International Hat Day

Every year on 25 November · since 2011

International Hat Day is back!

One day. Any hat. Wear it, snap it, share it with #InternationalHatDay.

Hat Day starts in…

  1. –days
  2. –hours
  3. –mins
  4. –secs
How to take part Download the sign (PDF)
International Hat Day logo: a top hat in a red roundel, 25 November

How to take part

It's free, it's silly and it takes about thirty seconds. No sign-up, no app, no fancy hat required.

  1. Wear a hat

    Any hat at all, on 25 November. Top hat, tea cosy, bobble hat, hard hat, crown, colander – if it's on your head, it counts.

  2. Snap a photo

    At work, at school, at the pub, on the bus. Bonus points for holding up the printable sign.

  3. Share it

    Post it with #InternationalHatDay and tag @IntHatDay on X.

  4. Not on social media?

    Email your photo to hats@internationalhatday.com. Tell us how you'd like to be credited, if at all.

The rules

There are only two, and they haven't changed since 2011:

  • Hats are COMPULSORY.
  • Nudity is NOT.

Also, please be kind, keep it family-friendly, and only post photos of other people if they're happy to be in them.

A few of the hats sent in for International Hat Day 2011 and 2012, rescued from the old website — including a shout-out to Turton Media Arts College in Bolton, and one cheeky 2012 archive shot we’ve censored for modern tastes. Your 2026 hat could be next.

* The 2012 photo with the black bar is from the original archive: a joke of its era. We’ve censored it; the rules still say nudity is not. Spotted yourself and want a credit, or want it taken down? Email hats@internationalhatday.com.

Hats off since 2011

International Hat Day was started in 2011 by a couple of friends who reckoned the world needed one day a year when everybody wears a hat. (A sixth form at Turton Media Arts College in Bolton beat them to it and celebrated in 2010, before anyone had told them it existed. Legends.)

Why 25 November? It's St Catherine's Day. Catherine is the patron saint of milliners, and in France the Catherinettes have long marked the day by wearing wonderfully over-the-top hats.

Back then, people printed the round sticker, popped on a hat and sent in their photos: from a beer festival in Essex, college classrooms, offices and kitchens around the world. The website went quiet after 2015, but the hashtag never did. Every 25 November, hats kept turning up on #InternationalHatDay.

So here we are again. Same day, same rules, same hat-shaped silliness.

  1. 2010 A Bolton sixth form celebrates early
  2. 2011 First official Hat Day, and the first gallery
  3. 2012 The top-hat logo arrives
  4. 2016–2025 The hashtag carries on
  5. 2026 International Hat Day is back
Preview of the A4 sign: the International Hat Day logo above the words I'm wearing my hat for International Hat Day, 25 November

Print the sign

Hold it up in your photo, stick it on the office door or pin it up in the classroom. It's A4, looks fine in black and white too, and there's a bonus page of cut-out stickers (including the classic 2011 and 2012 logos).

“I'm wearing my hat for International Hat Day, 25 November”

Download the A4 sign (PDF)
See the classic 2011 and 2012 logos
The original red 2011 International Hat Day sticker with a top hat
2011 sticker
The 2012 International Hat Day logo: a top hat in a black brush-stroke circle
2012 logo

Your photos and your privacy

Permission to reshare

By posting a photo with #InternationalHatDay and tagging @IntHatDay, or by emailing it to us, you're giving us permission to reshare it on our social accounts and in the gallery on this website, with credit (your public handle, or the name you ask for). Only send photos you took or have the right to share, and please make sure everyone in them is happy about it. For children, a parent or guardian should send it.

Changed your mind? Email us and we'll take it down.

Privacy, briefly

This website has no cookies, no analytics, no trackers, no adverts and no upload form. It doesn't load anything from other websites.

If you email us, we'll only use your email address and photo for International Hat Day: to reply, to ask how you'd like to be credited and to share the photo as described above. We won't sell them, share them with anyone else or add you to a mailing list. We won't show your name unless you ask, and we'll delete your email and photo whenever you ask.