Way back when we came up with the idea of launching the Urbantrout range of eco-branded clothing (complete with 10% of profits going to help fund urban river mending projects) we knew we wanted to push some of the boundaries of normal fly-fishing clothing in the UK and Europe.
After all… what springs to mind when you ask most people what they think fishing kit looks like? Research tells us it’s either tweedy-and-salmony (like JR Hartley) or super-technical cuts and fabrics (like Orvis, Simms or Patagonia). It’s all great stuff, and we use some of it ourselves. Still, some or all of it can get you noticed, and not in a good way, on the banks of your local urban river…
So we set to work, and we came up with a range of street-style t-shirts, hoodies and rasta beanie hats (think northwest USA steelhead junkie channelling skater or snowboarder chic) to help stealthy fly-fishers fade unnoticeably into the urban jungle of our favourite Dirty Places.
Then we started thinking really hard about fishing caps… and that’s how our authentic trucker-style Kryptek Highlander camo caps arrived.
For this season, we’ve restyled our headline caps with a new, exclusive 3-D soft rubber logo badge on the front peak, and an Urbantrout fabric tag on the cool, breathable mesh at the back.
Just like last year’s less-decorated edition, the underside of the brim is lined with black fabric to cut glare when you’re spotting fish, and size adjustment is easy with a plastic snapback, to make sure your new fishing cap doesn’t blow off when the wind comes whistling down those concrete canyons.
And maybe best of all, every cap is unique because of the positioning of the bi-level layering, transitional shading and sharp geometry of the amazing Kryptek fabric, which is designed to provide supernatural levels of concealment at long and short ranges.
The resulting effect is just the kind of nervous, random ripple you see on sun-dappled river currents, coloured with every shade of green, brown and grey you’ll find on the banks of urban streams and rural rivers alike. (Could this be why the Kryptek Highlander pattern has apparently spent several years being tested as one of three contenders for the US Army’s Future Soldier programme?)
Admittedly, these are not your grandad’s fishing caps. It’s even possible that some old-school tweed-and-caners may be quite bemused by the whole idea.
But it all adds up to the fact that we’re bringing you the fishing world’s most righteous, stylish, technically advanced and outrageously funky headgear.
They’re available here in the Urbantrout shop, priced at just £24, with all payments protected by Paypal, and 10% of profits going directly to help fund urban river mending projects, maybe even on your own local river.
Click here to buy your new Urbantrout Kryptek fishing cap today!
