A couple days ago I talked about hats with UV protection from the Sunday Afternoons company. Today I wanted to highlight the two children’s sun hats that Sunday Afternoons offer. First is the Kids Play Hat:

The other hat is the Fun ‘N Sun Bucket hat:

Both of these hats are for boys and girls. They offer excellent UV protection while at the same time being lightweight. They are available in a wide array of colors and sizes for all ages of children. Sunday Afternoons has put a lot of thought into these sun protective hats and I think you’ll agree that these are probably the best sun hats for children.

Get a sun hat on,

Aaron

It’s Sunday Afternoon so what better topic to talk about then Sunday Afternoons hats. The company was named Sunday Afternoons because that’s when the family spends most of it’s time together out in the sun thus the need to create sun protective hats for Sunday afternoons.

Taken from their own web site:

Sunday Afternoons was established in 1990 as a small, family-run company creating outdoor products to sell at craft fairs, open-air markets, and trade shows. In addition to selling, we often found ourselves taking notes for new styles, colors, and functional designs from folks who lived and worked outside in the sun.

Our philosophy was and still is to create products that really perform. It is with our customer’s input and suggestions that we have developed a line that truly addresses the needs of those people who work and play in the outdoors. We still love to hear from our customers and welcome their comments.

Sunday Afternoons is now a thriving company, designing and manufacturing high quality sun protective hats and clothing for our customers worldwide.

Sunday Afternoons’ growing line includes new, dermatologist approved sun protective hats and clothing, and other active lifestyle gear. We hope our customers follow our lead by enjoying the sunshine wisely, and playing it safe with full coverage hats, protective clothing and sunscreens. We have discovered that those customers that have made a life long habit of sun protection have healthy skin and a wrinkle-free youthfulness that belies their age.

Now let’s see a couple samples. First up is the award winning Adventure Hat which is perfect for both men and women.

Next up is the Charter Hat. Again, another hat for both men and women.

As we move ever closer to those hot and tropical days of summer be sure to plan on spending plenty of Sunday afternoons with your family wearing your new Sunday Afternoons hats.

Get a hat on,

Aaron

Despite the fact that it’s snowing today I thought it would be great to showcase a couple of our most popular Panama Hats.

The first is a wide brimmed Panama hat called the Bailey Helmsley. The Helmsley has a generous 3 1/4″ brim and a narrow leather hat band which is a little different from what you normally see on a genuine Panama hat.

Next up is a classic men’s Panama fedora by Sunday Afternoons. It is available in two colors. Previously it was only available in two sizes but they were able to start making them in an XL size for this year.

Get a Panama hat on,

Aaron

We always know when Spring has started because customers start coming in and calling asking about hats for sun protection. We need to be careful of the sun all year round but we all pay special attention once we starting moving into the warmer weather. About 1,000,000 people in the USA are diagnosed with skin cancer every year so you can imagine what the numbers are like worldwide.

I have to convey this story from last summer. This husband and wife came into the store and they were looking for a sun hat for him because he had been diagnosed with skin cancer on his ears and nose. I worked with them for a while and he finally decided on a sun hat by Tilley Endurables. Once he found his hat he suggested to his wife that she now try on some hats so she could be protected from the sun. Her response stunned me and her husband. She said “I’ll wait until I get skin cancer.” Ladies and Gentlemen, Please do not do that to your loved ones. Protect yourself, your spouse, your children and anybody you care about by wearing a proper sun hat. You don’t get skin cancer after one bad sunburn. You get it from years of unprotected exposure to the sun.

Here’s a press release we wrote a couple years ago for Skin Cancer Awareness month, May, and we send it out every year.

The most popular sun protection hat for both men and women is the Adventure Hat by Sunday Afternoons:

Another very popular hat for sun protection is the LTM5 by Tilley Endurables:

Get a sun protection hat on,

Aaron

It’s still cold here in the White Mountains of New Hampshire but it’s sunny and we’ve had some snow melting happening. So much that I was actually able to sweep the sidewalk this morning without snow getting in the way. It was so nice to be outside in the sun it put me in the mood to unpack some more spring and summer hats we recently received from Dorfman Pacific. Here are a couple examples of what I’ve unpacked:

A women’s wide brimmed raffia hat by Callanan:

and a Scala sun hat that has a paper braid crown and cotton brim:

Both of these hats provide some great sun protection and a lot of style. Tomorrow I’ll post a couple for the men.

Get a hat on,

Aaron

All of us here at Aaron Hats have been working as fast as we can to unpack all of the new hats we received this week. As seen in all the fashion magazines this year wide brim hats for women are all the rage. A couple that really stand out are the Betmar Vanessa Wedding Hat and the Betmar Plenty Sunbrim. The Vanessa is a dressy hat perfect for the summer weddings you’ll be attending while the Plenty Sunbrim is perfect for your new sun dress or sitting at your favorite beach reading a hot and steamy novel this summer. Both are packable and available in a variety of colors.

If these two pictures don’t convince you to wear a wide brimmed hat this summer (or to buy one for your sweetheart) nothing will.

Get a hat on,

Aaron

While getting ready for work this morning I was watching The Today Show and couldn’t believe what I saw…or didn’t see. They were doing a “winter vacation” themed show today and were at the beach doing all the fun beach stuff we all do. During the show they had two segments about beach essentials. One piece was for adults and one for children. During the segment for adults they mention sunglasses, sunscreen, a water bottle and a couple other items. During the childrens segment they talked about sun protective shirts, sunscreen and water guns that double as flotation devices. Now all of these things sound like the perfect setup for a fun day in the sun but what did they forget? HATS! How can The Today Show, or any TV show, do a piece about “fun in the sun” without mentioning the importance of wearing a hat with proper UV protection. Over one million people in the USA are diagnosed with skin cancer every year so to ignore something as vital to skin cancer prevention as a hat does a dis-service to The Today Show viewers. Now you might say that I have a vested interest in getting hats on television because I sell hats you’d be right. But if you see what I see every summer you’d feel the same way. We have customers come in who have had pieces of their noses, ears, faces and scalps removed due to skin cancer. That should be enough to convince anybody to wear a sun hat and use sunscreen.

If you feel the same way I do about this be sure to let The Today Show know by emailing them at today@nbc.com.

Don’t take my word for it, take the time to learn more about skin cancer at these sites:

Skin Cancer Foundation
Mayo Clinic
American Cancer Society

Stepping off my soap box now.

Aaron

Up here in North Conway, NH we had about six inches of snow on Monday and we’re expecting another six inches on Friday. On top of the three feet of snow that was already on the ground this makes for a winter wonderland in the White Mountains. This is great news for all skiers and snowmobilers around New England as I’m sure a lot of them will be heading here for a weekend of white fun. Now, having said all that we have our first shipment of Kangol Spring/Summer hats due to arrive in about 2-3 weeks. This will be the first of many shipments to start arriving. Just yesterday we went to a trade show and ordered ladies hats for the Kentucky Derby, straw sun hats, Toby Keith hats, Indiana Jones hats, childrens bucket hats, Panama hats and hats with certified UV protection for both men and women.

Yesterday while we were at the trade show we were talking with one of the sales reps and she was explaining how every year she thinks about retiring and taking some time off to relax. The reason she hasn’t retired is because whenever she sees the next seasons hats she gets all excited and falls in love with the new hats and just has to share her excitement with her customers. I’m not ready to retire but I do get excited every time I get a new hat catalog or when a salesman shows up at the store with new samples to preview.

Over the next couple weeks I’ll be posting pictures of some of the new hats we’ve ordered and having coming into the store for the Spring and Summer season. I hope you’ll get as excited as I do when you see them.

Get a hat on,

Aaron

Barmah Hats of Australia has been one of those brands that Aaron Hats has stocked since the day we opened our doors. We are now proud to announce that you will be able to see and purchase Barmah’s entire line of hats from our web site GetaHatOn.com. While many Australian hat companies have closed down Barmah has expanded its operations. In fact, Barmah Hats now has its own dedicated leather manufacturing factory in Melbourne, Australia. This provides Barmah several advantages such as:

*consistent high quality leather
*stunning and unique full grain leathers
* consistency of colours - every hat will be the same
* waterproof leathers
* guaranteed supply of material

If you’re looking for the highest quality Kangaroo leather hat look no further than Barmah and Aaron Hats. The highest quality is the Barmah 1019 Sundowner Roo which uses the same Kangaroo leather that is used to make soccer boots in Australia. My new favorite Barmah is the 1018 Squashy Kangaroo with the Crackle finish and Cooper Crossing hatband shown below:

Get a hat on Mate,

Aaron

Lately I’ve been watching Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel. If you haven’t seen it before it features Bear Grylls as the host. He gets dropped off in remote locations around the world and shows you how to survive in the off chance you get lost in that, or a similar spot. The two episodes I’ve seen where he’s in a very hot location one of the first things he tells you to do is cover your head to protect it from the sun. In the episode I saw last night he was in the Australian outback where it can reach 130F with 100% humidity. So when you’re in the middle of nowhere and need a hat to protect you from the sun what do you do? Easy…use your underwear which is what Bear did.

Luckily most of us aren’t stuck in the middle of nowhere and we can actually shop for a proper sun hat. Besides the last time I wore my underwear as a hat was many, many years ago and I had too much to drink.

Take a look at some of these great hats that would make great protection from the sun.

Stayin’ cool,

Aaron