Why we made this cap
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The short version: we ruined enough caps to get annoyed about it.
What kept going wrong
We are outside most days, on the coast, in the wind. Caps take a beating in that, and ours kept failing in the same few ways.
They lost their shape. Soft-crowned caps folded within a week of being shoved in a bag.
They did not stay on. Anything with a tall crown lifts in a gust. On an exposed coast there is always a gust.
They faded fast. Northland sun is not gentle. Black went grey by the end of a summer.
They did not fit. Sean measures 60 cm. That is not an unusual head, and it was still at the edge of what most "one size" caps could manage. Anyone above that had no options at all.
What we did about it
We made the cap we kept wanting.
A 5-panel snapback with a structured crown that holds its shape instead of collapsing in a bag. Low enough to stay put when the wind comes up. Laser-cut perforations through the side and back panels so it is not a sweatbox. A rope across the brim, and a brim with a real pre-curve rather than a flat board.
And three sizes — Kids, Regular and 2XL — with the 2XL fitting up to roughly 66 cm.
The 2XL was not a marketing decision
It came from the same problem we had ourselves, and it is now the thing people email us about most, usually some version of "I had given up on finding one that fits."
Most adjustable caps are built around a 55–60 cm head. Above that the strap runs out before the cap does, and the crown is too shallow to sit properly even if it closed. A cap that genuinely fits a larger head has to be deeper, not just longer in the strap. That is what the 2XL is.
Where it is made and who it is for
The Swell Seeker is designed here in the Far North of New Zealand and shipped NZ-wide, and to Australia. It comes in black, white and blue, in Kids, Regular and 2XL.
It is for people who are outside. Not as a lifestyle idea — actually outside, in real weather, needing the thing on their head to keep doing its job.