The hat is the cheapest way into a brand and the one piece of clothing every golfer wears on every round. So it says something that three brands from three very different places are all putting their energy into hats right now. One is an Austin company that got here by accident, one is a London shoe brand trying something new, and one is an LA label that started with hats on purpose and is now building everything else around them.
Communal is the local one, and it has the best origin story of the three. It started in 2019 as Communal Cowboy, a hemp brand with a shop on Austin’s East Side that was nearly ready to open when COVID closed it for good. Hemp companies couldn’t run social media ads, so the team made clothes they could advertise, to “leave breadcrumbs” back to the hemp. In a December 2023 post, Justin Dumbeck wrote that it worked “better than we could have ever imagined,” and the company dropped hemp to focus on clothes. Today it calls itself a headwear company focused on American iconography. The momentum shows in the rebrand to Communal MFG, a nautical drop in September and a review count most hat brands would envy: 4.93 stars from 215 reviews on its site. Every hat is $60 and comes with a limited lifetime warranty.
Duke + Dexter is the outlier. Archie Hewlett started it in London in 2015, selling slippers out of his bedroom on a £9,000 loan, and it became a loafer brand, with every pair handmade at its factory in England. Hats are new territory. The product copy calls the satin DUKE caps “a first for D+D,” and the beanies are “our first beanie.” The momentum comes from everything around them: a collaboration with the Alpine Formula One team, another with Cole Buxton and the new Midnight Chateau collection. The caps borrow from all of it, with racing graphics, satin crowns and an Eat Dirt cap the brand made “for the trash talkers.”
Winslow is the newest and quietest of the three. It is a Los Angeles brand that says plainly that its “hats are the entry point,” with full collections of clothes coming next, and you can see that happening: the store now carries hoodies, sweaters, jackets and pants alongside the caps. The washed caps are made in the USA, stone washed and distressed by hand, so they look a few years old on day one. Its own copy even mentions golf: the Weathered Hat, sold out when we checked, is for “going low on the golf course.”
Communal is for the golfer who likes a hat with a joke or a story on it. Its hats carry Dang, an eagle or a cowboy with a martini. If you play Lions or Roy Kizer and want something from down the road, start here.
Duke + Dexter is for the golfer who dresses up the rest of the outfit. These are $90 caps with satin crowns and motorsport details, made for pairing with a good knit and loafers at the clubhouse afterward.
Winslow is for the golfer who wants a hat that looks like they found it. The colors are washed, the straps are leather and nothing on them is loud, which makes these the easiest of the three to wear every day.
From CommunalHats on the rocks, on the porch and by the water.
Austin, TX · six picks · all $60A hat company that started as the clothing side of a hemp brand. Every hat is cotton twill, in a standard brim with a mesh flap or a short brim, and every one comes with a limited lifetime warranty.
From Duke + DexterThe Eat Dirt cap in a motorcycle garage, and the new beanies.
London · six picks · all $90A loafer brand founded in 2015 that has started making caps, with satin crowns, washed cotton and motorsport graphics. US prices, as shown on the brand’s US store.
From WinslowA California hillside, a studio chair and the corduroy hat.
Los Angeles · six picks · $55–$60Washed, worn-in caps made in the USA, from a brand that started with hats and is now building out a full line of clothes. Five hats were in stock when we checked; the sixth is the sold-out one that mentions golf.
Austin, Texas. It started in 2019 as Communal Cowboy, a hemp brand, began making clothes in 2020 and dropped hemp in December 2023 to focus on headwear. On October 25, 2026 every hat on its site was $60.
Yes. Communal Cowboy rebranded as Communal MFG; the Dang Hat and the rest of the hats carried over.
Yes. The London loafer brand, founded in 2015, now sells caps at $90 and wool beanies at $110 on its US store. It describes several of the caps, and the beanies, as firsts for the brand.
Winslow, a Los Angeles brand, says its washed caps are made in the USA from 100% cotton, stone washed and distressed by hand. Its caps were $60 on October 25, 2026.
Communal for a hat with a story or a joke on it, Duke + Dexter for a dressier satin or motorsport cap, and Winslow for a washed, worn-in cap you can wear every day.
