Docker beanies and bucket hats 🧢
A docker beanie is a short beanie with a turn-up. The crown stops just above the ear, the turn-up is two or three rounds of knit folded back on themselves, and nothing hangs down the back of your head. No pompom. No spare length. Our selection also gathers bucket hats and caps that finish a denim look.
It started on the docks: it had to stay put in the wind and not slide over your eyes when you looked up. The styling came later. If you are after something waterproof, this is not the collection.
The rib and the turn-up: it holds without gripping 🧶
Everything happens in the rib. A 2x2 rib alternates two knit stitches and two purl stitches. The fabric closes on itself like a spring and returns to shape after every stretch. That spring is what keeps the beanie on your head. Not pressure.
The turn-up doubles the thickness across the 5 to 7 cm that touch your forehead and the nape of your neck. Two layers of rib against each other bite into the hair and stay put. Plenty of classic beanies do the opposite: loose crown, very tight band to compensate. An hour later, the red mark is there.
The check: you should be able to slide one finger between the turn-up and your temple without forcing it. If you cannot, the beanie is too small and it will ride up on its own by the afternoon.
Docker versus a classic beanie 🎯
A long beanie keeps volume above the skull. Under a hood that volume folds, the hood pushes against it, and you are tugging your beanie back down every ten minutes. The docker has no such volume. Nothing to crush.
The second difference is the one nobody admits: a long beanie swallows the head. The docker stops high, clears the ears, leaves the hairline visible. That is why it works with men's dungarees or women's dungarees where a ski hat reads as fancy dress.
In exchange, do not ask it for what it cannot do: a turn-up does not cover your ears. At minus five degrees with a headwind, this is the wrong piece.
Wool that itches, wool that does not 🐑
Itch has nothing to do with the word wool. It comes down to fibre diameter, measured in microns. Above 25 microns the fibre tip is stiff enough to press into the skin: it prickles. Below 19 microns the fibre bends and you feel nothing. Merino sits around 17 to 19, ordinary lambswool closer to 24 to 28.
So read the composition on the product page, it is the only figure that settles the question. And be wary of the acrylic shortcut: it does not itch and it holds its shape, but it does not move moisture, and a head sweats faster than you would think. One test beats every review: rub the turn-up on the inside of your wrist for ten seconds.
Head circumference, the measurement nobody takes 📏
The classic mistake is picking a beanie by eye from the photo. Take a tape measure and run it 1 cm above your ears and eyebrows, exactly where the turn-up will sit. Most adults land between 54 and 60 cm.
The rib absorbs 4 to 6 cm of stretch, so one beanie covers several head sizes. Caught between two, take the smaller: knit that has been stretched out never comes back, knit that feels firm gives after three wears. Thick hair or a bun goes into the measurement, not into hope.
For the rest of the outfit we cut from XS to 8XL and our size guide includes a calculator.
Care: dry flat, never on a hook 🧽
Wash at 30 °C inside out, no tumble dryer. Turning it inside out protects the turn-up, the one part that rubs against everything else in the drum.
Then comes the bit almost everyone gets wrong: drying. A wet beanie hung on a hook stretches under its own weight, and it does not come back. Laid flat on a towel and reshaped by hand while still damp, it keeps its measurements. Shrinkage stays under 2 % as long as the temperature stays down.
Pilling is not a knitting fault: it is short fibre working its way to the surface. Run a fabric shaver over it and the surface is clean again. Never pull the bobbles off by hand, you would open a stitch.
Shipped from Miramas, exchanged within 14 days 🚚
Part of our range leaves our stock in Miramas, in the south of France: that is Express Delivery, shipped in 2 to 3 working days within France. We pack every order ourselves.
If the size is wrong, the exchange is free within 14 days. On a beanie it happens: one centimetre of head circumference and the turn-up sits too low. To finish the look, have a look at our accessories and at corduroy dungarees, which work well with knitwear in winter.
