Gear Review: Shred Alert Hippy Beanie & Hippy Color Beanie

Shred Alert adjustable beanie

Keeping your head covered in cold weather is a great way to reduce heat loss and stay warm in cooler weather. The Shred Alert Hippy Beanie and Hippy Colors are great options for covering your noggin while keeping a sense of fashion. The Beanies are a part of Shred Alert’s Global Collection Line. They are adjustable to fit a wide range of head sizes. The headwear has a drawstring with a cord lock to loosen or tighten it accordingly.



The beanies are made from polartec recycled polyfleece which keeps the users head warm. Each beanie has an organic cotton band that wraps around it to give it personality too. On the band is a tag with the Shred Alert name and logo. Inside the beanie are tags identifying the material and providing laundry instructions. The Hippy Beanie comes in black but has several pattern options for the band including Step, Blue chevron and Incasun. If black is not your style then the Hippy Colors offer different variety colors and patterns. Rust Chevron, Camo Lego, Incasun and Wave are options.

Hippy Beanie in the Wasatch Mountains

My head size is between 7-5/8 and 7-3/4. With this big of a head the Shred Alert Hippy Beanie fits on my head and needs no tightening what so ever. If my head were bigger I doubt it would fit. My wife has a smaller head than mine but she has a ponytail and the Shred Alert Hippy Color fits her about the same as the Hippy Beanie fits me. With the cinch-cord the beanies can fit around a small child but when I tried this there was a lot of extra room up top.

Hippy Color Beanie on winter hike

The Hippy Beanie is very comfortable to wear. It covers the top half of my ears and does a good job of keeping my head warm in cold weather. The beanie can be worn alone but it can also comfortably fit under a snowboarding helmet. I have worn the beanie while hiking and snowshoeing in the Wasatch Mountains, sitting around camp in the desert southwest on a backpacking trip and while shoveling snow. I have found that sweat does drip down the headwear and onto my face when I’m exerting myself and it’s not too terribly cold. I wore the beanie during a snowstorm and after over an hour of being out in a torrential dump of powder the hat still had not soaked through. I slept with the Hippy Beanie on while backpacking in the desert southwest for extra warmth and it was comfortable on my head all night long. I even used the beanie to clean my sunglasses.

The Shred Alert Hippy Beanie and Colors Headwear are an easy to adjust item and great for keeping the wearer’s head warm in cold weather. The beanies are a nice item to keep a flare of style and personality while maintaining functionality while spending time outdoors in cooler weather.

Manufacturer	Shred Alert
Sizes	one size, adjustable
Materials	Polartec recycled poly/fleece, organic cotton band
Price (MSRP)	$32.00

This story was originally posted March 21, 2011.