Camp Cap, Snapback or Ball Cap? The Differences, Explained

From across a room most caps look alike. Up close they are four different objects, and the differences decide how a cap sits on your head, how it ages and how much of the front you get to look at. Here is the camp cap, the ball cap, the snapback and the trucker, side by side, and what each is good for.

The short version

What is a camp cap?

A camp cap is built from five panels, and the one that matters is the front: a single wide panel with no seam down the middle. Behind it the crown is low and soft, with no stiff lining holding it up, and the brim is flat. It closes at the back with a strap and a clip or buckle. The name points to the outdoors, a light cap you could fold into a pocket, and skate and streetwear brands made it a staple in the 1990s and 2000s because that seamless front is the best canvas a cap has.

You will often see camp cap and five-panel used for the same thing. Strictly, five-panel describes how a cap is built and camp cap describes a style. Most camp caps are five-panels; a few five-panels, such as some running caps, have curved brims or deeper crowns and are not quite camp caps.

What is a ball cap?

The ball cap, or baseball cap, has six panels that meet at a button on the crown, a deeper shape that follows the head, and a brim curved to shade the eyes. It comes from baseball, where it has been part of the uniform since the nineteenth century. A structured ball cap has a stiffened front that holds its shape on the shelf; an unstructured one, often called a dad hat, is soft all over and slumps a little when you take it off. Because the front is two panels joined by a seam, a graphic or a stripe on a ball cap is split down the middle or moved to the brim and the band.

What is a snapback?

A snapback is a structured six-panel with a high crown and a flat brim, named for the strip of plastic snaps that closes it at the back. It stands upright on the head rather than hugging it, and it keeps that shape for years. It became a fixture of 1990s hip-hop and of sports fan culture, and it is still the cap that makes the boldest silhouette.

And the trucker cap

The trucker is a high-crowned cap with a foam or stiffened front and a mesh back, closed with a snap strip. It began as a giveaway from American feed and farm-supply companies, and the mesh is there to keep the head cool on a long day outdoors.

How each one fits

Crown depth is the thing to watch. A camp cap is shallow: it sits on the top and back of the head, and many people wear it pushed slightly back. A ball cap is deeper and comes down further over the forehead. A snapback and a trucker are tall, so they sit high and add height to the silhouette. If you have a large head, check the adjuster before the style: our adult caps adjust from 55 to 60 cm, and our kids caps from 50 to 54 cm. There is a full table, with ages, on the kids cap size guide.

Which one shows the cloth best?

The camp cap, by a distance. The single front panel lets a stripe run from one side of the forehead to the other without a seam cutting it in two, which is why most of what we make are camp caps: the front panel is cut from aguayo handwoven on a backstrap loom in the Andes, and the stripe that lands on it is different on every cap. On our ball caps the woven cloth goes on the brim and the band instead, and on the snapbacks the structured front holds a full panel of weave upright. Most carry the same small embroidered chakana at centre front; the patch camp caps wear a woven Inpire patch instead.

How to wear a camp cap

Brim straight forward, set a little back on the head, with nothing too fussy underneath: a T-shirt, a work jacket, a loose shirt. The flat brim is the look, so leave it flat. Worn backwards it sits even lower and the strap becomes the front. If the cap has a loud front panel, let it be the only loud thing.

Questions

Is a camp cap the same as a five-panel?

Almost always. Five-panel describes the construction and camp cap the style; most camp caps are five-panels with a flat brim and a low, soft crown.

Are camp caps good for big heads?

They sit shallow, so they suit people who like a low profile. Check the adjuster range before anything else; ours fit 55 to 60 cm.

Can you bend the brim of a camp cap?

You can shape it gently over time, but a camp cap is made to be worn flat, and a woven brim is stiffened to stay that way.

How do I wash a cap made of woven cloth?

By hand, in cool water with a little mild soap, then dry it flat in the shade. No machine, no dryer. The full care notes are on the materials page.