An Australian world traveller

For three weeks while in Alamos Mexico, I wore my friend’s hat. I loved that hat and I know she would have given it to me except that it was a souvenir from her best friend from Seattle. I wore that hat to lunch, to the beach and on walks. It was light, versatile and comfortable with an adjustable rim. It was, perhaps, a little too cream to hide the dirt!

The name of the hat was The Victorian Petit. It was made by the Wallaroo Hat Company. I was convinced that the hat was made in Australia (I’m from Victoria, Australia and a Wallaroo is an Australian marsupial that is half way between a wallaby and a kangaroo.)

When I returned to Australia, I looked up the company website. I found the hat, and I ordered two. (I really, really, liked the hat!). Imagine my horror when I found that the company was based in Boulder, Colorado, that the prices were in US dollars and that they did not ship to Australia.

Crestfallen, I sent a sad email to the company and asked if they would make an exception to their not shipping to Australia.  I said:

“… your checkout cart indicates that you do not ship to Australia. I was so excited: one camel and one black and all my traveling hat problems would have been over.

No chance of sending them out here? Where the name originates from? “

The next day Wallaroo replied. They said: 

“Our designer is Australian and has his own hat company in Australia. We prefer to refer Australian customers to him so that they can save on shipping. Please check their website, as they have the same and more hats as we do. https://rigonheadwear.com.au/

How cool is that? I looked at the Rigon website. And no Petit Victoria was to be found. Foiled again. So I wrote to Rigon and asked if the Breton was the same as the Petit Victoria. It is. 

I ordered it, paid the same price for it in Australian dollars: it was promptly dispatched and posted free of charge and now I have my own Petit Victoria/Breton hat from Wallaroo/Rigon. It’s a taupe and I’m wearing it here with the brim turned up. 

I love it and will be ordering more colours as soon as summer is near. The idea of that little hat has travelled over continents and oceans: and now the real thing is mine.