I've become completely obsessed with hats recently.
While I've always appreciated the sartorial power of a good hat, I've never been as hell-bent on acquiring new styles as I have lately. And I blame it all on the Australian brand Lack of Color. (Full transparency, I bought all my LoC hats and am writing this to be helpful — not because I've been paid!)
I stumbled upon the brand in the same way we all seem to discover things these days: on Instagram. And, after spotting the Rancher style on a few chic influencers, and then seeing they had them in stock before the holidays, I promptly told my sisters one of their hats was the only thing I wanted for a gift.
And, because I have the BEST sisters in the world, they bought me the Zulu Rancher style (last seen styled by moi here!) .
Relatively aware of my general hat size because of my experience with cowboy hats for my horse showing, I knew I was in between a 7 3/8 (approx. 58.7 cm) and a 7 1/2 (59.7 cm). And, I'm well aware that, with most fast-fashion hats, they're almost universally too small for my head. So, armed with this info, I asked for a size L or 59cm from LoC.
When I opened my Zulu Rancher on Christmas Day, I thought it looked a tad small. But I loved the style and still do. Truth be told, it has actually stretched out a tiny bit to be a perfect fit to be worn normally (ie: not on the crown).
But, when I decided to order the Coco Rancher, I went a size up, to an XL (61 cm) and bought the sizing tape to fill it in for a better fit. Now, here's where it gets a bit sticky. The XL was much bigger, which I expected. But what I didn't expect was how much it would impact the overall size of the hat, including the crown. When I first put the XL on, I felt it looked downright comical.
I explored the idea of returning the hat in exchange for another size (fun fact: the customer service was great, allowing me to easily return the hat, at my own cost, and they'd credit the whole amount for a store credit). But, when I discovered the cost of returning the box to Australia was almost more than the hat itself, I gave it another shot. With the sizing tape placed in, and worn in the "Halo" position, I fell back in love with my Coco Rancher.
So, overall, pay attention to the sizing notes on the company's website to see if they run large or not. From here on out, I'll only order the L (59 cm) so things don't look sloppy. Because, while I love this brown hat now, if I could, I'd still like it to be a bit smaller overall.
Have you tried Lack of Color hats?
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