About Mackahat
Cathy McKenzie
With our own children involved with non-contact sports and living in hot North Queensland, I was amazed at the lack of appropriate headwear available to wear while playing sport. I got a bee in my bonnet about designing practical, sun-safe headwear with flexible brims that would be acceptable for contact sports. This was in 2002 and resulted in a range of caps and broad-brim hats with flexible rubber-lined brims. As bucket hats were beginning to overcome caps in popularity due to increasing sunsafe awareness, we decided to branch off into this area as well.
Somewhere in here we had the bright idea of a reversible bucket hat with the school colour and logo on the outside, and the various sports house colours and names / logos on the inside (my husband and I disagree as to which of us actually had this brainwave, but I can assure you it was me!). Schools found that their students loved these hats and from here on the business flourished. We now have our broad-brim hats available as reversible also, and this is proving very popular.
WHAT'S TO LOVE ABOUT MACKAHAT:
- Customers love our personal one-on-one service, only ever dealing with Cathy throughout the process.
- Customers love our small minimums. 20 per size & 60 per colour for the initial order, & then only 60 in total for subsequent re-orders.
- Customers love the fact that we store extra stock for them (at no obligation) to dispatch generally within 24 hours, so they don't have to hold bucket-loads of stock.
- Customers love the fact that we use quality embroidery of all logos, both on the inside & outside of the hat. So no dodgy screen-printing.
- Customers love that our brims exceed the Sunsmart requirements, & our crowns sit nice & low on the head.
- Customers love that we have non-fading, non-shrinking fabric.
- Customers love that our brims are lined with EVA rubber so that they maintain their shape, even after frequent washing.
Being on school P & C Committees in the past myself, I am aware that not all committees have members who are knowledgeable or confident when it comes to making changes to the school uniform. Our system of ordering is easy, friendly and efficient.
Since 2002 our business has grown steadily and we now have an Australia-wide customer base. We believe that the key to our success is our excellent service and practical headwear at very affordable prices.
Our Products
The school hat is probably the most abused item in the school uniform. It is often pulled in and out of school ports, ‘frisbeed’ in the playground, trodden on, sweated on, and washed regularly. And yet so many of the available hats are not made to withstand this treatment. At MackaHat we have designed all of our hats with this treatment in mind.
The usual school colours for hats are navy, royal blue, maroon, bottle green and black – all colours which are prone to fading. We are proud to be able to offer schools a fabric which will not fade or shrink! The feedback we are receiving is that some students have had their hats for several years, wearing them for both school and sport on the weekends, and they are as good as new.
All of our hats are fully lined so there is no paper/ foam band around the inside of the crown to fall apart with constant washing. The brims on our Broad-Brim Hats are lined with rubber so that they can be rolled up and shoved in a school port and will not go ‘floppy’ from washing.
Designed for Protection
MackaHat headwear was originally designed with sun protection in mind.
All of our hats are made with deep crowns to bring them down nice and low on the forehead. Our bucket hats have a brim width of at least 7cm and our Broad-Brim hats 9cm providing ideal coverage for the face, ears and neck. Of course, schools are welcome to specify their own measurements. Our polyester sports bucket hats have elastic around the inside of the crown so that they can be worn with confidence while playing sport.
Knowing that most school children are far more enthusiastic about their various sports house colours than they are about the school uniform, we thought that a reversible bucket hat or broad-brim hat with the main school colour on the outside, and the various house colours on the inside, could be an attractive option. Little did we realize just how popular this style would be. Giving schools the option of having their school logo on the outside and house name or logo on the inside has proven incredibly popular. And sports’ teachers love being able to divide their class into teams according to their hat colour.
Design Your Own
Being able to design your own hats, with very reasonable minimum quantities, is a definite draw card for many of our customers. Some schools prefer to get their students involved in the design process ensuring the resulting product is well received.
Customers can choose their fabric, colours, brim trims, embroidery options, brim width and any style you would like to try. We will have samples made up for you free of charge to enable you to see the finished product and make any changes if need be.
Want a Reversible with house colours/logo on the inside but prefer a Broad-Brim hat?
MACKAHAT has the perfect solution...
Since inventing the MackaHat reversible bucket hat with house colours and the option of the house logo and/or name on the inside back in 2002, schools have gone ballistic over this style and other suppliers are jumping on the band wagon. However, even though our bucket hats exceed the Sunsmart recommended brim-width, there are still many schools that prefer broad-brim hats. So… as always, we have listened.
We are proud to introduce our Reversible Broad-Brim hat which combines all the attractions of the reversible bucket hat i.e. the option of having the school logo on the outside and the house colour and/or name on the inside, as well as an extra wide brim lined with EVA rubber so that it can be rolled up to fit in a school bag but will spring back into shape, as well as being majorly washable! And as with all our styles, the price is very, very do-able.
