Walk into the water anywhere on Australia’s east coast this summer and you’ll spot them everywhere: patterned, brimmed, chin-strapped hats bobbing between the lineups. A few years ago, a surf hat meant one thing – black, faceless, built for function and nothing else. Now it’s one of the most visible style statements in the water.
Nobody has watched that shift more closely than Siena Patch-Taylor, founder of Northern Rivers surf brand Sunward Bound, who built her business around reinventing what a surf hat could be.
“There has been a massive insurgence of women into surfing in recent years, the sport isn’t run by your traditional old core lords anymore,” said Siena. “Surfing trends and fashion are dictated by a younger crowd, and specifically when it comes to women, they want pieces which are both functional and fun.”
That’s the gap the modern surf hat has quietly filled – sun protection, but also a way to express something, in a category that used to offer almost no choice at all.
Siena didn’t come up through fashion or surf retail. “I spent six years doing ski seasons and have worked as a zip line and bungee jump guide,” she said. “Nothing I’ve done prepared me for starting my own business.”
Before Sunward Bound, Siena was already testing her appetite for building things from nothing, including novelty 3D-printed pot plants.
“I was making little boobie shaped pot plants and started selling them online. It was a fun little project and I think that kind of kick started my entrepreneurial side. Ive found that I thrive in these little chaotic spaces that I create for myself.”
Siena’s idea for developing a surf hat was born out of frustration. “I remember going into a shop to look for a surf hat and all I could find was surf hats made for men which were black and boring,” she said. “I thought it’d be funky to get a patterned one, so I ordered a sample. I originally ordered 300 of them, on a whim. I used up all my savings to buy them and within two months I was completely sold out.”
While it’s Sunward Bound’s pops of colour and floral patterns that initially draw you in, Siena is clear none of it matters if the hat doesn’t survive being surfed in. Some of the first samples she got back from the manufacturer didn’t even make it to the water’s edge.
“The first sample I got back, I had told them I wanted a hard brim the whole way around and they came back with these visor looking things which nurses would wear during covid. I was so scared I’d wasted all my money, but the other manufacturers’ samples were much better.”
Despite the brand’s positioning as being fashion conscious, Siena said that functionality remains a priority.
“We always put functionality first,” she said. “So many brands claim to be functional but they’re just purely fashion. If it doesn’t serve its purpose, in surfing you won’t use it again.”
When starting the brand, there was also a ‘fit problem’ which Siena had hoped to solve. “Our main thing is that we wanted the hats to be made specifically for women, the shape and size,” she said. “We also have specific sizes rather than the one size fits all approach a lot of headwear companies take.”
Ask Siena why the category has taken off, and she points to something simple: the hat has become a way to personalise a surf fit, not just protect it.
“Women love being able to add a pop of colour to their surf fit,” she said. “They’re able to accessorize their look when they go surfing. We’ve even found guys rocking them too.”
That crossover mirrors what’s happened across surf fashion more broadly, something Siena sees as a distinctly Australian strength. “I believe Australia is the pinnacle of surf fashion,” she said. “There are so many people and brands doing cool things.”
Whether it’s a side hustle or a hat sold out in two months on a hunch, the recipe is the same: solve an overlooked problem, make it look good, and never compromise on whether it works. That’s what’s turned the surf hat into a genuine wardrobe staple.