neck cord is what holds it rather than the fit. It packs flat and recovers.

Styling

With the Wide Beach Short and the Aloha Shirt. Against the Work Cardigan in turmeric, which is the same colour family and closer than it sounds. Cumin will not go near a tartan.

Care

Hand wash cool and alone, because a naturally dyed cotton will release colour and will go on releasing it longer than a synthetic dye does. Reshape it damp over something round and dry it flat away from heat and out of direct sun, which fades a natural pigment faster than washing does. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Hand-Crocheted Bucket Hats are worked in jute and the Patchwork Tam O Shanter is patchworked cotton. The Rebel Hat is the unspun wool hat, and the Work Cardigan carries the same turmeric register. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.