Tilley TTW2 Tec-Wool Hat Review

Warm, comfortable and stylish. The Tilley TTW2 Tec-Wool Hat is great winter hat.

I’m based in the UK so a winter hat is important! This is my third Tilley hat and the first I have used specifically for winter. I featured another sustainably made Tilley in my Ultimate Pack List for Solo Travellers article earlier in the year. I’m not a ‘beanie’ type of person as I find they make my head itch and baseball type hats are just not warm enough. The Tilley TTW2 Tec-Wool Hat has been a great hat. The medium brim is enough to keep the rain and snow off, the Tec Wool is good for drying the hat out when it does wet through (which can be often in the UK!) and the fit is just right. It doesn’t have a chin strap which other Tilley hats do but I think that would detract from the style. 

Tilley have teamed with Swiss tech fabric specialists Shoeller to produce a technical hat fabric that is perfect for winter wear. It has a has a wool texture, as it’s made mostly from wool but with some synthetic materials woven in. I’ve used a similar fabric with a Rohan Pea Coat I have – it doesn’t smell so much when it’s wet and it dries really quickly. In fact the hat will dry with just the heat from you head. The fabric comes in three style colour options – a brown or olive tweed effect or black which actually looks more like a deep charcoal grey.

The microfibre interior includes the Schoeller C-Change membrane. The windproof nature of the C-Change enhances the warmth and the drop down earflaps will be useful when the temperature take a dip (I haven’t needed these yet so can’t really comment on how effective they are). My wife loves the hat and remarked that I looked rather dapper in it (hey, I’ll take a compliment wherever I can find one these days!) and I’ve been wearing it with a Rohan Pea coat, jeans and some autumn (fall) boots and a scarf. A really nice combination and a great hat which looks a lot more stylish than a tweed flat cap! Due to the fold up nature of the ear flaps you may need to look closely at the size and it is not removable (which would be better for when the weather warm up).

The style is from the Tilley medium brim range so great for keeping rain off and even snow and not so big that it will stay on in breezy conditions and it has foam insert in both the brim and the top of the hat so it keeps it’s shape even after being stowed in a pack or travel bag. The Tilley TTW2 Tec-Wool hat comes with the great Tilley lifetime guarantee – even with normal wear and tear and the secret compartment (maybe I’d stash some cash in it but then if the hat blows away so does the cash!). It’s made in Canada and comes in a full range of head sizes. Seriously it’s a great hat which I’ve really enjoyed and will continue to enjoy wearing for many years to come.

The Tilley TTW2 Tec-Wool hat comes in three colour options and head sizes 7 – 7 7/8 (see the Tilley website for how to size your head).

The SRP is £80 and it is available direct from Tilley UK and specialist retailers.

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