Captain Quint's cap, or the search for
the perfect rugged, heritage cap.

From hats to caps

Oh, I’ve had several hats: cotton, wool, rabbit fur, denser or lighter. And of course, like everyone else, I started with the not-so-confident style — the trilby. My God, it just lacks charisma and charm in my opinion. It looks like a hat for amateurs… In the end, I ended up ordering a custom-made hat. But the problem is that in 2025, in a European city of more than 500,000 people, it’s not always easy to wear one. And to be fair, riding around on an electric scooter doesn’t really make it any easier. It’s probably wiser for me to wear a helmet than to look like some kind of urban cowboy, right?

So, for a long time, I resigned myself to only wearing panama hats in the summer. But after 15 years of sulking about not being able to wear proper hats while desperately wishing fedoras would come back into fashion, I suddenly had a revelation. Or rather, no — it was the TV series The Mosquito Coast, streamed on Apple TV+, that changed things. For the first time, I saw on screen a kind of modern-day Indiana Jones, with his own character, his own story, dressed in a timeless heritage style, and therefore, in a way, brought back into relevance. And on his head… a cap, a replica of the famous Quint’s cap.

Far from the so-called ‘vintage’ caps flaunting huge brand logos that turn you into a walking billboard, I realized that a cap wasn’t necessarily an ugly or tacky accessory. It could actually complete a style — and unlike the fedora, it didn’t scream anachronism.

The Aurega Phoenix Cap

At the beginning of this obsession, I wasn’t ready to spend as much as I had for hats. Still, being sensitive to product quality, I also couldn’t see myself buying a basic cap made in Asia and sold for $10. In my mind, it was clear: I wanted a cap that would last me a lifetime. So, I set a budget of €50. That’s when I found a model made in France by the brand Aurega—a baseball cap in aged pigskin leather. Honestly, don’t ask me to describe the exact color. It shifts depending on the light and develops its own patina here and there. Let’s just call it “coffee-colored” to keep things simple. But you can make up your own mind in this video.

The quality is genuinely exceptional. The crown sits perfectly just above the ears, wrapping my head without a single crease. The visor is both sturdy and flexible at the same time. Some people might think that pigskin leather makes it too hot to wear on your head—after all, who wears a leather cap? But the pores are relatively large, meaning air actually circulates quite easily. In fact, it probably breathes better than a waxed canvas fabric. The cap also has two ventilation holes on each side. It’s traveled with me to Senegal and endured summer temperatures in Europe close to 40°C. Sadly, this model is no longer available. But judging by the quality, it was a steal.

I could’ve stopped there. I could’ve told myself this was the perfect cap—rugged, versatile, timeless. But I still wanted that tiny touch of originality. Just a little detail to set it apart from the others. The color? The shape? I wasn’t sure. So I tried other models.

A quality baseball cap : Stetson's take

First I experimented with color. For reasons I still don’t fully understand, I bought a beige goat suede leather cap from Stetson. That turned out to be a big mistake. Oh, don’t get me wrong—the cap is gorgeous and of remarkably high quality. It’s even softer and more flexible than the Aurega model. But then again, it also cost me twice as much.

The real issue? This suede is also twice as hot! I had never paid attention to that difference until this past summer. My head felt like it was literally cooking, and sweat stains showed up clearly around the visor… which means the patina is not going to age gracefully. And there’s no way I’m spending my life washing a cap. So I gave it up.

So, despite the craftsmanship, for me this cap is simply unwearable. At least I learned something: no overly warm caps and steer clear of light colors if you don’t want visible sweat stains. Especially since it was only around 24°C the last time I wore it…

In Search of The Mosquito Coast Cap

With the Aurega model, I still felt something was missing—that little spark of originality. And if it wasn’t going to come from color, maybe it would come from the structure. The traditional six-panel baseball cap is everywhere, but I discovered that caps also come in five- or even four-panel structures. Among them is the cap worn by Captain Quint in Jaws, later also worn by Allie in The Mosquito Coast. That’s when I started zeroing in on this very specific model.

An Apple TV show

The Mosquito Coast ?

Yes, originally it’s a novel. It was adapted into a movie in the 80s starring… Harrison Ford. Yes, Indy himself. Coincidence? Then in 2021 or 2022, a TV series came out starring Justin Theroux—who, fun fact, happens to be the nephew of the book’s original author, Paul Theroux.

To be honest, the series is way more engaging than the somewhat… aged movie version.

But back to business: the cap. Because it’s one of the most defining features of Allie’s look over the two seasons.

At first, I had a hard time figuring out which model Justin Theroux was wearing (and no, the man doesn’t reply on Instagram…). After much digging, I realized it was, in fact, a replica of Captain Quint’s cap from Jaws. Now, Quint’s cap is unusual: instead of the typical six panels, it’s made of four, with two discreet pockets at the front. It’s also made of waxed canvas—something I’ve become pretty familiar with, thanks to my Flint and Tinder jacket and backpacks from Filson and Goruck.

And let’s be honest: in Jaws, on the head of that drunken old fisherman, it doesn’t look particularly glamorous. The guy himself wasn’t exactly overflowing with charisma either. Still, the hat became iconic, and several people have tried to reproduce it. I ended up buying some of these replicas. But let’s start at the beginning.

Costume designer Justine Seymour, who dressed the actors for the TV show, said in an interview:

So what did I do? I reached out directly to Justine Seymour. I wanted to know exactly where she had sourced Allie Fox’s cap for Justin Theroux. We exchanged a few emails, but in the end she said she couldn’t remember exactly where she bought it. Instead, she sent me two links to online sellers offering replicas, from where she might have bought the samples for the TV show: one on Poshmark, the other on Amazon.

We already know the first one wasn’t it (the strap adjustment system is different). The second one, sold on Amazon, looked like a good candidate. The color seemed pretty close.

The Amazon Version of Quint's Cap

Now, the Allie Fox character is written as rugged, anti-social, wary of authorities, and harshly anti-consumerist. He’s a fixer, a recycler, someone who hates waste. The family is not wealthy, so he’d likely buy something built to last, but not at an excessive price. (Though admittedly, since the family is on the run, I doubt he would have taken the risk to shop on Amazon.)

I had always assumed that film and series costume pieces were high-end. Probably because Indiana Jones’s rabbit-fur fedora sells for around $500. But apparently that’s not always the case. This Amazon replica was listed at $38.99. So I went for it. And here’s what it looks like in the video:

It's not too bad. But it's not it. As you can see the visor is not stiff. In the first episod of the TV show, there is a scene in which the character of Allie holds the cap in his hand before putting it on his son's head and you can clearly see that the visor is rigid and won't flatten and put down. And then, I read on Amazon : "Date First Available ‏ : ‎ September 18, 2024". So it can't be this one either. The show was produced in 2020 and released in 2021-2022. Justine Seymour would have not been able to buy it as this one became available long after the show.

But again it's not bad. Inside the visor, on the part facing downwards, I made small notches with a knife along the grooves of the canvas formed by the stitching lines. Then I slid metal wire several times all along the curved edge of the visor. And it actually works quite well for shaping ... not so much for rigidity though.

Again, my curiosity pushed me to keep looking. I searched everywhere, tried Google Images and went to every website for days. In the end, I could not find it. There is no cap like this one with a rigid visor. Or, at least there is no more in 2025.

So, I decided to go higher-end. After all, Indiana Jones’s hat was handcrafted by Herbert Johnson Ltd., a traditional English hatmaker. Why not this cap as well? Could Justine Seymour have been confused and provided me with affordable stand-ins? I doubted it, but here is the idea that was developing in my head: good quality waxed canva can be expensive (think Filson, Barbour...). And maybe that TV show cap had a rigid visor made of very thick layers of fabric put together instead of the traditional plastic insert. Therefore, I was telling myself that this type of conception must be expensive.

Heddels's Quint Cap 2

The people at Heddels have always had a fascination for Quint’s cap. They’ve analyzed it in painstaking detail—literally! I had high hopes for their replica, which they promoted as the ultimate reproduction.

Judging by the product page, this is how it was supposed to look:

Here’s the unboxing video:

Unfortunately, the cap didn’t match my expectations. The short visor wasn’t as stiff or moldable as I had hoped. And that's too bad because with the shipping and import duties, the price ended up going over €110.

I’m sure it’s accurate to the Jaws original, and die-hard fans probably love it. You can just pinch the visor and wear it like Quint.

After wearing it for just a few minutes, I decided to send it back. But here’s the kicker: Heddels doesn’t do refunds, only store credit, and you have to pay return shipping yourself! Outrageous. So instead, I’m putting it up for resale at a very low price. For anyone interested, here’s the link.

Stockbridge Sewing Works's Quint Cap

Luckily, I had a Plan B for a high-quality replica: another model from an Etsy shop. This time, I went to this store, run by Norma, a craftswoman who makes each cap by hand. Several hatmakers told me “she’s your best bet.” She apparently has quite a reputation in the field. I told her I wanted a stiff visor and even sent her some screenshots from the show.

It took over a month to arrive. But I was not disappointed. At all :

I watched a few part of the show again and I simply could not find any differences. The cap looks similar to the one worn by the Allie Fox character in every details : the color, the shape, the leather strap at the back, the adjustment mechanism... So I reach out to Norma and explained. Of course, for privacy reasons she could not tell me if Jane Seymour was among her clients back in 2020, but she did agree that the cap worn in the TV show might very likely be one of her production. In fact I learned that her creations have appeared several times on TV. Here is what she told me :

As it was the only option left, I like to think that indeed, this is the one. But most importantly that cap feels amazing. It is made of great quality (you can hear it in the video!) and nice rigid visor. It looks more original to me than a 6-pan baseball cap. I wasn't sure about the two pockets on the front, but in the end, those are very discreet and it does not look too rugged nor too much outdoorsy to wear in the city. It's certainly not dressed up but simply casual.