Warsaw style: kaszkiet

A while ago I wrote about winter temperatures and the absolute necessity of wearing a hat. I also explained that from autumn, when temperatures start to dip, a lot of men in Warsaw wear a so called kaszkiet.

A what?
It looks like the driver cap from the UK and flat cap from the US.

Me and my old man

When?
Introduced for use in the 18th century in many armies, including the Polish. Became popular in the 1930's and has not moved from the streets since.

Who?
Decades and decades ago a born and raised Varsovian (Warszawiak) would wear a kaszkiet.

Warszawiak

Also popular under gangsters and men who had "a job on the side." Like many men back then, it was normal to hustle a bit on the side to be able to feed your family. You also see this style in the popular British gangster series Peaky Blinders.

Where in Poland?
Everywhere but especially popular in Warsaw since the 1930's. Google the word Warszawiak (born and raised Varsovian) and you will see quite some kaszkiets.

You can buy them in various sizes, models and price range. From specialized shops where you can buy handmade products (pracownia) to large retail chains like H&M and C&A for mass produced products.

Pracownia Kapelusze Czapki (Hats Caps)
in Warsaw's Mokotów district. 

It is very nice to see that there are still quite a lot of these pracownia shops with handmade products. I have seen it disappear from the streets in the Netherlands, where retail has been hit massively by e-commerce web sales. The small retailers we saw disappearing one by one, even larger chains are in trouble.
Here is Poland people still make a living of making high quality products selling against higher prices than elsewhere.
But also here the real craftmanship is losing ground. Let's cherish it until it lasts and support local retail, do not let it become a lost art.