29th July 2016

The perfect ribbed hat

It was time for us to make new hats for this autumn.   We’ve been making a lot of brightly coloured hats and hats with faces and shapes in recent seasons.  I wanted to take this down a notch and make something much more organic and down-to-earth.   The Pebble tagline is ‘it’s simple…’ and this was the essence of what I wanted to bring to a new ribbed hat.   A simple, staple that was perfect in every way.

Image:  the new range of ribbed hats

My children are well and truly growing up now but I remember when they were very young specifically knitting ribbed hats for them because they fitted so well.   Particularly the 2×2 rib or knit 2, purl 2 rib as its also known.   This type of rib has a lot of stretch, much more than just a single rib and as such it moulds perfectly to any shape and size of head.   And because it fits so well, it stays on a little ones head so much better.

Of course, there is always the toddler who will lift his hand out of the buggy and defiantly pull his hat off his head!   But failing that, these new 2×2 ribbed hats will stay where they are intended to.

At Pebble we have a whole range of 100% organic cotton colours and the palette for these was very much inspired by Farrow and Ball.   Farrow and Ball are my favourite paint makers ever and if you don’t know their paints then do drop over to their site just to see the glorious colours.    The colours are soft and subdued but also deep and rich.   They feel like they belong to the earth and that is just what I wanted with the Pebble Organic cotton colours.    The great thing about this is that they go with anything and everything – either contrasting or complementing or matching – the colours work every which way.

Image:  taking inspiration from the wonderful colours of Farrow and Ball

Organic Cotton

The Organic cotton that we use is OCS (Organic Content Standard), certified by Ecocert.   As a mummy myself, I know how important it is to want to ensure that everything that comes into contact with your baby is pure and free from chemicals.   Organic cotton is the best way to ensure this.   The cotton we use is then dyed with Oeko-Tex Standard 100 dyes, which again is the industry leader in this field and goes far beyond country and statutory requirements.   Its a completely transparent system which even ensures the effluent treatment processes of returning clean water to the environment.

Image:  organic cotton for these hats

So these, quite simple, looking hats have so much more of a story behind them.   They guaranteed fair trade in their making and bringing much needed employment and opportunity to women in very remote and rural areas of Bangladesh.  The cotton is 100% Organic and as with all Pebble products, the dyes are Oeko-Tex Standard 100.

I started earlier this year with a desire to bring you a simple hat but as you can see, the new ribbed hats are much more than that.   They fit well through design, are guaranteed fair trade made, 100% certified organic cotton with certified safe dyes that preserve the environment.    They tick all the boxes and more because at their heart they are a really useful staple that will stand the test of time.    I hope you enjoy these new hats as much as we enjoyed making them.