Hats From Around the World, 80 Traditional Styles

Why traditional hats differ around the world

Most traditional hats started as practical answers to the local climate and work, then picked up meaning as symbols of rank, religion or nationality. Wide brims shade the face in hot, sunny places, fur and earflaps keep out the cold in Russia and the Andes, and scarves and wraps keep out sun, dust and sand in the desert. Uniforms and ceremonies added a second layer: grenadiers’ bearskins, Napoleonic bicornes and the Australian slouch hat are all military hats that became national images.

The “Around the World in 80 Hats” infographic, made for the hotel booking site Venere.com [2], gathers 80 of these from six regions, from the Spanish cordobés to the Australian baggy green [1]. Below are the best known ones by region, with what each hat is and where it really comes from.

Traditional hats of Europe

Europe has the most hats on the chart, 22 [1], and many of them are now worn worldwide.

• Beret (France). A soft, round, flat-crowned cap, usually wool. Mass production began in the 19th century in the Basque Country, where berets were already common, before spreading to southern France and northern Spain [3].
• Flat cap (England and Italy). A rounded cap with a small stiff brim, which originated in Northern England. It goes by many local names, including paddy cap in Ireland and bunnet in Scotland [4].
• Bowler and top hat (England). The bowler, a hard felt hat with a rounded crown, was created in London in 1849 by Thomas and William Bowler for Lock & Co. Hatters [5]. The tall, flat-crowned top hat appeared by the end of the 18th century and is still worn with formal morning dress [6].
• Deerstalker (England). A rural hunting cap, now tied for ever to Sherlock Holmes [7].
• Fascinator (England). A decorative headpiece fixed to a band or clip, worn at weddings and race meetings instead of a hat [8].
• Tam o’ shanter (Scotland). The traditional Scottish bonnet, named after the hero of Robert Burns’s 1790 poem [9].
• Tyrolean hat (Austria). A felt hat from the Tyrol in the Alps, part of the local folk costume [10].
• Montera (Spain). The cap of Iberian folk costume, best known today as the bullfighter’s hat, introduced to the bullring in 1835 [11].
• Bearskin (Belgium) and bicorne (France). Both are military hats. The bearskin is a tall fur cap first worn by grenadiers in the 17th and 18th centuries and now kept for ceremonial dress [12]; the bicorne was the hat of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars [13].
• Hennin (France). The tall cone headdress worn by noblewomen in the late Middle Ages, now the stock “princess hat” [14].

Traditional hats of North America

The United States has more hats on the chart than any single country, 11, each tied to a state [1]. The cowboy hat, shown for Texas, is the best known. It is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat, and its first western model was the Boss of the Plains, designed by John B. Stetson in 1865 for the American West, which is why “Stetson” became another word for a cowboy hat [15][16]. The Boss of the Plains has its own place on the chart under Wyoming [1]. Other American entries are military or historical: the tricorne, the triangular cocked hat of the 18th century (Massachusetts) [17], the folding garrison cap (Ohio) and the coonskin cap made from raccoon fur (Tennessee), which was a craze among boys in the 1950s [1][36][37].

Mexico’s sombrero, or sombrero de charro, is a wide-brimmed hat with a high crown, made to shade the face, neck and shoulders from the sun [18]. For Canada the infographic picks the tuque, the Canadian name for a knitted winter cap, called a beanie in American English [1][19].

Traditional hats of Central and South America

• Panama hat. Despite the name and its place under Panama on the graphic, the Panama hat is of Ecuadorian origin. It is plaited from the leaves of the toquilla palm, and the weaving of the traditional toquilla straw hat was added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage lists in 2012 [20].
• Sombrero vueltiao (Colombia). A woven hat from the indigenous Zenú people, now a symbol of Colombia [21].
• Chullo (Peru). An Andean hat with earflaps, knitted from alpaca, vicuña, llama or sheep’s wool to keep out the mountain cold [22].
• Bowler hat (Bolivia). The English bowler has been worn by Quechua and Aymara women in Bolivia since the 1920s, after British railway workers introduced it [5].

Traditional hats of Africa

The fez, shown under Morocco, is a short, cylindrical, usually red felt hat with a tassel. Its name may come from the Moroccan city of Fez, where the dye for it was made, but its origins are disputed. It became the symbol of the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century and was outlawed in Turkey in 1925 [23]. The kofia, shown for Kenya, is a brimless cylindrical cap with a flat top worn by Muslim men in East Africa [24]. The chart’s other African hats include the Nigerian aso oke hat, the South African isicholo and the makarapa, the hand-cut, hand-painted hard hat worn by South African football fans, which became known worldwide at the 2010 FIFA World Cup [1][35].

Traditional hats of Asia

• Ushanka (Russia). A fur hat with earflaps that tie up on top or under the chin against the cold [25].
• Nón lá (Vietnam). The conical sun hat, a style also worn across much of East and Southeast Asia [26].
• Gat (South Korea). A partly transparent hat of bamboo or horsehair worn with hanbok in the Joseon period. Before the late 19th century only noblemen could wear one [27].
• Keffiyeh (Saudi Arabia). A square cotton scarf worn as a headdress across the Middle East and North Africa, protecting against sun, dust and sand, often held by a cord called an agal [28].
• Dhaka topi (Nepal). A cloth hat that is part of Nepalese national dress [29].
• Pakol. A soft, rolled wool cap from northern Pakistan, now also worn in eastern Afghanistan, where the graphic places it [30].
• Elechek (Kyrgyzstan). A white cloth headdress worn by married women with children [31].

Traditional hats of Australia

Australia has eight of the 80 hats, more than any country except the US [1]. The slouch hat, with one side of the brim pinned up, has been standard issue for the Australian army since the late Victorian period and is now a national symbol [32]. The cork hat, with corks hung from the brim to swing away flies, is part of the stereotypical image of the Australian outback and a popular souvenir [33]. The baggy green is the dark myrtle green cap of Australia’s Test cricketers, described by the head of the MCC as the most famous cricket cap in the world [34].

Questions about hats from around the world

What is the most famous hat in the world?

There is no single answer, but the cowboy hat, the beret, the sombrero, the top hat and the fez are among the most recognised, partly because they appear so often in films and as national stereotypes.

Where does the Panama hat come from?

Ecuador. It is woven from toquilla palm straw. In the 19th century the hats were shipped through the Isthmus of Panama and Ecuadorian hat makers moved there to sell them, so they took the name of where they were sold rather than where they were made [20].

What hat is traditional in Russia?

The ushanka, a fur hat with earflaps that can be tied up or fastened under the chin [25].

What is the traditional hat of Mexico?

The sombrero de charro, a wide-brimmed hat with a high crown associated with Mexico’s traditional horsemen [18].

Why do Bolivian women wear bowler hats?

The bowler was introduced to Bolivia in the 1920s by British railway workers and was taken up by Quechua and Aymara women. For years the hats were made in Italy for the Bolivian market; they are now made locally [5].

Sources

1. Venere.com, Around the World in 80 Hats, the infographic (the original post could not be found; Venere.com was a hotel booking site bought by Expedia in 2008 [2]).
2. Wikipedia, Venere.com.
3. Wikipedia, Beret.
4. Wikipedia, Flat cap.
5. Wikipedia, Bowler hat.
6. Wikipedia, Top hat.
7. Wikipedia, Deerstalker.
8. Wikipedia, Fascinator.
9. Wikipedia, Tam o’ shanter (cap).
10. Wikipedia, Tyrolean hat.
11. Wikipedia, Montera.
12. Wikipedia, Bearskin.
13. Wikipedia, Bicorne.
14. Wikipedia, Hennin.
15. Wikipedia, Cowboy hat.
16. Wikipedia, Boss of the Plains.
17. Wikipedia, Tricorne.
18. Wikipedia, Sombrero.
19. Wikipedia, Knit cap.
20. Wikipedia, Panama hat.
21. Wikipedia, Sombrero vueltiao.
22. Wikipedia, Chullo.
23. Wikipedia, Fez (hat).
24. Wikipedia, Kofia (hat).
25. Wikipedia, Ushanka.
26. Wikipedia, Asian conical hat.
27. Wikipedia, Gat (hat).
28. Wikipedia, Keffiyeh.
29. Wikipedia, Dhaka topi.
30. Wikipedia, Pakol.
31. Wikipedia, Kimeshek (elechek).
32. Wikipedia, Slouch hat.
33. Wikipedia, Cork hat.
34. Wikipedia, Baggy green.
35. Wikipedia, Makarapa.
36. Wikipedia, Side cap (garrison cap).
37. Wikipedia, Coonskin cap.

Last reviewed 2 November 2026