The North Face Class V Top Knot Bucket Hat Fits Over Any Updo - Buy Side from WSJ

When you want to wear your hair up, this clever topper is tops

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Contributor, Buy Side from WSJ

Rory Evans is a contributor to Buy Side from WSJ.

Updated May 28, 2024, 11:44 PM EDT

$35 $25

I come from a family of armchair innovators. My great-grandfather had actual patents to his name, and my grandfather, Buck, was always dreaming up some big invention in his day or adapting various belongings to better suit his needs (specifically, his aches and pains). A few years ago, when open-toe booties were (improbably) all the rage, I was reminded of the Puma Clydes that Buck had carefully excised the toe cap from to more comfortably accommodate his bunions.

Following in Buck’s open-toed footsteps, I have often picked up scissors, needle, and thread to maximize my wardrobe staples by, say, sewing phone-sized pockets onto garments. When I started wearing my hair in a bun virtually every day, I discovered that wearing a sun hat became…a real pain in the buns.

$25 at The North Face

$35 save $10

$35 at Dick's Sporting Goods

Suddenly, the bucket hat styles that I’d loved for years either didn’t stay on my bun-topped head or looked rather ridiculous—like a lumpy Cat in the Hat. Channeling the ghost of Buck, I cut X-slits into the tops of my hats, which I could squeeze my bun through. Was the overall effect that of Gilligan in a Chia Pet tam-‘o-shanter? Aye, it was. Was I satisfied with it? Nae, I was not.

Visors were no help. While they allow for all kinds of updos and top knots, they do not offer the same full face-and-nape coverage of my beloved bucket hats.

Then, while shopping at the North Face to get my daughter ready for a summer hiking program, I saw it—as if an idea had sprung from my head and landed on their rack…and without any hindrance from the crown of a hat: The topless Class V Top Knot Bucket.

The North Face hat is made for outdoor adventures, fabricated from a durable, quick-dry recycled nylon with a perfectly-angled bucket brim with some oomph to it. With my past bucket hats, the brim has gone irrevocably crumpled and kinked after the slightest exposure to water, but this brim I’ve soaked repeatedly (in pools and ponds) without any lasting damage. The hat comes in four colors (mine is black) and just two sizes (S/M and L/XL), but a thin elastic cord cinches in the back to customize the fit and keep it tight (though as with lots of brimmed hats, I did need to grab hold of it in sudden wind gusts).

The only real criticism I have is with its aroma: It came imbued with the pleasant (but pervasive) moody-woodsy-floral scent of the store, and it took months to wear away. Also? The North Face name and logo comes embroidered boldly and noticeably smack-dab on the forehead, which was a little too much for me. But it was nothing a little DIY hacking and armchair innovation—in the form of a black Sharpie marker—couldn’t fix.

I admit, it took some getting used to wearing out in public with a straight face (even by the standards of hats!). I overcame my initial self-consciousness by wearing it in desolate nature locales (hikes and beach walks). Once I started wearing it all the time, in my Brooklyn neighborhood, I realized it was more an object of envy than ridicule. “Where did you get that?” and “Oh, I need one of those” I heard again and again. I heard again and again. So now you too, my bun-head brethren, know the answer.

Rory Evans is a contributor to Buy Side from WSJ.

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The North Face Class V Top Knot Bucket Hat Fits Over Any Updo - Buy Side from WSJ