Where to shop for good hats
Plus, Palace x Barbour, Stone Island x Supreme, underappreciated footwear simplicity, and more!
Yesterday I woke up to a bunch of new drop announcements and all of them are hitting! It’s been a while since Monday delivered so many new and exciting collections all in one day, but here we are, and I’m ready to talk about what’s coming and what you should mark on your calendars this week — we have a new collaboration between Palace and Barbour, Stone Island and Supreme are back with another collection, some potentially underappreciated simplicity from New Balance, and a collaboration with The North Face and Undercover that nobody is really talking about?
On top of that, there has been an influx of DMs from the SNLetter readers asking about winter-ready headwear recommendations — A full report is on the way, but until then, I have a few suggestions to get your research started.
PALACE x BARBOUR
It’s never been a more perfect time to buy yourself a fresh new jacket, and lucky for us Palace and Barbour have delivered a few exciting options to choose from. This is actually the first time they’ve collaborated, which is exciting considering Barbour has a bunch of streetwear-related collabs under their belt already — giving Palace a chance to do their own spin only feels right.
The collection consists of jackets, a vest, some headwear and the hottest piece in my opinion, a cute jacket for your dog — now that’s an item!! Anyway, personal favorite of mine in terms of the stuff us humans can wear has to be the quilted jacket. If it was up to me though, I would have combined the black and the camo colorways into one reversible jacket. Not the end of the world though, but would have been tough!
Overall, really into this particular drop, and it might be my favorite out of this entire week! Maybe not though… opinions always change but as of right now they definitely have my attention.
You can check out the full collection below, and get your wallets ready as this drops this Friday, October 27th on the Palace website.
SUPREME x STONE ISLAND
These two are no strangers to working together, and usually when you hear that a Stone Island collab is coming, you know you’re about to get some fire. To keep it real with you though, I’m not really sure how I feel about this one just yet — ok ok, there’s definitely some fire to enjoy, but some of the other stuff is just not really doing it for me, and that’s ok. Before we really dive into it though, let’s just take a look at what we’re working with from this drop:
There’s a bunch of 3M items that sort of seem nice in photos, but also it’s something that usually grabs my attention — I personally steer clear from 3M clothing, so some of the garments will have to be a skip for me automatically. Some past references from 2005 also shine through this collection though which is cool to see, but I’m not sure if really feeling this reference. The puffer is reversible though which looks way nicer on the other side — wash tags on the outside is kind of funny though.
You can check out the full lookbook + product photography here. — there’s a bunch of more items I didn’t get a chance to feature in the image above, so definitely check that out.
Best item by far has to be the leather bomber jacket which features a removable hood. Really enjoy the mashup between classic and more of a tech style approach that come together to make a really great piece. With that being said though, I heard this thing will be over $2,000 though which is crazy but also not that surprising because it is Stone Island. Some of the other stuff is decent too, but the items aren’t really grabbing my attention the same way that leather is. Beanies have reflective properties under light which is cool because I find that type of detail works well with headwear. It’s a subtle detail I can enjoy.
Overall, I think I need to sleep on this collection and come back to it a few times because opinions do change, and I might end up liking more items as time passes.
This collection will be dropping via Supreme on Thursday, October 26th!
COMME DES GARCONS x NEW BALANCE 1906R
This next one was announced a while back, and originally I kind of shrugged it off because this collab is as basic as it can get — simply put it felt lazy at first, but something changed over the course of a few months that made me appreciate the shoe for what it is. Elevated simplicity. Now, it’s kind of hard to explain my thought process via text because it might seem as though making simple stuff is easy, but in reality that’s not true. You might think that making a simple black shoe would take no time, but there’s a lot of factors involved in order to insure the correct execution.
A good simple black shoe, to me at least, is one of the best things you can own in your collection. Sure, you can get many other shoes that look the same and will cost a fraction of the price, but the difference here is the way they will end up ageing with time. The premium materials add a certain level of chic that you just can’t get from your regular pair of whatever else you might think of. Anyway, I think that for the price these might be a bit outrageous — usually CDG collabs are well above normal retail, but if you got the money, and are the type of person that wears one shoe for years, then yeah this going to be a really good option.
Dropping via Dover Street Market this Friday, October 27th!
THE NORTH FACE x UNDERCOVER
It doesn’t feel like a lot of people are talking about this one, but there are interesting developments that are worth looking at. If you follow me on twitter then you might have seen me a while back talking about the next wave in headwear — now I might have called this way to early at the time, but I’m seeing ear flaps on headwear pretty much everywhere right now. Featuring a bunch of jackets, pants, some proper fleece lined hats and some other stuff, this collection should definitely be on your radar.
Consider this next point a SNL-Exclusive. This particular collection, called SOUKUU, is the second time now I’ve seen fishtail parkas making their way back to our feeds recently. The last one was with Palace x Nanamica, which was only like a few weeks ago… Is there something there? I’m not sure, but it’s something worth keeping tabs on for the sake of discussion.
The TNF x Undercover pieces will be available today, October 24th via Dover Street Market and Haven Shop.
WHAT TO WEAR ON YOUR HEAD
The calls have been sent, and I am reading you loud and clear. The people have been requesting headwear recommendations and I’ve been hard at work to try to deliver that report in the next few weeks. Until then though, I wanted to get our palettes wet with a few different suggestions — the truth is, I’m very picky when it comes to what hats I wear because of my head shape and not every hat actually looks good on me. Because of this, I end up accumulating so many hats and beanies in hopes of finding something that really works for me. I’m sure I’m not the only one though.
I find that spending a little bit more on a hat will enhance your overall experience. It’s something you’re going to be wearing everyday, so you might as well make sure the quality is top. If you’re on a budget however, I would definitely recommend checking out COS. A lot of the knits are made using merino wool, which isn’t itchy, at least for me. I was actually rocking a COS knit beanie pretty much all winter last year and I really enjoyed the warmth, and the shape of the hat — I picked the one shown above at the COS store in NY and the way it fit my head was great so I ended up picking it up. Now, I don’t know whether you can find this particular one again, but COS has some options you can choose from right now.
I also have a bunch of Stussy beanies that have held their own, and are definitely a good choice if you’re looking to spend under $50 for a hat. Right now their options aren’t that hot, but I would definitely keep me eyes out because new styles are coming very soon.
Palace is definitely a must stop if you’re looking for variety. I mean, they have all types of shapes, styles, colors, you name it, they have it. The quality is good, the price isn’t insane, overall I think that you can’t go wrong with a beanie from them. Here are some of my favorite ones that are currently available at their store.
If you want something a little bit more exciting though, then maybe a hat with some ear flaps on it is the move for you. Having the ability to rock them in different ways, either flaps up or down, one up and one down, or however you want, the choice is yours. This type of accessory is really fun to utilize within your outfit to express your sense of style, and I think that’s why they are a lot of fun right now. The Outsiders Store is the place to go for this type of hat right now so I recommend checking their full catalog out. Here are just some of my favorites from brands like Montbell, Patagonia, and Mountain Equipment just to name a few.
You can check the out at The Outsiders Store here.
Hopefully this itches that scratch a little bit, because I’ll be back very soon with a proper Headwear Report!
Nice, can't wait for the full report!
Kangol hats are also fire if you’re willing to explore