ABOUT US
Getaway Hats started in Philadelphia in September 2021 because I kept ruining hats.
I’d pack one for a trip. It would come out of the bag looking like something I’d sat on, because I had sat on it. I’d wear the sad creased thing for a week, buy a replacement at the destination, and ruin that one on the way home. At some point you either accept this about yourself or you do something unreasonable about it. I went with unreasonable.
So we built a hat that doesn’t care what you do to it. Stuff it in a backpack. Sit on it. Wad it up wet. It comes back. The fabric doesn’t hold odor, doesn’t show sweat stains, and goes in the washing machine like a normal piece of clothing, which for some reason no other hat company thought you’d want.
We’re a small team. Every order is hand picked in Philadelphia and ships with a note from me, which started as a thing I did because the order volume was small and continued as a thing I do because people kept mentioning it in reviews. The volume is bigger now. My handwriting has not improved.
The hats are for travelers, mostly, but “travel” is doing loose work in that sentence. Some customers wear them backpacking the Dolomites. Some wear them to the gym. One guy buys them so he has a hat left after his girlfriend takes his. We make the hat. Where it goes is your department.
Thanks for being part of it.
— Scott @ Getaway Hats, Founder
AMAZON LAUNCH
We launched the original Pack Light Hat on Amazon with no audience, no ads budget, and a product photo I took myself. People bought it anyway. This surprised exactly one person, and he’s writing this timeline.
We launched the original Pack Light Hat on Amazon with no audience, no ads budget, and a product photo I took myself. People bought it anyway. This surprised exactly one person, and he’s writing this timeline.
KICKSTARTER 2023: SEMI-STRUCTURED COLLECTION
In January 2023 we asked the internet to fund three hats that pack flat and bounce back. We set a modest goal. The internet raised $40,374, which is 807% of the goal, from 678 backers in over 30 countries. Kickstarter gave it the “Project We Love” badge. We gave the backers their hats, on time, which in crowdfunding counts as a plot twist.
In January 2023 we asked the internet to fund three hats that pack flat and bounce back. We set a modest goal. The internet raised $40,374, which is 807% of the goal, from 678 backers in over 30 countries. Kickstarter gave it the “Project We Love” badge. We gave the backers their hats, on time, which in crowdfunding counts as a plot twist.
AS SEEN ON PACK HACKER
Pack Hacker reviews travel gear for a living and is famously hard to impress. They named Getaway a top travel product for packability, comfort, and design. We have been quietly insufferable about it since. They have gone on to do this a few times.
Pack Hacker reviews travel gear for a living and is famously hard to impress. They named Getaway a top travel product for packability, comfort, and design. We have been quietly insufferable about it since. They have gone on to do this a few times.
KICKSTARTER 2024: BALI ULTRASUEDE BUCKET HAT
We came back to Kickstarter with a bucket hat in Toray Ultrasuede, a fabric that feels like it costs more than the hat does, because it nearly does. Backers funded it past $13K. The Bali is still the hat people stop me about.
We came back to Kickstarter with a bucket hat in Toray Ultrasuede, a fabric that feels like it costs more than the hat does, because it nearly does. Backers funded it past $13K. The Bali is still the hat people stop me about.
TRAVEL GOODS SHOW 2024 & 2025
The Semi-Structured Collection was featured in the Crowdfunded Product Showcase at the Travel Goods Show in Las Vegas, the biggest event in the travel industry. We stood at a booth in a convention center for three days explaining that yes, you really can sit on it. Several people sat on it.
The Semi-Structured Collection was featured in the Crowdfunded Product Showcase at the Travel Goods Show in Las Vegas, the biggest event in the travel industry. We stood at a booth in a convention center for three days explaining that yes, you really can sit on it. Several people sat on it.
PACK LIGHT HAT PRO 2026
Ultrasuede prices jumped, and we faced a choice: raise prices or get smarter. We got smarter. The PRO keeps everything people loved about the Pack Light Hat and adds a reinforced brim that cannot hard fold no matter what your luggage does to it. We’d rather change the material than the customer.
Ultrasuede prices jumped, and we faced a choice: raise prices or get smarter. We got smarter. The PRO keeps everything people loved about the Pack Light Hat and adds a reinforced brim that cannot hard fold no matter what your luggage does to it. We’d rather change the material than the customer.
WHAT'S NEXT?
This summer the hats go to the Balkans. Dubrovnik, Mostar, Split, the Montenegro coast. Partly a road trip, partly a field test, entirely an excuse. If a hat can survive a Croatian rental car, it can survive anything you own.
Back home, the roadmap is short and honest:
More colors. A customer named Phil left a review demanding more colors with six exclamation points. Phil, we heard you. They’re coming.
More PRO. The reinforced brim is the best thing we’ve built. It’s going into more shapes.
Beyond hats, carefully. We get asked about travel apparel a lot. We’re exploring limited drops, but we’re not in a hurry. The fastest way to ruin a hat company is to stop being a hat company.
That’s the plan.
Make the hat better.
Go somewhere and wear it.
Repeat until further notice.
This summer the hats go to the Balkans. Dubrovnik, Mostar, Split, the Montenegro coast. Partly a road trip, partly a field test, entirely an excuse. If a hat can survive a Croatian rental car, it can survive anything you own.
Back home, the roadmap is short and honest:
More colors. A customer named Phil left a review demanding more colors with six exclamation points. Phil, we heard you. They’re coming.
More PRO. The reinforced brim is the best thing we’ve built. It’s going into more shapes.
Beyond hats, carefully. We get asked about travel apparel a lot. We’re exploring limited drops, but we’re not in a hurry. The fastest way to ruin a hat company is to stop being a hat company.
That’s the plan.
Make the hat better.
Go somewhere and wear it.
Repeat until further notice.