Finally, a relaxed and very well-ventilated summer hat with a wide brim that will protect you from the death rays of the sun. If camo patterns and war-like details will make you go postal, this fully demilitarized mail carrier hat is certain to soothe your spirits. Nice hat for fishing, also great for berry picking, hiking, drinking beer on the porch, and the hottest new thing for this year’s trendsetter. 

• Very wide brim
• Two snap fasteners for turning the brim up on both sides
• Color: Dark blue with a gray reflector band
• Some have an adjustable chin strap, some don’t
• Drawcord adjustment at the top
• Great ventilation: mesh lining, and the dome is open at various points 

Officially, this is the British Royal Mail's 2008 summer hat. It protects you somewhat from the rain and very well from the sun, and allows the air to circulate very well on hot summer days without letting mosquitoes in. The snap fasteners allow you to lift the sides of the brim up, either on both sides like Lemmy or just on one in the Aussie style.

History 

British posties have a long and colorful uniform history. Originally, they were called Letter Carriers, and they operated in their own regular clothes. However, because crooks often posed as letter carriers to swindle money, some sort of system for identifying the official carriers was needed. The first solution was a brass token that was taken into use in 1728. The first official uniform came in 1784 for Mail Coach Guards. The pompous militaristic uniform consisted of a gold braided scarlet coat with blue lapels and a black top hat. It mirrored the style of the British soldier’s uniform, where the color red was associated with Royalty.

Since the Letter Carriers had a reputation of being drunken morons, the Post Office issued uniforms to London Letter Carriers in 1793, hoping it would make them look and behave better. The uniform included a scarlet coat and a top hat. However, since the red coats got dirty very easily, they switched to blue ones in 1860. By 1872, these uniforms had been issued to all Letter Carriers. 

After 1840, the Post Office grew rapidly, and all sorts of new uniforms were needed, which made things a bit more chaotic and confusing. To tackle this travesty, the Committee on Uniform Clothing was created in 1908, which brought stability back to the Empire for a few decades. 

At the end of the 1960s, such a radical idea was proposed that it required the Queen’s approval: a gray uniform. Despite her Majesty’s approval, this radical phase didn’t last long, and the uniforms returned to the classic blue and red combination in the 1980s. Excluding this small deviation, blue and red have remained the colors of the Royal Mail throughout its history.

Over the years, the hat designs have evolved from very formal and impractical to less formal and way more practical. The original top hats were replaced by a single-peaked Shako, a military style hat with a straight glazed peak at the front. It offered some protection against the elements, but still allowed the rain to fall down on the postmen’s necks. Thus, an updated version was issued in 1896 with an extra peak to stop this. This popular hat lasted until the late 1920s, when it was replaced by the flat cap. 

The flat cap was eventually replaced by a range of hats, including baseball caps and knitted beanies, for various seasons and uses. In 2008, Royal Mail introduced this particular summer hat, which is purely practical. 

The latest uniform renewal began in 2018, and the new uniform range was launched in 2021. This is why you can now purchase these cool earlier versions as surplus. The current system is a very modern layering system, where you can easily adapt the outfit to the prevailing conditions. 

Condition

Used Royal Mail surplus from Great Britain. These are clean and intact, and don’t smell like the monkey's bum, but they may have some signs of use. For example, the colors may be a bit faded, and there might be some small stains here or there. Nevertheless, they are all perfectly serviceable, and some might even be unused, or they have only been used at the office on Sundays.