The washable cotton patch caps are the easiest place to start with Parks Project. Their oversized patches fill the front panel, and the soft crown gives them a different shape from a structured trucker. Fit varies in buyer reviews, so the sizing and return terms deserve a look before ordering.
Our picks
Most reviewed$40
Parks Project
94 reviews since 2020, the most of any Parks Project cap.
No park name$40
Parks Project
Camo with a bear. Owners say it holds its shape.
Embroidered$45
Looney Tunes x Parks Project Hat
Parks Project
Desert cliffs and Wile E. Coyote across the front.
For cold weather$30
Parks Project
A jacquard knit of Zion’s cliffs, in recycled polyester.
What it sells
Parks Project started in 2014 with volunteer days in the Santa Monica Mountains. It’s a certified B Corp, and hats are a small part of what it sells.
Most of its caps are the same cotton 5-panel camp cap with a patch on the front, and they’re $40 and one size. The front is a single panel with no seam down the middle.
Only a handful of its caps name a national park, and the rest are mostly city parks, slogans and collaborations. Zion, Rocky Mountain and Joshua Tree get a patch cap, Yosemite gets a chenille one, and there’s a nylon Rocky Mountain throwback too. Zion and Sequoia also get a $30 beanie.
For any other park, see the best national park hats.
How they fit
Every cap comes in one size, and the chart says it’s 19.5 to 24 inches around with a 6.5-inch crown. The Zion, Rocky Mountain, Joshua Tree and Yosemite caps close with a brass clasp.
Fit is the most common complaint in reviews, and it goes both ways. Some owners said the cap ran big and bunched up when they cinched it, while others with big heads said it fit fine. One owner who wears a 7½ let the strap all the way out and still called it snug, but another in a 7¼ said it was too big.
Owners also mention a flat brim, a floppy crown on the nylon throwback, $10 shipping and slow preorders.
Before you buy
Where the money goes
Every product page has a banner saying the company has given $2,801,650 back to parklands. Parks Project says it doesn’t give a percentage of sales and instead pays for specific projects it picks with park groups.
Its contribution page lists $678,726 to the National Park Foundation and $453,989 to the National Parks Conservation Association. The park caps each show a running total too, with over $55,000 to Rocky Mountain Conservancy and over $140,000 each to Yosemite Conservancy and the Joshua Tree National Park Association.
The other brands that give are in which national park hats give back.
Where to buy
Parks Project sells through its own site and about 200 shops. Its store locator lists REI, Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, Backcountry.com and the Glacier National Park Conservancy, and it runs one store of its own, the Discovery Center in Culver City.
Yellowstone General Stores sells a Parks Project bison beanie for $39.99 that isn’t on the brand’s own site. The rest of what Yellowstone’s stores sell is in Yellowstone hats.
Shipping from Parks Project is free only on orders over $125, and one owner called $10 shipping steep for a cap. Caps can go back within 30 days. Exchanges are free, but a refund costs $9 unless you bought the SavedBy return add-on at checkout.
The hats
Best for one park's name on the cap
Zion Vintage Patch Hat
Parks Project
- Style
- 5-panel camp cap in natural and red, 6.5 in crown
- Design
- Oversized vintage-style patch on the front, plus embroidery on the front, back and right side
- Made of
- 100% cotton
- Fit
- Brass-clasp strapback; one size, 19.5–24 in per the maker's chart
- Giving
- Parks Project says it has given more than $60,000 to Zion Forever Project
- Reviews
- 5.0 from 5 reviews on Parks Project's site
The Zion cap gives most of its front panel to the patch, on a soft crown with no mesh. The same shape comes for Rocky Mountain and Joshua Tree. Parks Project lists more than $60,000 in giving to Zion Forever Project, whose own caps are included in Zion hats.
Downsides
$40 is about $10 more than a park-store cap.
Best for a cap with a track record
Vintage Tree Patch Hat
Parks Project
- Style
- 5-panel camp cap with a flat brim
- Design
- Civilian Conservation Corps patch on the front; Parks Project embroidery on the right side
- Made of
- 100% cotton
- Fit
- Metal-clasp strapback; one size, 19.5 to 24 in per the maker's chart
- Care
- Machine wash cold, lay flat to dry
- Giving
- No giving line for this hat; Parks Project's banner shows $2,801,650 given back overall
- Reviews
- 4.9 from 94 reviews on Parks Project's site
The patch is for the Civilian Conservation Corps, the New Deal crews that built park roads and trails in the 1930s. Parks Project has sold it since 2020, and its 94 reviews are the most of any Parks Project cap. Owners mostly praise the fit and the look, and several call it sturdy.
Downsides
A few owners say it runs small and a few say it runs big.
Best for camo with no park name
Defend the Parks Bear Hat
Parks Project
- Style
- 5-panel camp cap; several owners describe it as structured
- Design
- Bear graphic on camo
- Made of
- 100% cotton
- Fit
- Adjustable back that owners describe as a cloth cinch strap
- Giving
- Parks Project says it has given $2,801,650 to parklands (brand-wide total)
- Reviews
- 4.7 from 27 reviews on Parks Project's site
It’s camo with a bear and Parks Project’s Defend the Parks slogan. Owners say it holds its shape and the cloth strap stays put.
Downsides
Some buyers say it runs big.
Best for an embroidered cartoon
Looney Tunes x Parks Project Hat
Parks Project
- Style
- 6-panel ball cap in blue
- Design
- Embroidered desert cliffs and Wile E. Coyote on the front; Road Runner on the back
- Made of
- 100% cotton
- Care
- Machine wash cold
- Giving
- Parks Project says it has given $2,801,650 back to parklands, brand-wide
- Reviews
- 5.0 from 10 reviews on Parks Project's site
It’s a licensed Looney Tunes cap, with desert cliffs and Wile E. Coyote embroidered on the front and the Road Runner on the back. It’s the only full-price Parks Project cap with embroidery instead of a patch, and the only one you can tumble dry.
Downsides
It costs $5 more than the patch caps.
Best for a jacquard-knit Zion beanie
Zion Views Beanie
Parks Project
- Style
- Knit beanie with a rolled cuff
- Design
- Jacquard knit of Zion's sandstone cliffs and canyons in purple-red and beige
- Made of
- 100% recycled polyester
- Fit
- One size; chart lists 9 to 10 in wide, 8.5 in tall, 2.75 in cuff
- Care
- Machine wash cold, tumble dry low
- Giving
- Parks Project says it has given over $60,000 to Zion Forever Project
It’s a jacquard knit of Zion’s cliffs in recycled polyester, and Parks Project says it uses no wool or other animal fibers in anything it sells. The listing shows the same Zion Forever total as the cap, over $60,000. If warmth matters more than the park, the Sequoia beanie has a fleece band over the ears for the same $30.