tnf apex baseball cap

Nicely beaded droplets

Being follicly challenged I’ve accrued a sizable number of head gear options over the years. The baseball cap is the mainstay for summer (with a SPF 30+ material) and the Lowe Alpine Mountain Cap for the coldest times of the year, with a number of options for in between these situations.

The autumn/winter of 2013/14 was reasonably warm but very wet so a good opportunity to try out a soft shell cap. TNF Apex material has been around for a while and is reasonably weather resistant. Of all the soft shell materials I’ve tried I’ve found that they fall short, never being wind or rain resistant enough. Incidentally, TNF now make a complete wardrobe from the fabric so you can kit yourself out in trousers, jacket, gloves and hat – if that sort of thing rocks your boat.

The cap is black, comes one size, and it weighs 60g.

Despite my reservations of all things soft shell I’ve got a lot of use out of the cap during those months. Although not totally windproof I haven’t found that an issue with the mild weather we had – with my head staying comfortable. In the rain it beaded well initially but again regular use dictates regular cleaning and re-proofing to maintain this. Larger drops/driven rain penetrated the material and it wetted out as I would have expected over time. Once wet the material was slow to dry.

Given the range of head gear I’ve collected there clearly isn’t an ideal piece of kit, and the TNF Apex baseball cap has become another option in the range I have at my disposal.