Materials

Aguayo is a warp-faced weave: the coloured threads run lengthwise and are packed so tightly that the crosswise thread disappears. That is why it is dense, why it holds a crease, and why the stripe reads so sharply from across a street. This page is about the cloth as a material: what it is spun from, how it wears, and how to wash a cap made of it.

The weave

On a plain woven cotton you see a grid: warp and weft, over and under. On aguayo you see only the warp. The weft is hidden inside, which doubles the thread count on the surface and makes the cloth heavier and stiffer than its thickness suggests. Handwoven aguayo also has a slight unevenness in the ridges, thread to thread, that machine cloth does not. Run a thumb across a brim and you feel it.

The yarn

Traditionally aguayo is spun from sheep's wool and alpaca and dyed with cochineal and plants, and the weavers we buy from still work that way for their finest cloth. The working aguayo that most of our caps are cut from is spun for hard daily use, and modern highland yarn is often a wool blend that includes synthetic fibre for colour-fastness and strength. We tell you what we know about a particular weave on its product page, and if we are not sure, we say so rather than guess.

Wear and ageing

The cloth does not fade the way printed fabric does, because the colour is in the thread, not on it. What it does is soften. A brim that starts stiff loosens over a few months; the ridges of the weave round off where a hand grips them. Twill and denim bodies age faster than the aguayo on them, which is the right way round: the plain part wears in, the cloth stays loud.

Washing and care

Hand wash in cool water with a little mild soap, press the water out, and dry flat on a towel in the shade. Do not machine wash, do not tumble dry, do not soak for long. The wool in the weave can felt and the colours can bleed if the water is hot. For a mark on the brim, dab with a damp cloth. Store on a shelf, not crushed in a bag, and the crown keeps its shape.

See how the cloth becomes a cap, who weaves it, and the six families we sort it into on the weaves. Shop full-weave caps and bags.