O'NEILL Men's Sonoma Print Straw Hat

I work as a crossing guard during very hot, peak sun hours of the day. I have the misfortune of being pale skinned and I also walk to and from work, so I needed more than just the shade around the eyes for an hour. This hat works perfectly. The inside is lined with black fabric, so the glare from the reflective material used in the crosswalk is hindered quite a bit. The fabric also keeps the sun from coming through, unlike other straw and fabric hats. In addition, this hat is very stiff, keeping my field of vision open so that I can see all around me. The cord does a fine job in high wind conditions, and the bead in the cord is spring loaded, so it does not slide down after wearing for a while, but stays put. The upper crown of the hat is not lined, but their is a band just the inside of the crown for sweat absorption. Not having fabric in the top of the hat is helpful for keeping the head cool. I was initially hesitant to purchase this hat, as my head is large for a woman, and I was afraid the brim would only cover a small portion of my face like other hats have. This is not the case. The brim is 5.5 inches wide, and covers my face, neck, and some of my shoulder when directly under the sun. The depth of the crown is about 6 inches deep, 6 1/2 inches wide at the base, and 8 inches long (since the crown is not rounded, but oblong). I am not sure of my hat size, but the circumference of my head is about 22 inches, and the fit is not quite snug. I do, however, wear my waist length hair in a bun on the top of my head when I work, and the bottom of the crown comes to rest just above my brow. This makes the hat snug for me. Overall, the hat seems pretty durable: the straw is very stiff, and high wind, heat, and moisture have not caused it to bend at all. I believe the fabric lining also keeps it sturdy. I should caution, this is not a hat for fashion, but a reliable utility hat. If it breaks down, I would purchase the same one again, but I don't see that happening in the near future. A very good product overall.

Edit: Looks like they changed the design, the old emblem on the front was large and round, the new picture is smaler. This review may no longer be valid if they changed more than just the emblem. My hat is closest to the "Natural" version they sell in 2018 based on the picturesThis sea straw holds up better than the thin stuff they use on the new style of straw hats, much stronger stuff. A month of rough use and no damage at all so far.The underside has a glued black cotton (I think) layer to help keep tiny sun spots from shining through the straw, making this hat less distracting than my last straw hat. The inside has a thin elastic band to make it fit more comfortably, no more straw poking my forehead.The chin cord looks frayed, like it was "brushed" to look old like they do with "fashionable" jeans these days. It's softer than most cords because of this (less itchy on chin), but I'm concerned it might have reduced the cord's lifespan.The brim is so wide that it reduces head range of motion if you're wearing something bulky on/around your back/shoulders (backpack, lifevest, seat/chair, costume) but is very light and comfortable otherwise. Good for yard work and beach, not good for kayak fishing.The emblem on the front is ugly and prevents air from moving through the front of the hat, but you can cut the stitching on the back, and the glue they used is so soft you can gently pull it off from there without hurting the straw, no heatgun required.One Year Edit: I still use this hat one year later, I've found it expands too much when it gets soaked so don't use it in the rain it will expand enough that it no longer rests on your head but on your ears, and is heavy when soaked with water. Leaving it to dry it shrank back to the original size though.The steel eyelets for the chinstrap are not stainless or coated, they rusted in the presence of salt water (ocean use). If you take this hat to the beach I suggest you rinse the eyelets to keep them from rusting too much. The chinstrap stopper has a steel spring that has rusted too, but it still works so far.Otherwise, this hat has held up well enough for a straw hat, imo. The only damage is on the very top, and I blame myself for smacking it on things, because I'm used to being short enough to go under, and the hat increases my height several inches.

This is a decent hat and I'm torn about the review. Some aspects are great, others are very lacking. Let's start with my head size, I wear a 7 3/8 - 7 1/2 fitted caps (bigger noggin, but not enormous). In regards to the hat, the black fabric under the rim really helps reduce glare (I used the hat at beaches and many pool decks and can attest to this) but, it only comes in one size and that one size is a bit too small for my head. I realize my large dome is my problem and this hats fits most people well or even a bit too big. But, the rim of the hat sits funny, got oddly molded in the box it was shipped it (which was too small for the hat) and it's never really recovered to normal. The bill has always had this weird ridge in it right where it meets the top part of the hat, and it sits unevenly. I've been battling with the bill of this hat since day one to try and get it to sit normal in a nice disc shape. But, the strap is nice, the padding on the inside of the hat that goes around your dome to prevent scratchy straw on your skin is also a nice touch. If you have a big dome or like your straw hats to sit nicely and not warp and get bent out of shape, you may want to try buying a handmade hat from someone at a local farmers market....at least that's what I had to do.UPDATE: After about 2 years this hat started to break down considerably, should be noted that it did get worn about 1-4x a month and bumped around occasionally in the house with the hats, but nothing abnormal. It's a straw hat so some of the breakdown was expected and none of the holes prevented it from being used properly (unless you have a bald head in which case it could cause a weird sunburn...luckily my hair is long). But, the woven hat material became very fragile after a year or so and started easily breaking off from touching almost anything after about 2 years.Good luck!

Love it feels good looks good not sure how durable it is but for the money to will serve its purpose

Nice hat! Exactly what I thought it would be, seems to be good quality. The only issue was it came a little bit bent on one side because of the box it came in.

I wanted to love this hat. It's really great looking, but the quality is terrible. Within one day the straw on the top of the hat started cracking away. The hat didn't even last a week vacation without big holes in the top of the hat and the brim folding in on itself.

Nice fit & overall size was as expected

Quick delivery, great job