Why a Fisherman Beanie Should be Red

We are all about beanies — and our roots run back into red beanies specifically. Now if you are looking for the ultimate, classic fisherman beanie, there is a strong argument for the color to be red.

We’ve often mentioned the red fisherman beanie carrying characters Steve Zissou and Jacques Cousteau as inspirers and poster children for the red beanies. Zissou is a fictional character, based on the real life Cousteau — and they are connected to the sea.

However. They aren’t fishermen. So why would I argue the red beanie is the best color for a fisherman beanie?

The history behind Jaques Cousteau’s red fisherman beanie

I did a deep dive into the roots of that iconic red fisherman beanie that Cousteau wore all the time. And the trail actually goes all the way back to Whitstable oyster farmers in the 1820’s.

Since these elusive oyster farmers wore the red fisherman beanie at sea, the red has followed divers down the paths of history, from the invention of the first diving helmet in Whitstable, until Jaques Cousteau made it an icon of proportions through his TV series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau in the 60’s. Finally Wes Anderson further spread it through The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou in the 2000’s.

The red fisherman beanie and the sea

A fisherman beanie could be anything. If you go completely back to the roots, we arrive at the primal need for food, leading to men fishing, and then the primal need for heat, driving them to wear headwear.

But if you would want to search out the absolutely most iconic fisherman beanie — which is what we’ve tried to do here at Red Hat Factory — I would go with something gritty and rough, handmade, and finally… red.