Image by Albert England
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When it comes to collecting outdoor gear that reflects your style, options can be limited. You end up prioritizing things like performance and practicality over personal expression—that is, until a brand comes up with an innovative way to equally preserve form alongside function.
Parapack is a cottage headwear brand out of Pacifica, CA that balances both. Launched on Kickstarter in March 2023, the P-CAP ($40) weighs an ounce, uses flexible EVA-molded foam and fabrics made from recycled water bottles, and deploys a clever cord adjustment system (that reportedly took 30+ different sewn iterations to figure out) to fit most all head sizes. It comes in five colors: Jetblack, Redrock, Mustard, Matcha, and Sky Blue.
Minimalist travelers will appreciate that the cap folds down into the palm of their hand, and it’s small enough to store in nearly any bag or pocket. It achieves that design magic with a bill that bends, origami-style, into six pieces while the cap fabric crumples up behind it. A snap secures the whole thing into a compact cone. (You can see it happen in a video on the Parapack website.) Right out of the box, the fold lines create an angular frame around the face, but after a few uses, the bill relaxes and the folds are barely visible.
“The Parapack journey has been about exploring and experimenting, and I've grown to like the slight angle that highlights the origami personality of P-CAP,” says co-founder Jai-Yu Fu. “It also has been a reminder for me personally to not be such a serious person.”
This mindful yet playful hat brand combines Fu’s architectural design eye and co-founder Ian Hughes’ decade of product design knowledge. “We’re not here to make ornaments or decorative things but functional thoughtful forms that adapt to our ever-changing life adventures,” Fu adds.
Parapack’s other cord-adjustable styles include the P-CAP LITE ($45), which swaps the recycled fabric back panels for monomesh to boost breathability. The V-CAP ($36) is a cloud-weight visor, and the L-CAP ($55) has a neck shade that tucks away when you don’t need it.
Earlier this year, P-CAPs were available for purchase through the MoMA Design Store. Currently, you can order them through the Parapack website.
Published 09-21-2023
