Get ahead, get a hat
Tuesday December 15, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

Unless you have a home-made hat you are seriously out of fashion on the slopes this season. Ski bums, grannies and ski instructors are all knitting away.

They are not new as the home-made, brightly coloured bobble hat and beannie first made an appearance several years ago, but the fashion has expanded hugely in recent years.

One of the first companies to set up was Chopper's Bonnets who started making hand-knitted beanies and hats back in 2006.

There is a real person called Chopper, who remains annonymous, and though PlanetSKI has skied and had a few drinks with her we will not be revealing her identity.

"Chopper" Suffice to say she is a seasonaire out here in the Alps and a great girl!

Chopper's Bonnets uses merino wool, bamboo silks, alpaca, cottons and fine acrylics for colours. They also now sell the hats through various shops.

Others have followed suit and this season a home-made hat seems to the the ultimate fashion statement.

They seem to have caught the imagination of people and there are many workers out in resorts are always looking for exra ways to make some cash.

They are bright and they are fun.

Bella sporting one of her creationsBella Seel works as a ski instructor in Switzerland and she is typical of the number of people that have set up their own small cottage industry.

"A few years ago I was scouring the shops for a ski hat that I liked and couldn't find one so I decided to knit my own. A few friends wanted them so I made some hats for them but soon my generosity ran out and I decided to do it on a more professional basis and set up www.i-love-hats.com," Bella tells us.

"I set up a simple web site in 2008 which proved succesful. It expanded through word-of-mouth and things have taken off from there."

The company now makes snoods, scarves and mittens too though the beanies are still the most popular.

They cost £29 and all the hats are hand made using pure merino wool.

She though is not the only one and in every ski resort there now seems to be people knitting away for fun and to earn some extra cash.

At The Metro Ski and Snowboard show in the UK last Autumn some people had stands while others roamed around handing out leaflets and displaying their brightly coloured hats.

Roaming the Ski Show

However the shops and retailers have caught on to the latest fashion and are producing their own cheaper hats of a similar design.

Factory-made is not the same for someBut for the fashion conscious they are not the same as ones hand knitted by ski bums out in the mountains.

Another company that has set up is Hats for the Hill where you can design and order you own hat on line too.

And if you want to go down a more traditional road then one comany uses grannies to hand knit their hats; Granniesinc

No everyone who works for them is a real-life granny but many are.

They use 100% wool yarn and each is designed by you.

"It will be hand-knitted by one of our grannies, because who knows more about knitting than grannies? No-one, that’s who! You see, we believe in our grannies," says a statement on the company's web site.

"They're all lovely people who have been knitting for years and years and are running out of people to knit for. We can vouch for the quality of their work and the warmth of their hearts. We reckon you'll be so happy with your new beanie you'll want to send them a thank you card."

Now we're not sure at PlanetSKI why grannies make better knitters than anyone else but it is certainly a good PR/marketing tool.

So, if you want to be in fashion this season then you'll need a brighty coloured, hand knitted hat.

The grannies